Ryotaro Matsumura Wins Oracle ITA Masters

MALIBU, Calif. – Kentucky men’s tennis sophomore Ryotaro
Matsumura won the Oracle ITA Masters on Sunday after taking down No. 55 Shawn Hadavi
from Columbia, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. The Oracle ITA Masters is one of the most prestigious
fall tournaments, with just one collegiate player from each NCAA Division I
conference. Each conference was invited to send one men’s and one women’s
player, and NCAA Tournament style selection was used.

“Ryo did a great job this week,” head coach Cedric Kauffmann
said. “I thought Ryo was mentally tough. To bounce back and win the second-best
fall tournament is huge. Every matchup was different and he handled the different
opponents very well. Overall, it’s a great win for Ryo.”

Matsumura took down four ITA nationally ranked opponents (No.
38, No. 55, No. 110 and No. 111) on the way to the Oracle ITA Masters title. He
dropped just one set during the weekend, the first of the championship match.

“I’m very happy coming off the performance I had last
week,” Matsumura said. “To be able to bounce back strong for me as a player is
good. Each round was different, so tactically I listened to my coach and
followed our gameplan.”

Matsumura breezed through the first round on Thursday
after defeating Jacob Whalley of Fairleigh Dickinson, 6-1, 6-0. On Friday, he
picked up two wins to advance to the semifinals. Matsumura defeated No. 111
Jeffery Schorsch of Valparaiso, 6-4, 6-1 in the second round. The Fukui, Japan
native then took down No. 38 Gage Brymer of UCLA, 6-1, 6-2 to move on to the
Saturday semifinals. In the semifinals, Matsumura defeated No. 110 Adam Moundir
of Old Dominion in a hard fought 7-5, 7-6 (5) match to advance to the Sunday’s
championship.

Kentucky men’s tennis will be back in action on Thursday,
Oct. 20 to compete in the ITA Regional on Thursday, Oct. 20 in Knoxville,
Tennessee.