Kentucky’s Liam Draxl toughs out another 3-set victory at NCAA Tournament

It’s a good thing that Kentucky’s Liam Draxl excels in third sets — he hasn’t lost one all season — because he has already had to play three of them in three matches at the NCAA championships in Orlando, Fla.

Draxl, the tournament’s top seed in men’s singles, was actually down 5-3 in the third set Tuesday to 10th-seeded Adam Walton of Tennessee. But the UK star rallied for a 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory and advanced to the Elite Eight.

UK’s Gabriel Diallo, seeded 14th in the singles draw, earlier dropped his Sweet 16 matchup with 35th-seeded William Blumberg of North Carolina 6-3, 6-1.

Kentucky also has the No. 1 seed in the women’s doubles tournament with Akvilė Paražinskaitė and Fiona Arrese.

They opened with a 5-7, 6-3, 10-4 win against Wake Forest’s Brooke Killingsworth and Anna Brylin on Monday and were scheduled to play again in the Sweet 16 on Tuesday evening.

Paražinskaitė and Arrese are 21-4 this season, including a 7-3 mark against ranked foes.

This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 2:42 PM.