GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A solid 4-1 victory for Florida’s No. 16 men’s tennis team (2-1) over USF (3-4) on Friday afternoon at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex led to the Gators to Saturday’s ITA Kickoff championship. match against SEC enemy Mississippi State.
Orange & Blue jumped out to a 1-0 lead thanks to a strong performance on courts one and three. On court one, will grant/Axel Neve worked to a 3-0 lead when the pair converted a break point in the Erik Grevelius/Davide Tortora first service game. Grant/Nefve cruised to a 6-3 victory, their first doubles win of the season, and moved the Gators to within a match of doubles point.
Due to No. 10 Tanapatt Nirundorn/togan tokac falling 6-3 to Bruno Oliveira/Thomas Pavlekovich-Smith, No. 43 Jonas Braswell/Lucas Greif he needed to go through field three. The Gators duo rose to the occasion and converted two break points to clinch the doubles point, 6-4, over Sam Frizelle/Alvin Tudorica.
In singles play, all three of the Gators’ wins came in straight sets on courts six, four, and five, respectively. Tokac was the first Gator to score a point, when the freshman outpointed Pavlekovich-Smith, 6-3, 6-0. After playing the first two dual games of the season on court five, the win marked the first for the Turkey natives on court six and improved to 2-1 in dual play.
Fellow freshman No. 93 Braswell continued his winning ways in his first game on court four. Braswell only dropped three games in a 6-2, 6-1 win over Oliveira. The Sarasota, Florida native is 18-3 in singles this season and is 3-0 in doubleheaders.
Greif clinched his sixth career game in Florida and the first of the 2023 season with a blowout defeat of Elijah Cham, 6-4, 6-2. The senior improved to 15-2 on court five in singles doubleheaders and 28-8 overall in his career as a Gator.
Florida takes on Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon at 2 pm ET at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex. The winner of that match qualifies for the ITA Indoor National Championships, scheduled for February 17-20 in Chicago, Illinois.
DOUBLES RESULTS
one. will grant/Axel Neve (UF) def. Erik Grevelius/Davide Tortora (USF), 6-3
2. Bruno Oliveira/Thomas Pavlekovich-Smith (USF) def. No. 10 Tanapatt Nirundorn/togan tokac (UF), 3-6
3. No. 43 Jonas Braswell/Lucas Greif (UF) def. Sam Frizelle/Alvin Tudorica (USF), 6-4
Order of Completion: 1, 2, 3
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
one. Axel Neve (UF) vs. No. 69 Davide Tortora (USF), 6-0, 6-6 (8-8), unfinished
2. will grant (UF) vs. Erik Grevelius (USF), 3-6, 6-3, 3-1, inconclusive
3. No. 67 Alvin Tudorica (USF) def. No. 51 nate bonetto (UF), 6-2, 6-3
4. No. 93 Jonas Braswell (UF) def. Bruno Oliveira (USF), 6-2, 6-1
5. Lucas Greif (UF) def. Elias Cham (USF), 6-4, 6-2
6. togan tokac (UF) def. Thomas Pavlekovich-Smith (USF), 6-3, 6-0
arrival order: 6, 3, 4, 5
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