Oct. 24, 2010
LEXINGTON, Ky. – UK men’s tennis stars Eric Quigley and Brad Cox started the day by advancing to the finals of the doubles main draw and Quigley capped off an impressive day of Kentucky tennis by claiming a spot in the singles finals at the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Indoor Championships inside the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex on Sunday.
The UK men’s tennis team will be represented well in the finals Monday, with Quigley playing in the singles finals and Quigley and senior Brad Cox playing in the doubles finals. The action will begin Monday with the singles finals. Quigley, ranked eighth in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association preseason singles poll, is the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will face the ITA No. 1 and the tournament’s No. 1 seed, John-Patrick Smith of Tennessee at noon.
“This regional is so tough ever year that it is surprising to see the No. 1 seed and the No. 2 seed make the finals,” Kentucky head coach Dennis Emery said. “There is a lot of depth in this regional and I think it speaks to how great both Eric and JP are playing that they were able to advance through the field and to the finals.”
Quigley/Cox, the top-seeded doubles duo in the tournament, will then take on Austen Childs and Viktor Maksimcuk of in-state rival Louisville, the No. 3-seeded team in the tournament, not before 2 p.m. Both finals will be played inside the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex. All times are Eastern and admission to both finals is free.
The day started with Quigley/Cox putting together an impressive performance to reach the finals. The UK duo took down No. 5-8 seeded Rhyne Williams and Ed Jones of Tennessee 9-7. Quigley/Cox held a safe lead at 7-4 before allowing the UT duo to come back and tie the match at 7-7, but the Kentucky tandem would respond, putting up back-to-back wins to claim the match 9-7 and advance to the finals.
In singles, Kentucky went 2-1 on the day, getting two wins from Quigley, both by straight sets. The native of Pewee Valley, Ky., began the day with a 6-3, 6-2 dominating win over Blake Bazarnik of Vanderbilt, advancing Quigley to the semifinals against Williams of Tennessee. In the first set against Williams, Quigley broke at 3-2 to take a 4-2 lead and take complete control of the match. After holding serve to take a 5-2 lead, Quigley broke Williams again to win the first set 6-2. In the second set, both players went back and forth before Williams broke Quigley to take a 5-4 lead. The UK star then fought back to grab a break of his own and hold a 6-5 lead. After Williams held serve to force a tiebreaker, Quigley jumped out early in the tiebreaker to take a comfortable lead and then held on to claim the tiebreaker and the match 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Quigley is fresh off making school history at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., becoming only the sixth player in school history to play in the finals of a collegiate tennis grand slam tournament. Quigley joined former UK greats Jesse Witten, Carlos Drada, Cedric Kauffmann, Greg Van Emburgh and Rich Benson as the only players in Kentucky’s rich history of tennis to play in one of the four collegiate grand slam tournaments. Witten, who many consider the best player in school history, played in two finals: the 2004 ITA National Indoors Singles finals and the 2002 NCAA Singles Championship finals. Drada, who is now the head women’s tennis coach at UK, played in the 2000 NCAA Singles Championship finals, while UK men’s tennis associate head coach Kauffmann was a singles finalist in the 1997 Clay Court Singles Championships during his playing days at UK. The only other finals appearance for UK in a grand slam was in 1986 when Emburgh/Benson played in the All-American Doubles Championship finals. UK has never had a grand slam winner.
The finals appearance for Quigley is his third final in as many tournaments this fall. So far in the fall of 2010, Quigley has represented Kentucky in three tournaments, advancing to the finals in all of them. In late September, Quigley made it to the finals of the Land Rover Napa Valley Tennis Classic before making it to the finals of the ITA All-American Championships in early October. The junior lost both finals.
Fellow junior Alex Musialek was also in action Sunday, playing in the quarterfinals of the singles main draw. The native of France fell in the quarterfinals to No. 4 seed Ryan Lipman of Vanderbilt 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
