University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
All-American Championship
Smith Defeats No. 3, Advances to Championship
October 10, 2009 | Men's Tennis
Tennessee junior John-Patrick Smith defeated the third-ranked player in the country in three sets to advance to the finals of the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla. The doubles team of Smith and junior Boris Conkic progressed to the semifinals.
Smith, ranked second nationally, won his ninth consecutive match by earning a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 semifinal victory over Southern California's Robert Farah. With the win, Smith improved to 10-1 in singles this season.
"I was really happy that J.P. has played so well, but more importantly, he showed a lot of competitive spirit today," Tennessee associate head coach Chris Woodruff said. "Even when he was faced with adversity, he was able to step up and win the big points."
Smith defeated Ashley Watling of host Tulsa 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals early Saturday afternoon before returning to the court to face Farah.
Smith faces No. 40 Andrei Daescu of Oklahoma in the championship match at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. Smith has already claimed one singles championship this season, winning the first flight of the UVa Plus One Invitational on Sept. 27.
Daescu defeated Southern California's Steve Johnson 7-6, 7-6 in his semifinal match.
In Doubles: Tennessee's doubles match was originally scheduled for 4 p.m., but it was put on hold as Smith played in the semifinals. After singles play was finished, Smith and Conkic teamed up to defeat Texas' Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zevala 9-8 (10-8) in the last match of the evening.
Although Smith and Conkic had never played doubles together in a tournament before, they have stringed together three wins against ranked opponents at the All-American, defeating the No. 2, the No. 18 and the No. 14 teams.
In the semifinals, the Tennessee duo plays yet another ranked team in No. 6 Moritz Baumann and Marek Michalicka of Wisconsin. The match is scheduled to begin after Smith plays for the singles championship.
Live scoring and video are available .
