LEXINGTON, Ky. — It was a day for the seeded players on Monday, as the 2019 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships kicked off from the Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center. On the women’s side of the draw, all 12 seeded players advanced into the next round of play with qualifying play beginning today.
Top-seeded Dabin Kim (KOR) def. Sophie Abrams (USA) 6-1, 6-2 to begin the play of the women’s side of the draw, and [2] Alycia Parks (USA) def. Epiphany B. Turner (USA) 6-0, 6-3 to get the seeds off to a strong start. Two seeded players are advancing into the next round thanks to tiebreak wins on the women’s side as [10] Tiphanie Fiquet (FRA) and [6] Emily Famming (NZL) were the only ones that needed tiebreaks.
Tuesday’s lineup is star-studded as July 30 is Lexington Tennis Club Kids Day and Ladies Day presented by Day Drinking. Women’s main draw play will commence at 10 a.m. ET and the Lexington Tennis Club’s NextGen Day runs from 10am-Noon.
It will have a Kentucky flare to it, as former Kentucky Wildcat All-Americans Eric Quigley (USA) and Jesse Witten (USA) will headline the night session beginning at 7 p.m. ET as the doubles pair will take on another former Wildcat, William Bushamuka (USA) and Matt Halpin (USA). The ATP singles match will feature Enzo Wallart (FRA), who just completed his four-year career as a Wildcat.
American Sebastain Korda (USA) had one of the most impressive wins of the day, as he breezed past Michail Pervolarakis (GRE) 6-3, 6-2 on the main show court in just over an hour’s time. Korda served at 62 percent in the match and was efficient, breaking on all three of his break points he saw in the match.
In the night session, the women’s qualification day came to an end in less than 55 minutes as Peyton Stearns (USA) defeated Jasmine Boyd (USA), 6-1, 6-0. Stearns never faced a break point in the match and was able to dig into six of Boyd’s service games, breaking in every game she earned a break point.
On the men’s side, John McNally (USA) won a three-set thriller 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-1 to book his spot into the second round.
