COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Kentucky men's tennis senior Bruno Agostinelli swept second-round opponent Johnny Parkes of New Mexico in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4, to advance to the round of 16 of the NCAA Tennis Singles Championships on Thursday.
Agostinelli and sophomore Brad Cox fell 6-3, 7-6, in the first round of the Doubles Championships at Texas A&M University.
Agostinelli's singles win is the first second-round win for a UK men's player since former Wildcat Jesse Witten advanced to the quarterfinals in 2005.
"I thought it was a solid match for Bruno," UK Coach Dennis Emery said. "He played his type of match with very few unforced errors. ... Bruno did what he needed to do to win the match. I thought he played with composure and control."
With the win, Agostinelli improves to 36-13 on the season and advances to the round of 16 where he will take on freshman Steve Johnson of Southern Cal. Johnson helped the Trojans win the NCAA team title earlier in the week.
Johnson knocked off No. 9-16 seed Guillermo Gomez of Georgia Tech 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, earlier Thursday. Agostinelli and Johnson have not faced each other this season.
The fifth-seeded Agostinelli is just one of four top-eight seeds remaining in the draw. He is also one of only eight players to not surrender a set after two rounds of play.
During the NCAA Doubles Championships, doubles teams no longer play a single super-set to eight points like they do during the regular season. Instead they play a standard best-of-three match.
Agostinelli and Cox faced their first-round doubles opponents three weeks ago in Lexington. The duo of Cory Parr and Steven Forman from Wake Forest won the super-set 8-3 then.
Thursday, the Demon Deacons swept the first four games en route to a 6-3 first-set win. UK served better in the second set, not allowing Wake Forest an advantage and ultimately forcing a tiebreaker after splitting a dozen games, 6-6. The Demon Deacons edged the Wildcats 7-5 in the tiebreaker to earn the 7-6 match win.
Women's doubles team knocks off No. 3 UCLA
UK women's doubles partners Carolina Escamilla and Caroline Lilley pulled off a big first-round upset by rallying to beat third-seeded UCLA pair Yasmin Schnack and Andrea Remynse 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, on Thursday.
The unseeded Wildcats advanced to Friday's second round, where they will face Lauren Lui and Georgia Rose of Northwestern. The Northwestern duo defeated Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe of Fresno State, 7-6 (6), 6-4, in the first round.
