One year later, Gator Maxx Lipman came one step closer to a title.
Ranked No. 100, Lipman reached the singles semifinals in the main draw at the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional Championships in Athens, Ga., on Sunday.
At the 2013 championships, Lipman and Elliott Orkin reached the singles quarterfinals of the main draw.
Lipman advanced to the semifinals after defeating 9-16 seed Piotr Lomacki from the University of Miami in three sets (2-6, 6-3, 6-4). The Gators’ team captain fell short after falling in the semifinals to No. 12-ranked Austin Smith from the University of Georgia, 6-2, 6-3.
Orkin reached the quarterfinals this year again but fell short after losing to Smith as well, 6-1, 6-3.
“It was great to see Maxx and Elliott make a run here at Regionals,” coach Bryan Shelton said in a release. “Maxx didn’t have an abundance of confidence coming into the tournament, but he was able to build it one point at a time over the past few days. Overall, we got a lot of great experience.”
All nine Gators competed in the tournament hosted by the University of Georgia. The tournament of 15 schools and a 32-player qualifying draw began Thursday and ends today.
Ranked No. 70 Watson made it to the singles semifinals main draw consolation until dropping to Chris Barrus from the University Central Florida, 1-6, 4-5, ret. (inj.). Last year, Watson claimed the consolation singles title after defeating Georgia Tech’s Carlos Benito, 6-2, 6-1.
Though two Gators reached near end, only one of three players made it past the first round of singles qualifying.
Redshirt freshman Oliver Landert defeated Graham Ball from Stetson University round one of singles qualifying, 6-1, 6-3. In third round he defeated Cole Fiegel (4-6, 7-5, 6-4), which secured Landert a spot in the main draw.
Landert dropped his first-round main draw match to Florida State’s Benjamin Lock in straight sets(6-4, 7-6(3)) but made it to semifinals of the singles consolation draw until dropping to Michael Kay from Georgia Tech, 6-2, 7-6(7).
Diego Hidalgo dropped to Wayne Montgomery from the University of Georgia, 6-1, 7-5. Rookie Chase Perez-Blanco dropped to Nathan Pasha from the University of Georgia, 7-6(4), 6-4.
“Some of our guys’ confidence is growing and others still need to get it going,” Shelton said. “It is a process and we are working on becoming better problems solvers and getting tougher.”
Follow Mary Francis on Twitter @_maryfrancis
UF men's tennis coach Bryan Shelton walks on the Ring Tennis Complex courts prior to Florida's 5-2 win against North Florida on Jan. 22
