Arkansas Tops Kentucky For Second SEC Win
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas men’s tennis team defeated Kentucky Saturday afternoon 4-3 for its second Southeastern Conference win of the season.
The match was decided in a three-set match on court one between two nationally-ranked athletes in No. 53 Oscar Mesquida and No. 44 Ryo Matsumura (UK). After dropping the first set in a tiebreaker 7-6(5), Mesquida stormed back to take the second set 6-3. In the final tiebreaker, Mesquida came out on top 6-4 to give Arkansas its clinching point.
The Hogs jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a pair of 7-5 wins in doubles play. Enrique Paya gave the Razorbacks a 2-0 lead on court five in a two-set win over Kevin Huempfner (UK), 6-3, 6-1.
Kentucky picked up two points with consecutive wins on courts four and two. Cesar Bourgois (UK) took a close battle over Alex Reco 7-6(5), 6-4 that was followed up by a three set win by Enzo Wallart (UK) over No. 124 Adam Sanjurjo 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 to even things up 2-2.
Arkansas got its third point of the match from Pedro Dominguez Alonso in a three-set victory over Parth Aggarwal (UK) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Kentucky would again even the match on court three as Josh Howard-Tripp fell to Kento Yamada 7-5, 3-6, 1-6 to send the match to the deciding court.
The win marks Arkansas’ last home match until March 30 as the Hogs hit the road to face Texas A&M (March 22), LSU (March 24) and Ole Miss (March 28).
Doubles Results – Order of Finish (2,1)
1. Oscar Mesquida/Adam Sanjurjo (AR) def. Kento Yamada/Ryo Matsumura (UK) 7-5
2. Maxim Verboven/Enrique Paya (AR) def. Cesar Bourgois/Ying-Ze Chen (UK) 7-5
3. Alex Reco/Jose Alonso (AR) vs. Enzo Wallart/Kevin Huempfner (UK) 5-5, unfinished
Singles Results – Order of Finish (5,4,2,6,3,1)
1. #53 Oscar Mesquida (AR) def. #44 Ryo Matsumura (UK) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4
2. Enzo Wallart (UK) def. #124 Adam Sanjurjo (AR) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1
3. Kento Yamada (UK) def. Josh Howard-Tripp (AR) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1
4. Cesar Bourgois (UK) def. Alex Reco (AR) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
5. Enrique Paya (AR) def. Kevin Huempfner (UK) 6-3, 6-1
6. Pedro Alonso (AR) def. Parth Aggarwal (UK) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
For more information on Arkansas men’s tennis, including in-match updates, follow @RazorbackMTEN on Twitter.