Feb. 24, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Kentucky men’s tennis senior Bruno Agostinelli added another award to his collection when the Southeastern Conference league office named him the Player of the Week on Tuesday for his performance in the Wildcats’ upset win at fourth-ranked Tennessee on Saturday.
The weekly honor is the second of Agostinelli’s career at Kentucky. The UK captain also won the award on Feb. 20, 2007, as the last Wildcat to win a weekly conference honor. Agostinelli is currently ranked eighth nationally in singles and stands 30th in the country in doubles with sophomore partner Brad Cox.
Agostinelli played a pivotal role in the Cats’ win against the Volunteers. He scored a dramatic come-from-behind victory over No. 9 John-Patrick Smith to clinch the team match point for UK on court one. He came back from a set down, to win the second set in a tiebreak. Later, Agostinelli battled back from a three-game deficit to send the deciding set into a tiebreaker. Finally, the Niagara Falls, Canada, native fought back from 5-1 down in the tiebreaker to win the match.
This season Agostinelli is undefeated against the 2008 NCAA Singles finalist in three meetings, after two straight-set wins over Smith in the fall. In mid-October, Agostinelli defeated Smith in Lexington 7-5, 6-3 at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Southeast Regional Championships. A month later, the Wildcat was victorious again at the ITA National Indoor Championships in a neutral venue 7-6, 6-0.
With Saturday’s singles win and another victory on Monday at Notre Dame, Agostinelli stands at 5-1 during the dual match season. Among those victories, three are against ranked opponents including Smith, No. 18 Brett Helgeson of the Fighting Irish and No. 26 Bruno Rosa of Rice all at the No. 1 slot. Overall this season, Agostinelli has compiled a 24-7 record with three tournament final appearances and an upset of then-No.1 Oleksandr Nedovyesov of Oklahoma State.
In doubles action Saturday, Agostinelli and Cox came back from a break down to force extra games before a 9-7 loss to UT’s Davey Sandgren and Smith. The tandem is 3-2 during the dual match season and 12-5 overall. The Wildcat pair defeated the No. 1 doubles team from Ole Miss of Jonas Berg and Bram tenBerge last month during the first round of the National Indoor Team Championships. Last fall, Agostinelli and Cox won their first title together at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships.
The Wildcats continue their road schedule with a third-straight match away from home when they travel to Chattanooga for 10:00 a.m. ET Saturday match against the Mocs.
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