Overland Park native set to make Final Four debut at NCAA tennis championships

ORLANDO, Fla. (KCTV) - Murphy Cassone, the No. 1 high school prospect out of the state of Kansas in the class of 2021, is headed to the men’s Final Four in Orlando.

Cassone, who trained at Overland Park Racquet Club, was ranked first in United States juniors and No. 131 internationally coming into his freshman season at Arizona State. Further, he has picked up over 50 wins over the past three years with a 13.0 rating per the Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) system.

During his freshman season under head coach Matt Hill, he upset No. 1 collegiate player at the time Auguste Holmgren, and claimed Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Rookie of the Year honors.

The success hasn’t stopped in his second season as a Sun Devil, though. Cassone was a perfect 6-0 in April and he finished the regular season 17-6 (8-2 in the Pac-12) in singles play with Pac-12 All-Conference First Team honors and a 3.1 ITF World Tennis Number.

After achieving All-American status as a sophomore, Cassone has taken the NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Tournament by storm. As the No. 42 ranked player, Cassone grabbed the third set over Cannon Kingsley of Ohio State and defeated No. 61 Micah Braswell of Texas in two sets to advance to the Elite Eight in Orlando. A big test was set as a result in the Elite Eight against Pac-12 foe Stanford’s No. 3 seeded Arthur Fery.

Cassone stayed on fire against the Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year who had nine wins over ranked opponents this season and three over top-eight seed in the National Championship for the Cardinal.

Cassone upset No. 2 Arthur Fery in straight sets, 7-6, 7-5, to advance to the 2023 NCAA Men’s Tennis Semifinals on Thursday Morning.

It was back-and-forth, but Cassone won in the tiebreaker. Fery went up 3-0 in the second set before Murphy could get on the board, but a double-fault by Fery while up 4-1 changed the momentum and led to tying up the match 5-5. The final point completing the 7-5 victory in favor of the maroon and gold took eight serves.

“It was a great mental effort by Murphy today as Arthur is one of the best players in the country, which was displayed on the court,” head coach Matt Hill said. “We knew it would come down to a couple of points on who could execute better, and who was willing to be braver in the bigger moments.”

No. 42 Cassone is set to take on Michigan’s No. 8 Ondrej Styler on Friday, May 26 from Orlando, Florida in the Final Four.

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