For the second time in his career, Alexandre Lacroix got the better of Stanford’s Bradley Klahn.
No. 9 Lacroix took down the third-ranked Klahn in straight sets (6-2, 6-2) in the second round of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in Flushing, N.Y.
The senior followed up with an impressive straight-sets win against No. 24 Gonzalo Escobar of Texas Tech (6-3, 6-3) to advance to the semifinals.
In women’s action, Allie Will dominated for the second straight day, picking up a hard-fought victory against Northwestern’s Maria Mosolova (2-6, 6-4, 6-1) and a straight-sets win (6-4, 6-3) over top-seeded Hilary Barte of Stanford.
Although she didn’t play well in the first set against Mosolova, Will made it through the mental grind and earned a tough victory, Coach Roland Thornqvist said.
With the victories, Will advanced to the singles semifinals where she will take on Southern California’s Maria Sanchez on Saturday.
Will also performed well in doubles as she and Sofie Oyen defeated Tennessee’s pair of Brynn Boren and Maria Sorbello (8-2) to move on to the semifinals.
“I thought she played great today,” Thornqvist said. “Allie is one of the toughest competitors in the country. She’s getting to be a more complete player.”
Gators out west: While freshmen Andrew Butz and Michael Alford had their struggles in singles competition, the duo picked up a solid win (9-7) against Baylor’s fourth-seeded team of Roberto Maytin and Robert Verzaal in the first round of doubles at the University of Texas Invitational. Both freshmen lost their singles matches against two Texas A&M competitiors as Butz fell to Alexis Klegou (6-3, 6-2) and Alford lost to Alexi Grigorov (6-2, 6-2).
Bob van Overbeek recorded two singles victories as he took down Sam Garforth Bles of Rice (6-1, 6-2) and Ashwin Vijayragavan of Texas-Pan American (6-7, 6-2, 6-2) to advance to the semifinals.
First day of Fall Classic: Two Gators won their first-round singles matches at the Gator Fall Classic held at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex on Friday.
Junior Joanna Mather defeated Florida State’s Federica Suess in straight sets (6-1, 6-1) to earn her 50th career singles win.
Mather also won her doubles match with Caroline Hitimana against Florida International’s Lisa Johnson and Liset Brito (8-3).
Sophomore Brittany Borsanyi recorded the Gators’ other singles victory as she defeated Florida State’s Manon Veldman in straight sets (6-3, 6-2).
