After narrowly escaping a home upset loss at the hands of Memphis on Thursday, No. 8 Kentucky men’s tennis traveled to Louisville where it took over the Battle of the Bluegrass on Sunday, extending its all-time record to a flawless 30-0 against the in-state rival Cardinals.
The Wildcats opened up their commanding victory by grabbing the doubles point and a 1-0 lead thanks to total domination from all three Kentucky pairs, which never trailed in the starting slate. In Kentucky’s first victory of the afternoon, Martin Breysach and Jaden Weekes made light work of Louisville’s premiere duo of Natan Rodrigues and Andre Steinbach, defeating them 6-2.
Just one minute later, in their first time sharing the court this season, the young pair of Antoine Ghibaudo and Eli Stephenson closed out their doubles-point-clinching rout over Hamza El Amine and Will Mayew by a final score of 6-3.
Charlelie Cosnet and Matt Rankin were also on track to defeat their opponents, jumping out to a 5-4 lead over Miguel Avendano and Kosuke Nakanishi before the match was abandoned thanks to the Ghibaudo-Stephenson win.
It was more of the same in singles play as the Wildcats maintained control of all six courts, taking the first set on each one. Finishing first for Kentucky was the Edinburgh, Scotland, native Rankin, who blew past Avendano 6-1, 6-2, extending its lead to 2-0.
Next to finish off his opponent was No. 79 ranked Cosnet, who grabbed a convincing 6-2, 6-4 win over the Japanese sophomore, Nakanishi, bringing Kentucky one point away from its fifth sweep to start 2025.
Sealing the deal for the Cats was No. 39 Weekes, who topped Steinbach in a close back-and-forth three-set feud. Weekes secured a 6-0 win in the first set, tallying the match’s only bagel, but Steinbach revived his fight, nearly flipping the script and claiming the second set 6-1.
In a pivotal, match-deciding third set, Weekes found his stride once again, overwhelming Steinbach 6-1 to clinch the 4-0 triumph of Kentucky’s final opponent before the 2025 Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) National Indoor Championship the weekend of Feb. 14.
Both Ghibaudo and Stephenson grabbed their first sets via tiebreaker, but play was vacated after Weekes’ match-clinching finish. Breysach, who was also bailed out by Weekes, split the first two frames with El Amine and was tied 2-2 in the deciding set before concluding play early.
Kentucky’s first road win of the 2025 campaign brought its record to an impressive 6-1 and 5-0 at home. The Cats will spend nearly two uninterrupted weeks dialing in their play at home before shipping down to Dallas, Texas, to face off in this year’s ITA National Indoor Championship. Draws, seeding and first-round match times for the tournament are set to be announced in the coming weeks.