ITA Kickoff Weekend
Lexington, Ky. – Hillary J. Boone Indoor Tennis Center
Kickoff Weekend Scores, Schedule, Bracket
Friday, Jan. 27
#5 Kentucky def. Liberty, 4-0
Notre Dame def. Washington, 4-2
Saturday, Jan. 28
Washington vs. Liberty, 8 a.m. PT | Live Stats | Live Video
Kentucky vs. Notre Dame, 12 p.m. PT | Live Stats | Live Video
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A couple lengthy tiebreaks went against the Dawgs today as Notre Dame defeated Washington by a 4-2 count in the first round of ITA Kickoff Weekend competition, hosted by Kentucky at the Hillary J. Boone Tennis Center. The Huskies suffered their first loss of the season but have a chance for a quick rebound tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. as they next play Liberty.
Washington had singles victories at No. 2 and No. 3, from Dzianis Zharyn and Cesar Bouchelaghem, which tied the match at 2-2. But Notre Dame won a big tiebreak to close out a victory at No. 4 singles for the 3-2 lead, and then got the last point at No. 6 singles.
The Fighting Irish took doubles in a thriller that saw the Huskies with two match point chances they were unable to convert. Notre Dame had a quick win at No. 1 doubles, but Nedim Suko and Brett Pearson evened the point with a 6-4 win at No. 2 doubles. Then the No. 3 match featuring Han-Chih Lin and Jim Hendrikx went to a tiebreaker against Halpin/Lee. Lin and Hendrikx had match points at 6-5, and again at 8-7, but Halpin and Lee won the final three points to take it, 10-8, and give Notre Dame the 1-0 lead.
Zharyn and Bouchelaghem each improved to 3-0 in singles with their straight set wins. Zharyn defeated Matt Che, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 2. Bouchelaghem then won seven games in a row from 4-4 in the first set against Addy Vashishta to secure a 6-4, 6-1 win.
Lin lost at No. 1 singles against a top-20 opponent, as No. 17 Sebastian Dominko won 6-2, 6-1. Rikuto Yamaguchi was trying to take his No. 4 singles match to a third set against Connor Fu, but Fu closed it out, 6-1, 7-6 (7). Hendrikx also fought hard to turn around his No. 6 match but couldn’t quite get there, falling 6-1, 6-4, to Yu Zhang. Suko was down a set as well on court five when his match was suspended.
UW will take on Liberty, which fell to the host Wildcats prior to UW’s match today.
Washington Men’s Tennis
ITA Kickoff Weekend – Round One
January 27, 2023
Lexington, Ky. | Hillary J. Boone Indoor Tennis Center
Washington – 2
Notre Dame – 4
Singles
1. (#17)…
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