Alabama Men’s Tennis Upsets No. 25 Kentucky, 4-1, to Advance to Quarterfinals of SEC Tournament

Thursday, April 26

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

4 p.m. CT

Alabama

#25 Kentucky

Alabama Men’s Tennis Upsets No. 25 Kentucky, 4-1, to Advance to Quarterfinals of SEC Tournament

4/26/2018 8:53:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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The Crimson Tide is advancing to the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals for the first time since 2013

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's tennis team upset No. 25 Kentucky, 4-1, on Thursday night at the Alabama Tennis Stadium in the second round of the 2018 SEC Men's Tennis Tournament.

"We had grit and tenacity tonight," head coach George Husack said. "We were relentless. We certainly had opportunities and you can look at doubles, we had match points and didn't convert them, we saved a couple match points, every score was close so that 1-0 lead was huge."

With the crucial win, the No. 12-seed Crimson Tide (18-11) will advance to play the No. 4-seed and 19^th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers tomorrow at 4 p.m. CT at the Alabama Tennis Stadium.

The victory marked the first time the Tide has advanced to the quarterfinals in the SEC Tournament since 2013. UA now has 18 wins on the season which is the most wins for the program since 2009.

The Tide started the day by winning a thrilling doubles point. After freshman Patrick Kaukovalta and sophomore Zhe Zhou edged Yates/Matsumura, 7-5, and No. 18 Benson/Bourgois pushed past No. 30 junior Mazen Osama and sophomore Edson Ortiz, 7-6 (4), it came down to the No. 2 spot.

The sophomore tandem of Thibault Cancel and Alexey Nesterov fell behind 5-2 in the tiebreaker against Bushamuka/Hussey, before battling back to tie the break at 6-6. Cancel/Nesterov closed it out with a thrilling final two points to earn the much-needed doubles point.

In singles competition, Zhou ran past Austin Hussey, 6-3, 6-3, to double the Tide lead to 2-0. Later on in the match, No. 18 Osama picked up his eighth win over a nationally-ranked opponent when he bested No. 8 Ryotaro Matsumura, 7-5, 6-4, to push the lead to 3-0. Osama's win over the eighth-ranked Matsumura tied a career-high for the highest ranked opponent that the Cairo, Egypt native, has defeated as he bested No. 8 Nuno Borges of Mississippi State last season.

Moments after Kaukovalta fell to No. 49 William Bushamuka, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, Nesterov closed out the match. The Moscow, Russia native, disposed of Kento Yamada at the No. 5 spot 7-5, 6-3, to send the Tide to the quarterfinals.

Alabama Results:

Singles vs. Kentucky:

No. 18 Mazen Osama def. No. 8 Ryotaro Matsumura, 7-5, 6-4

No. 49 William Bushamuka def. Patrick Kaukovalta, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3

Thibault Cancel vs. Enzo Wallart, 7-6 (2), 3-1, unf.

Edson Ortiz vs. Trey Yates, 7-6 (3), 5-5, unf.

Alexey Nesterov def. Kento Yamada, 7-5, 6-3

Zhe Zhou def. Austin Hussey, 6-3, 6-3

Order of Finish: 6, 1, 2, 5

Doubles vs. Kentucky:

No. 18 Benson/Bourgois def. No. 30 Osama/Ortiz, 7-6 (4)

Cancel/Nesterov def. Bushamaka/Hussey, 7-6 (6)

Zhou/Kaukovalta def. Yates/Matsumura, 7-5

Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2

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