Before playing the singles finals Monday in the Southeastern Conference Coaches' Indoor Tennis Championships, Kentucky's Anthony Rossi and Georgia's Sadio Doumbia posed for pictures.

First, one held the first-place award while the other had the runner-up hardware. Then the Frenchmen switched.

"It was so weird," Rossi said. "I always want to say something like, 'yeah, look — I am the winner!' ... But it's just a joke."

The early picture session enabled Doumbia and his Georgia teammates to start the bus ride to Athens a bit sooner. Maybe it jinxed the Bulldogs, too.

Ranked 36th nationally and seeded seventh in the tournament, Rossi never lost service en route to a 6-4, 6-3 victory in the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex.

He is UK's second winner of the tournament. Adam Malik won in 1989.

Like Malik, Rossi is in UK's No. 3 singles slot, behind Eric Quigley and Alex Musialek.

"I think those guys (lower seeds) come into these tournaments, they play a little looser than sometimes the other players do," UK Coach Dennis Emery said. "I think that makes a big difference."

With Doumbia serving first, Rossi broke serve in the third game of each set. He broke a final time to close the four-day tournament.

"I played OK, but he played better than me," said Doumbia, ranked 10th nationally and seeded third in the tournament. "He played good all tournament and was just more aggressive than me."

Rossi, a 6-foot-2 junior from Marseille, France, thanked a small but enthusiastic crowd.

"Since yesterday, maybe two days ago, I've played unbelievable," he said. "I was really tired today but, with the crowd — and I play at UK — it was great. I played great."

In more ways than one.

Rossi said that while his serve and backhand were solid throughout his five wins in the tournament, his forehand improved as he went along.

"The thing that Rossi does really well is, he transitions," Emery said. "He goes from defense to offense very well. He did that today. Doumbia also does that; I felt our guy did it a little better.

"And the thing that he did great is that he's actually switched to this new Babolat racket, so he's getting a lot more pop on the ball on his serves, and I think that made a big difference."

The extra pop was evident in the first game won by Rossi, which included three aces.

Doumbia, a 6-1 senior from Toulouse, France, said he had an idea of what to expect from Rossi based on experience in their homeland.

"But I didn't expect him to play that good," Doumbia said.

Rossi said much the same.

"I was expecting to play a good tournament, but not to win it," Rossi said.

What Rossi's win does for the program is, Emery said, "it gives you a lot of credibility. But the thing that it shows is how much deeper we're becoming as a program."

Said Rossi: "All the team is going to be just good. Eric played well; everybody played pretty well at the tournament. I know it's individual but, for the team, it's just perfect."

■ Mississippi twins Marcel and Chris Thiemann, seeded third, won the doubles finals 8-3 over second-seeded Wil Spencer and Garrett Bras seaux of Georgia.