Late Rally Puts Kentucky Tennis into NCAA Sweet 16 

The No. 4 seeded Kentucky Wildcats rallied from a 3-1 deficit to defeat Northwestern 4-3 and advance to the Sweet 16 of the Men’s NCAA tennis tournament on a picture-perfect Derby day at the Boone Tennis Center in Lexington. 

Josh Lapadat, Liam Draxl, and Taha Baadi all rallied to win from a set down, with Baadi getting a thrilling 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 win to clinch the match.  It certainly wasn’t easy.

COMEBACK Cats. Kentucky defeated Northwestern 4-3 🎾 to advance to the Sweet 16! UK lost all six first sets and trailed the overall match 3-1! Never a doubt right??!! Taha Baadi with the clincher 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 pic.twitter.com/uh9xGXwWyJ

— Troy Howell (@teeroyhowell) May 6, 2023

“You could see at the end, they are very tough, their level kind of elevates every ten, fifteen minutes,” UK head coach Cedric Kauffman said about the upperclassmen trio. “They are not afraid. They are not afraid to play the right type of tennis. The longer the match goes (when) it’s played in the last (few) minutes, I think we are one of the best teams in the country.”

After winning the doubles point, Kentucky (26-4) dug themselves in a huge hole by losing all six singles first sets.

Northwestern’s Ivan Yatsuk used a powerful serve to quickly defeat Alafia Ayeni 6-2, 6-1 on court 2, evening the overall match at 1.  

Presley Thieneman posted a 6-1, 6-4 win on court five over Kentucky freshman Jaden Weekes to continue the Northwestern momentum. 

Gleb Bleker extended the Northwestern lead and put the Purple Wildcats on the brink with a 7-5, 0-6. 6-1 win over Kentucky freshman Charlelie Cosnet on court six. Lapadat cruised in the third set to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on court three to pull UK to with 3-2, setting up the heroics from Draxl and Baadi.

Draxl, ranked number 13 in the country, grinded out an epic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over #29 Steve Forman on Court 1, getting revenge for a straight set loss to Forman in last year’s NCAA tournament.  Draxl won clutch deuce points (college tennis plays No-Ad scoring) at 4-4 and 5-4 to take the match.

“Liam is one of the greatest college players,” Coach Kauffmann said. “I’ve been around college tennis for 30 years. He’s one of the toughest to get out, especially in those matches at home on the stadium court. He’s just a tough kid. I trust him.”

Baadi lost the first set despite having a set point but rallied to win the second and go up 3-0 in the third. Trice Pickens was able to eventually even the final set before Baadi broke serve at 5-4 to give Kentucky the victory and put the ‘Cats back in the Sweet 16 for the second straight season. Their most recent trip before that was back in 2014.

Sticker time for UK 🎾 – Go Big Blue! Sweet 16 bound!!! pic.twitter.com/r4idKYZ0AV

— Troy Howell (@teeroyhowell) May 6, 2023

Doubles

Even after changing their top pairing (swapping Alex LeBlanc in for Baadi) Kentucky continued to struggle on the number 1 doubles court with Northwestern’s strong pairing of Bratholm/Forman (ranked #54) defeating LeBlanc and Ayeni 6-1. 

Weekes and Draxl continued their reliable play on court 3 by winning the last four games to take the match 6-2 and even the overall doubles match.

For the second straight day, Lapadat and JJ Mercer came through in the clutch on court 2. They got the first break of the match at 5-all before Mercer held serve to give Kentucky a huge 7-5 win and a 1-0 lead in the team match that proved to be crucial. Kentucky is undefeated when they win the doubles point.

UK wins on court 3 and here on court 2 to take the doubles point. They lead Northwestern 1-0! pic.twitter.com/TeBKHDO1Zq

— Troy Howell (@teeroyhowell) May 6, 2023

Results

Doubles:

• Court 1: Ayeni/LeBlanc (UK) LOST TO #54 Bratholm/Forman 6-1
• Court 2: #67 Lapadat/Mercer (UK) DEFEATED Blekher/Yatsuk 7-5
• Court 3: Draxl/Weekes (UK) DEFEATED Pickens/Spear 6-2

Order of finish 1, 3, 2

Singles:

• Court 1: #13 Liam Draxl DEFEATED #29 Steven Forman 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Court 2: #18 Alafia Ayeni LOST To #66 Ivan Yatsuk 6-2, 6-1
• Court 3: #59 Josh Lapadat DEFEATED Simon Bratholm 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
• Court 4: Taha Baadi DEFEATED Trice Pickens 6-7, 6-4 6-4
• Court 5: Jaden Weekes LOST TO Presley Thieneman 6-1, 6-4
• Court 6: Charlelie Cosnet LOST TO Gleb Bleker 7-5, 0-6, 6-3

Order of Finish: 2, 5, 6, 3, 1, 4

Next Up

Kentucky will host the Stanford Cardinal next Saturday in Lexington for the right to advance to the final site in Orlando. The Cardinal went on the road and beat number 13 Columbia 4-2. Stanford, though unseeded, is a dangerous team at the top of the lineup now that they are healthy.