Kentucky’s Liam Draxl wins his first professional tennis singles championship

University of Kentucky junior Liam Draxl, who advanced to the men’s singles semifinals of last season’s NCAA Tournament, won his first professional singles tennis championship on Sunday.

Draxl, who was named Southeastern Conference Newcomer of the Year as a sophomore in 2020-21, won the singles title at the M15 Cancun tournament in Mexico, part of the International Tennis Federation World Tennis Tour.

Draxl, from Newmarket, Ontario, came out on top as the No. 7 seed in the 32-player field, defeating top seed Christian Langmo of the United States 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 in the finals.

Along his way through the bracket, Draxl won every match in straight sets until the finals. In the quarterfinals, he knocked off No. 3 seed Alex Hernandez of Mexico 7-6, 6-1.

Draxl is ranked No. 689 in the world in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP Tour) and No. 1,358 by the ITF but should be moving up after this weekend’s tournament victory.

After his sophomore season last spring, Draxl was named Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Player of the Year, a first for a UK athlete. He was the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and finished the season with a 25-3 record in singles.

Last August, Draxl and teammate Stefan Kozlov won the doubles competition at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Lexington.