Kentucky men’s tennis reaches NCAA semifinals for first time in program history
For the first time in school history, the Kentucky men’s tennis team is a national semifinalist.
The Wildcats cemented the best postseason run in UK history with a 4-3 victory over No. 1 overall seed TCU in the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament Thursday afternoon at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign, Illinois.
Kentucky, the No. 8 overall seed in the tournament, is 25-7 overall on the season and has dispatched DePaul, Northwestern, Wake Forest and now TCU on its way to the national semifinals.
This was Kentucky’s fifth appearance in an NCAA Tournament quarterfinal, although the Cats had never gone further than this stage.
UK will face No. 4 seed Ohio State in Saturday’s first semifinal, scheduled for 11 a.m. EDT
The Wildcats lost the doubles point against the Horned Frogs on Thursday, but picked up four singles wins from Liam Draxl, Gabriel Diallo, Millen Hurrion and Francois Musitelli to make the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
Draxl and Hurrion both won their matches in straight sets, while Diallo and Musitelli each prevailed in three sets.
Kentucky head coach Cedric Kauffmann’s team trailed TCU, 3-2, with both Diallo and Musitelli’s matches still in progress.
Mustitelli won his third set, 6-4, over TCU’s Jake Fearnley to tie the team score at 3-3, making Diallo’s match against Juan Carlos Aguilar the deciding match for the semifinal spot.
Diallo won his third set, 6-4, to send his Kentucky teammates sprinting in excitement, as they pinned Diallo against the corner of the fenced-in court in celebration.
“I had an idea that it was going to come down to me,” Diallo said after the match. “I was just trying to focus on my service game. I was mostly just trying to win every point in my service game, and it made me loose on my returning game. Obviously, I was nervous, but I feel like hearing these guys cheering for me, the nerves kind of go away.”
The UK roster — which featured 12 total players, 10 of whom were born outside the United States — has in particular benefited from the stellar singles play of Diallo, Draxl and Hurrion this season.
All three players won singles matches Thursday to help defeat TCU.
Diallo is now 20-3 in singles matches this season, while Draxl has 15 singles wins and Hurrion owns a 21-7 record.
Kentucky previously played Ohio State in February, losing 4-0 on the road.
Singles tournament
Whenever Kentucky’s team performance in the NCAA Tournament comes to an end, the Cats will be sending both Diallo and Draxl to the NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Tournament.
Diallo and Draxl were both at-large selections to that tournament, which will be held starting Monday, also at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign.
Both Diallo and Draxl played in the singles tournament last year, with Diallo reaching the Sweet 16 while Draxl, then the No. 1 seed, became the first UK player to reach the Final Four since 2012.
Both players were First Team All-SEC selections this season. Draxl is the No. 4 overall seed for this year’s singles tournament.
Saturday
NCAA Tournament semifinals at Champaign, Ill.
11 a.m.: No. 8 seed Kentucky (25-7) vs. No. 4 Ohio State (28-3)
2 p.m.: No. 6 Tennessee (26-7) vs. No. 7 Virginia (26-5)
How to watch: Live stream on TennisONE App
This story was originally published May 19, 2022 at 7:34 PM.
