No. 11 Kentucky Beats No. 8 Harvard Friday Evening in Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 11 Kentucky men’s tennis team (7-1, 0-0 SEC) defeated No. 8 Harvard (5-2, 0-0 Ivy) 5-2 in a top-ranked matchup Friday evening at the Hilary Boone Tennis Complex. This marks Kentucky’s second-straight win over a top-10 opponent after the Wildcats beat No. 3 Virginia last weekend.

The Wildcats started off strong in the doubles’ session with a winning pair on courts one and two. No. 44 JJ Mercer and Joshua Lapadat defeated No. 4 Cooper Williams and Daniel Milavsky, 6-4, to clinch the doubles point for Kentucky. On court two, Jaden Weekes and Eli Stephenson contributed to the win with a 6-3 victory over the Crimson’s pair, Ronan Jachuk and Masato Perera.

With a 1-0 lead, the Wildcats continued to climb into the lead with reigning SEC Player of the Week, Taha Baadi, taking his third straight win over a top-30 opponent in the past week. Baadi took down No. 12 Cooper Williams, 6-2, 6-4 breaking his eight-match win streak and moving Baadi’s record to 4-1 against ranked competition.

Lapadat kept this triumphant momentum with a win over Harvard’s Henry von der Schulenberg, 6-3, 6-2. This advanced the Wildcats to 2-1 in the singles session and gave the Wildcats the 3-1 overall lead in the match.

Sophomore Charlelie Cosnet secured the final singles point for Kentucky with a 6-4, 6-4 win conquering the Crimson’s sophomore Melchior Delloye. Stephenson fought hard in the first set of his singles matchup coming back from a 5-1 deficit and losing 6-4 in the tiebreak. Despite the slow start, Stephenson won multiple long rallies which leveraged him above Harvard’s Perera at a final score of 7-6(6), 6-2.

UK ended the match with a solid final score of 5-2 over the ranked Harvard Crimson after all matches were played out. This places the Wildcats back in front of Harvard with an overall record between the two at 6-5 in the series history.

Kentucky will travel to Durham, N.C. to face the No. 15 Duke Blue Devils on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

#11 Kentucky 5, #8 Harvard 2

Doubles 

Court 1 – #44 JJ Mercer/Joshua Lapadat (UK) def. #4 Daniel Milavsky/Cooper Williams (HAR) 6-4

Court 2 – Eli Stephenson/Jaden Weekes (UK) def. Ronan Jachuck/Masato Perera (HAR) 6-3

Court 3 – Taha Baadi/Charlelie Cosnet (UK) led David Lins/Henr von der Schulenburg (HAR) 5-4 DNF

Singles 

Court 1 – #27 Taha Baadi (UK) def. #12 Cooper Williams (HAR) 6-2, 6-4

Court 2 – Joshua Lapadat (UK) def. Henr von der Schulenburg (HAR) 6-3, 6-2

Court 3 – Daniel Milavsky (HAR) def. Jaden Weekes (UK) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0

Court 4 – Ronan Jachuck (HAR) def. Jack Loutit (UK) 6-3, 6-3

Court 5 – Charlelie Cosnet (UK) def. Melchior Delloye (HAR) 6-4, 6-4

Court 6 – Eli Stephenson (UK) def. Masato Perera (HAR) 7-6 (6), 6-2

Order of Finish: 

Doubles—3, 2*

Singles— 1, 4, 2, 3, 5*, 6

For the latest on UK Men’s Tennis, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @UKMensTennis.