UK Men’s Tennis Earns 12 Wins at Knoxville Showdown

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Kentucky men’s tennis team kicked off its fall 2021 schedule with the Knoxville Showdown at Goodfriend Tennis Center, where the Wildcats totaled 12 individual victories over the weekend.
 
Redshirt sophomore JJ Mercer put on a perfect performance in his Kentucky debut, picking up a ranked win among his perfect 4-0 combined record across singles and doubles competition. The former Ohio State Buckeye and Huntington, West Virginia, native defeated No. 125 Tim Zeitvogel of Pepperdine 7-6 (12-10), 6-1 on Saturday after opening singles play with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Ishaan Ravichander of Columbia the day prior.
 
Mercer teamed up with Joshua Lapadat for a 6-1 victory over Lions Alex Finkelstein and Roko Horvat on Friday and a 6-4 triumph over Waves Daniel De Jonge and Eric Hadigian on Saturday.
 
Overall, Lapadat earned three wins on the weekend, while Yasha Zemel earned two, and Francois Musitelli, Alexandre LeBlanc, Jonathan Sorbo and Ying-Ze Chen claimed one apiece.
 
Kentucky will spend the week in individual tournament play at the M15 Champaign in Illinois.
 
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s tennis team, follow @UKMensTennis on Twitter and Facebook, @kentuckymenstennis on Instagram, and on the web at UKAthletics.com.
 
 
Friday, Sept. 10
 
Singles
#110 Alex Kotzen (Columbia) def. #13 Gabriel Diallo (Kentucky) 6-2, 6-3
#105 Francois Musitelli (Kentucky) def. Alex Finkelstein (Columbia) 6-3
#71 Joshua Lapadat (Kentucky) def. Hugo Hashimoto (Columbia) 7-6 (7-1), 5-7, 6-3
JJ Mercer (Kentucky) def. Ishaan Ravichander (Columbia) 6-1, 6-3
Yasha Zemel (Kentucky) def. Austen Huang (Columbia) 7-6 (7-3), 6-1
Roko Horvat (Columbia) def. Alexandre LeBlanc (Kentucky) 6-2, 6-3
Jonathan Sorbo (Kentucky) def. Theo Winegar (Kentucky) 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-3
Ying-Ze Chen (Kentucky) def. Jayden Templeman (Columbia) 2-6, 7-5, 6-2
 
Doubles
Alex Kotzen/Hugo Hashimoto (Columbia) def. #37 Gabriel Diallo/Francois Musitelli (Kentucky) 7-5
Joshua Lapadat/JJ Mercer (Kentucky) def. Alex Finkelstein/Roko Horvat (Columbia) 6-1
Henry Ruger/Theo Winegar (Columbia) def. Alexandre LeBlanc/Ying-Ze Chen (Kentucky) 6-2
Jayden Templeman/Ishaan Ravichander (Columbia) def. Yasha Zemel/Jonathan Sorbo (Kentucky) 6-2
 
 
Saturday, Sept. 11
 
Singles
#117 Daniel De Jonge (Pepperdine) def. #105 Francois Musitelli (Kentucky) 7-6 (7-2), 6-4
Andrew Rogers (Pepperdine) def. #71 Joshua Lapadat (Kentucky) 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
JJ Mercer (Kentucky) def. #125 Tim Zeitvogel (Pepperdine) 7-6 (12-10), 6-1
Alexandre LeBlanc (Kentucky) def. Linus Carlsson Halldin (Pepperdine) 6-3, 6-2
Yasha Zemel (Kentucky) def. Eric Hadigian (Pepperdine) 6-4, 7-5
Corrado Summaria (Pepperdine) def. Jonathan Sorbo (Kentucky) 7-5, 6-4
Pietro Fellin (Pepperdine) def. Ying-Ze Chen (Kentucky) 6-1, 6-4
 
Doubles
Andrew Rogers/Tim Zeitvogel (Pepperdine) def. Francois Musitelli/Alexandre LeBlanc (Kentucky) 6-4
JJ Mercer/Joshua Lapadat (Kentucky) def. Daniel De Jonge/Eric Hadigian (Pepperdine) 6-4
Yasha Zemel/Ying-Ze Chen (Kentucky) def. Linus Carlsson Halldin/Pietro Fellin (Pepperdine) 7-5