Sept. 18, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky men’s tennis junior Anthony Rossi continued his impressive play to start the 2011 fall season, by securing two wins on Saturday at the Duke Fab Four Invitational, including a signature upset over No. 4 Henrique Cunha of Duke.
Rossi, who is ranked No. 95 in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, started his day with a three-set win over Nick Jones of South Carolina in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Rossi defeated Cunha in a comeback effort 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 to claim a spot in the finals of the event on Sunday. Cunha is ranked fourth in the country and had not lost a set in the tournament heading into the semifinal match.
Kentucky sophomore Tom Jomby paced the Wildcats up north at the Olympia Fields Invitational. The native of France posted two singles wins on the day, taking down No. 28 Casey Witt of Notre Dame 6-2, 6-0 earlier in the day before he earned a straight-sets victory over Daniil Proskura of Alabama 6-1, 6-1. The win over Witt was Jomby’s first over a ranked foe at the collegiate level.
UK senior Alex Musialek, who is ranked No. 20 in the nation, went 1-1 in singles on the day, defeating Stephen Hoh of Illinois 6-4, 6-1 before falling to No. 7 Dennis Nevolo of Illinois 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Kentucky sophomore Alejandro Gomez also performed well in singles, taking down two quality opponents in Tim Kopinski and Bruno Abdelnour both of Illinois. Gomez defeated Kopinski 6-4, 6-3 and then wrapped up his day with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Abdelnour.
“The key for our team this year is how our sophomore class develops,” UK head coach Dennis Emery said. “We feel like we know what we have with Eric Quigley, Alex Musialek, Anthony Rossi and the rest of our upperclassmen. But the key will be that sophomore class of Gomez, Roberts, Jha, Jomby, Hirooka and Gold and how they develop. I thought that today was a good day for us because some of those sophomores stepped up and had some good wins.”
Also securing singles wins in day two off the Duke Fab Four Invite was sophomore Panav Jha. Jha lost his first match on Saturday but answered the call in his second match by taking down Patrick O’Keefe of Radford 6-2, 6-3.
Fellow sophomore Grant Roberts dropped his lone match of the day at the event to No. 116 Jarryd Botha of Alabama, while sophomore Maks Gold fell in two tightly contested singles matches.
For more information on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, including complete results from the Olympia Fields Invitational and Duke Fab Four Invite, visit UKathletics.com.
Olympia Fields Invitational
Singles
No. 20 Alex Musialek (UK) def. Stephen Hoh (ILL), 6-4, 6-1
Tom Jomby (UK) def. No. 28 Casey Watt (ND), 6-2, 6-0
Stuart Kenyon (BAMA) def. Ryuji Hirooka (UK), 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-3
Alejandro Gomez (UK) def. Tim Kopinski (ILL), 6-4, 6-3
Wyatt McCoy (ND) def. Ryuji Hirooka (UK), 6-3, 6-1
Tom Jomby (UK) def. Daniil Proskura (BAMA), 6-2, 6-1
No. 7 Dennis Nevolo (ILL) def. No. 20 Alex Musialek (UK), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Alejandro Gomez (UK) def. Bruno Abdelnour (ILL), 6-1, 6-0
Duke Fab Four Invite
Singles
No. 95 Anthony Rossi (UK) def. Nick Jones (USC) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
No. 95 Anthony Rossi (UK) def. No. 4 Henrique Cunha (Duke) 4-6, 6-2, 6-0
No. 116 Jarryd Botha (Alabama) def. Grant Roberts (UK) 6-1, 6-3
Cameron Ahari (UNC) def. Maks Gold (UK) 7-5, 6-4
Carlos Arboleda (Elon) def. Maks Gold (UK) 6-1, 6-4
Michael Thompson (Alabama) def. Panav Jha (UK) 2-6, 6-2, 12-10
Panav Jha (UK) def. Patrick O’Keefe (Radford) 6-2, 6-3
