Oct. 20, 2008
LEXINGTON Ky. – With slicing backhands and stout returns, University of Kentucky senior Bruno Agostinelli defeated John-Patrick Smith of Tennessee, the tenth-ranked player in the country, 6-2, 7-5, to advance to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Southeast Regional Indoor Championships Singles Final at 1:15 p.m. ET today at the Boone Tennis Center.
Agostinelli, the fourth seed in the tournament and ranked 19th in the nation will face No. 3 seed Nate Schnugg of Georgia in this afternoon’s final. Schnugg stands 12th in the country in the fall ITA rankings.
Agostinelli earned his first lead of his semifinal match by breaking Smith in a marathon third game of the first set that went 18 points, to go up 2-1. Both players held serve through the next three games for a 4-2 score. Agostinelli forced Smith into several first-set unforced errors with slicing backhands while covering all of the court for tough returns. In the seventh game, Agostinelli broke Smith again to increase his lead to 5-2 in the first. He then served out the first set without surrendering a point for the 6-2 decision.
In the second set, the UK veteran continued to roll, winning the first three games part of six straight in the match and breaking Smith two times in the process. But the Volunteer broke back to get on the second set scoreboard 3-1. Smith then held serve and broke the Wildcat senior again to even the score at three-all. Both players traded service breaks in games seven and eight to knot the score at four-all.
Smith held service to go up 5-4 in the second. Agostinelli then served 12 points to pull out an important service game to tie the score at five-all. In game 11, he broke Smith by winning two straight points at deuce to go up 6-5. Agostinelli served out the match at 40-30 when Smith hit a return into the net for the 7-5 victory.
“Bruno played a nearly flawless match today with just three errors in the first set,” said UK men’s tennis head coach Dennis Emery. “I have never seen him more focused or determined. There was no one in the country today that played at a higher level than Bruno. He has worked hard to clean up his baseline game and that was evident today. This tournament is a testament for the great work (Assistant) Coach (Cedric) Kauffmann has been doing individually with Bruno.
“J.P. Smith is an excellent player. He is like a coach out there with his tactics and composure. He is not a reigning NCAA singles finalist for nothing. He does not give you any free points and he has a nasty left-handed serve.”
The senior tri-captain from Niagara Falls, Canada, has had an amazing fall campaign. In September, Agostinelli reached the final of the prestigious Southern Intercollegiate Championships and won the doubles championship with UK sophomore Brad Cox. Earlier this month at the ITA All-American Championships, he was up a set and a break against the nation’s top-ranked player, Oleksandr Nedovyesov of Oklahoma State before being forced to retire because of leg cramps. Now in just his third tournament of the season, Agostinelli has a chance to claim the ITA Southeast Regional title in front of his home fans in Lexington.
Based on his current ranking and recent play Agostinelli will await a possible at-large selection to the elite 32-player National Indoor Singles Tournament held at the University of Virginia early next month.
The men’s singles final will be played at 2 p.m. ET today at Boone. Live scoring of the title match can be found at UKathletics.com’s ITA Tournament Info page.
Be sure to check UKathletics.com for a recap of Monday’s final.
