University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships
Smith Advances to Regional Finals
October 24, 2010 | Men's Tennis
Oct. 24, 2010
Senior John-Patrick Smith defeated two ranked opponents Sunday at the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships to reach his first final of the fall season.
Sophomore Rhyne Williams upset 10th-ranked Austen Childs of Louisville but fell in the quarterfinals to No. 2-seeded Eric Quigley of host Kentucky in Lexington.
Smith and Quigley face each other in the final Monday at noon Eastern, and a live blog of the championship match will be available on UTSports.com.
Smith, No. 1-ranked player in the NCAA, collected his first two ranked wins of the fall on his way to the title match Sunday. He beat No. 63 Simon Childs 6-3, 6-1 in the afternoon quarterfinals and faced 20th-ranked Ryan Lipman of Vanderbilt in the semifinals. Smith earned a 6-2, 6-3 victory against the Commodores' No. 1 singles player.
Smith has not dropped a set through the first five matches of the tournament and improved to 10-3 this season. The victory over Lipman was the 120th of his career, tying him with Mark Parsons (1997-2001) for fourth on UT's all-time singles list.
Williams, ranked 21st nationally, faced a tough draw entering Sunday's competition with two top-10 opponents standing between him and a trip to the finals. He first upset 10th-ranked and 2010 NCAA singles finalist Austen Childs for the second time in his career, 7-6 (1), 6-4.
In the semifinal, Williams fell to Quigley 6-2, 7-6 (5) to snap a four-match winning streak. Williams is 2-2 against top 10 opponents this season, with his first victory coming against No. 5 Chase Buchanan of Ohio State at the ITA All-American Championships earlier this month.
In doubles, the regional run for two of UT's pairings ended in the semifinals. Although both teams were seeded entering the tournament, neither pairing had played a collegiate match together before Friday.
Smith and sophomore Tennys Sandgren, seeded second, lost a closely contested semifinal match in a tiebreaker 9-8 (1) to the third-seeded duo of Austen Childs and Viktor Maksimcuk of Louisville. Williams and sophomore Edward Jones fell down a break late in the match, losing 9-7 to top-ranked Quigley and Brad Cox of Kentucky.
ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships
Sunday's Results
Singles
Quarterfinals
(1) John-Patrick Smith, UT, def. (7) Simon Childs, Louisville, 6-3, 6-1
(5) Rhyne Williams, UT, def. (3) Austen Childs, Louisville, 7-6 (1), 6-4
Semifinals
(1) John-Patrick Smith, UT, def. (4) Ryan Lipman, Vanderbilt, 6-2, 6-3
(2) Eric Quigley, Kentucky, def. (5) Rhyne Williams, UT, 6-2, 7-6 (5)
Doubles
Semifinals
(3) Austen Childs/Viktor Maksimcuk, Louisville, def. (2) John-Patrick Smith/Tennys Sandgren, UT, 9-8 (1)
(1) Eric Quigley/Brad Cox, Kentucky, def. (5-8) Edward Jones/Rhyne Williams, UT, 9-7
Players Mentioned
