Men’s Tennis Concludes ITA Ohio Valley Regional

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Three Wildcats competed at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional at Purdue University over the last weekend, earning seven wins in the process. Eli Stephenson advanced to the round of 16 in singles in addition to a quarterfinal appearance in doubles alongside Matt Rankin. Rankin also earned a spot in the main draw of singles through qualifying.

The sophomore doubles tandem on Stephenson and Rankin—playing together for the first time in their careers—led the way for the Cats with three wins and a quarterfinal appearance. The duo, seeded eighth, worked their way through the draw with wins over Ball State, Vanderbilt, and Purdue. Their run came to an end against third-seeded Hugo Coquelin and Henry Ruger of Vanderbilt, who are ranked No. 87 nationally.

Stephenson also found success on the singles court, picking up a pair of three-set wins against players from Chattanooga and ETSU. The six-seed had his run cut short against [11] Karim Al-Amin of MTSU who took a tight, straight set win over the 2024 ITA Ohio Valley Region Rookie of the Year.

Rankin also saw his strong fall season continue, as he won a pair of matches in qualifying to book his ticket into the main draw. Seeded No. 1 in the qualifying draw, the Edinburgh, Scotland native won his first match with ease before grinding a comeback win in the final round. However, he was placed in the main draw against the tournament’s No. 1 seed, Shunsuke Mitsui of Tennessee, who eliminated Rankin in straight sets.

Charlelie Cosnet also competed in the singles tournament, but the event’s No. 4 seed was unable to earn a win, falling in a tough three-set battle to Kosuke Nakanishi of Louisville.

Selected Wildcats will have two more opportunities to qualify for this fall’s NCAA Singles and Doubles Championship. Athletes from the Ohio Valley, Southern, and Southeast Regionals who have yet to qualify for the national tournaments will be invited to take part in the inaugural ITA South Sectional at Florida State from November 7-10. Additionally, one singles and one doubles representative from the SEC will be invited to the inaugural ITA Conference Masters in Rome, Ga. from November 7-10.

Qualifying Singles

Q1 – [1] Matt Rankin (Kentucky) def. Sai Dore (Dayton) 6-1, 6-1

Q2 – [1] Matt Rankin (Kentucky) def. Tom Bolton (Austin Peay) 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1

Singles

R64 – [6] Eli Stephenson (Kentucky) def. Gabriel Castillo-Sanchez (Chattanooga) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2

R64 – Kosuke Nakanishi (Louisville) def. [4] No. 87 Charlelie Cosnet (Kentucky) 5-7, 6-1, 7-5

R64 – [1] No. 10 Shunsuke Mitsui (Tennessee) def. [Q] Matt Rankin (Kentucky) 6-1, 6-4

R32 – [6] Eli Stephenson (Kentucky) def. Peter Kalocsai (East Tennessee) 6-1, 1-6, 6-3

R16 – [11] Karim Al-Amin (Middle Tennessee) def. [6] Eli Stephenson (Kentucky) 7-6 (4), 6-3

Doubles

R64 – [8] Eli Stephenson/Matt Rankin (Kentucky) def. Jenson Bicanic/Andrew Hayward (Ball State) 8-5

R32 – [8] Eli Stephenson/Matt Rankin (Kentucky) def. Giuseppe Cerasuolo/Tighe Brunetti (Vanderbilt) 8-4

R16 – [8] Eli Stephenson/Matt Rankin (Kentucky) def. Mujtaba Ali-Khan/Nour Fathalla (Purdue) 8-5

QF – [3] No. 87 Hugo Coquelin/Henry Ruger (Vanderbilt) def. [8] Eli Stephenson/Matt Rankin (Kentucky) 8-5

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