Hudd Repeats as SEC Player of the Week

For the second consecutive week, Tennessee’s Emile Hudd has been named SEC Player of the Week, the conference announced Wednesday.
 
Hudd logged three ranked wins this past week, including his clinch in Tennessee’s 4-3 road win over No. 20 Florida. At the No. 2 singles lineup position Friday against the Gators, Hudd surged past Florida’s 92nd-ranked Will Grant in three sets, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to break the match’s 3-3 tie and give the Vols the win by clinching for a second consecutive match.
 
Sunday in Columbia, Hudd convincingly took down the nation’s No. 11 singles player in No. 5 South Carolina’s Connor Thomson, winning in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. Hudd’s victory in Tennessee’s 6-1 rout of the Gamecocks served as Hudd’s seventh ranked singles victory of the season and third top-15 win of the campaign. A pair of those top-15 triumphs have come in the dual season.
 
Following his performance this weekend, Hudd ascended to a career-high ITA national singles ranking of No. 27 Tuesday.
 
In doubles, Hudd and partner Shunsuke Mitsui battled and won a tiebreaker Sunday against South Carolina’s 31st-ranked Jake Beasley and James Story, winning 7-6(4) at the No. 2 spot. Hudd’s big service game fended off a Gamecock match point on a 4-5 decider prior to the tiebreaker.
 
At 24-5 on the doubles courts this season, Hudd is 18-4 in dual doubles action. Hudd is 10-2 (7-2 SEC) at the No. 2 singles spot this spring and 16-4 (9-1 SEC) at the No. 2 doubles position this season.
 
The eighth-ranked Vols are back in action Thursday for their regular-season home finale, playing host to No. 25 Ole Miss at 4 p.m. ET.