LEXINGTON, July 27, 2016

Brian Baker, who will be representing the United States at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, came back from down a break in the third set and won a third-set tiebreaker to oust the No. 3-seeded Daniel Evans (GBR) to headline the action-packed fifth day of the $50,000 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships in Lexington.

Baker, down 4-3 in the third set trailing a break, broke back after an extended deuce game to level the set at four all and put the final set back on serve. Evans then immediately broke back for a 5-4 advantage, and had the chance to serve out the match. Baker fought off a few chances for Evans, who battled his serve down the stretch and double faulted to send the match into a tiebreak.

Baker took a quick 3-0 lead, and 6-2 lead setting up four match points with two serves on his racket to close out the match. But, Evans wouldn’t go away and rattled off four straight points before Baker took back the mini-break to win the tiebreaker, 8-6.

With the win, Baker moves into the round of 16, and will face another Brit, Liam Broady (GBR) on Thursday in Lexington. Broady was the featured singles match in the night session on Tuesday night, facing University of Kentucky sophomore, William Bushamuka (USA), who was a wild card entry into the tournament. Broady took the first set 6-2 over Bushamuka with two breaks of serve. In the second set, Broady again took an early break off of the US-American with a break at one all for 2-1 and saw out the rest of the match in 6-2, 6-2 fashion.

Second seed Malek Jaziri opened his Lexington Challenger campaign with a 6-3, 7-6 victory over Sekou Bangoura. The world number 62 from Tunisia sent down six aces, winning 76% of his first service points to seal the deal in two hours and 19 minutes. Jaziri will next take on Daniel Nguyen.

Wednesday night at the Boone Tennis Center will see a multitude of promotions, including Ladies’ Night, a Pro-Am prior to the night session, and “Big Blue Night” featuring newly-hired Kentucky baseball coach Nick Mingione.

In addition to the above promotions, Wednesday will see men’s top-seed Adrian Mannarino (FRA) take the courts for his second round match against Mitchell Krueger (USA), who today beat qualifier Mackenzie McDonald (USA) 7-6 (5), 6-2.

The Wednesday night session will feature fifth-seeded Grace Min (USA) on the women’s side looking to book her spot in the main draw’s round of 16, as she faces off against [WC] Francesca Di Lorenzo (USA) first on court two in the night session, not before 7 p.m. ET. On the men’s side, all singles matches will be played in the day session, with Kentucky Wildcats Eric Quigley, Nils Ellefsen and Enzo Wallert all in one doubles match second on court one in the night session. Current Wildcats Ellefsen (NOR) and Wallert (FRA) will team up to face Quigley (USA) and Nicolas Meister (USA) in doubles. First on the main show court for the men’s doubles will be Brydan Klein (GBR) and Andrew Whittington (AUS) facing India’s tandem of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) and Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND).

Monday, July 26 – Results

Men’s Singles Main Draw – First Round 

Ernesto Escobedo, United States, def. Guilherme Clezar, Brazil, 6-3, 7-6 (4)

(2) Malek Jaziri, Tunisia, def. Sekou Bangoura, United States, 6-3, 7-6 (6)

Daniel Nguyen, United States, def. Jesse Witten, United States, 6-1, 6-3

[Q] Alex Kuznetsov, United States, def. Juan Ignacio Londero, Argentina, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-4

(8) Stefan Kozlov, United States, def. Andrey Golubev, Uzbekistan, 6-2, 6-2

[Q] Lloyd Glasspool, Great Britain, def. James Ward, Great Britain, 6-3, 3-1, Ret.

[WC] Brian Baker, United States, def. (3) Daniel Evans, Great Britain, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (5)

Mitchell Krueger, United States, def. [Q] Mackenzie McDonald, United States, 7-6 (5), 6-2

Ramkumar Ramanathan, India, def. Luke Saville, Australia, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

Liam Broady, Great Britain, def. William Bushamuka, United States, 6-2, 6-2

Women’s Singles Main Draw – First Round

An-Sophie Mestach, Belgium, def. Victoria Rodriguez, Mexico, 6-1, 6-2

Sabrina Sharipova, Uzbekistan, def. [WC] Jennifer Elie, United States, 6-2, 6-4

Arina Rodinova, Australia, def. Sanaz Marand, United States, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4

Michaella Krajicek, Netherlands, def. Caroline Dolehide, United States, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2

Kristie Ahn, United States, def. Michelle Larcher de Brito, Portugal, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3

Women’s Singles Qualifying – Finals (Winners into main draw)

(7) Cristiana Ferrando, Italy, def. (4) Freya Christie, Great Britain, 6-1, 6-1

Olivia Rogowska, Australia, def. Emily Webley-Smith, Great Britain, 6-1, 7-6 (7)

Greet Minnen, Belgium, def. (3) Katy Dunne, Great Britain, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7)

Alison Bai, Australia, def. (1) Laura Robson, Great Britain, 6 (5)-7, 6-3, 6-4

Men’s Doubles Main Draw – First Round

(1) Frederik Nielsen (DEN) / David O’Hare (IRL) def. [Q] Alex Lawson (USA) / Austin Smith (USA) 4-6, 6-2, 10-5
Hiroki Moriya (JPN) / Y. Uchiyama (JPN) def. [WC] Jordi Arconada (USA) / Frances Tiafoe (USA) 7-6 (5), 5-7, 10-5
Sekou Bangoura (USA) / Jose Statham (NZL) def. [WC] Beck Pennington (USA) / Jesse Witten (USA) 7-6 (4), 6-3 

Women’s Doubles Main Draw – First Round

Sophie Chang/Alexandria Mueller (USA) def. Greetje Minnen/Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) 6-3, 3-6, 10-3

Riko Sawayanagi (JPN)/Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) def. [WC] Mary Haffey/Eva Raszkiewicz (USA) 6-1, 6-3

Alison Bai (AUS)/Keri Wong (USA) def. Jovana Aksic (SRB)/Sabina Sharipova (UZB) 6-1, 7-6 (3)