The UF men’s tennis team took care of business on Thursday night when it took the courts at the Alabama Tennis Stadium.
The No. 12 Gators (13-6, 6-1 SEC) extended their win streak to five matches and currently sit in third place in the SEC standings. They trail behind Georgia and Texas A&M, who have undefeated conference records.
Florida dominated its match with ‘Bama from the start, beginning with doubles play.
The upperclassmen captured the doubles point for the Gators on Courts 2 and 3. Redshirt junior Joshua Wardell and junior Chase Perez-Blanco won easily over ‘Bama’s Zhe Zhou and Edson Ortiz by a score of 6-1. Senior Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin were in a tight match with Thibault Cancel and Alexey Nesterov but pulled out the victory, 7-5.
The lone ranked matchup in doubles, featuring UF’s No. 6-ranked duo of Alfredo Perez and Johannes Ingildsen, ended undecided at 6-6.
Florida was able to carry its momentum into singles play. However, slow starts came from UF’s captain, Orkin, and top-ranked player, Perez.
Orkin captur the first set, 7-6, while Perez dropped the first set to Mazen Osama, 6-1. Osama faced off with Perez in doubles and is ranked 35th in the ITA rankings in singles play. Perez captured the second set 7-5; however, he and Orkin’s matches did not finish. Freshman Joseph Guillin’s match also ended undecided. Guillin was closing in on his fourth straight singles victory when the match was stopped at 6-3, 6-5.
Despite slow starts on Courts 1 and 2, the strong play of Perez-Blanco and Ingildsen helped the Gators get off to a fast start. Perez-Blanco swiftly defeated Ortiz by a tally of 6-2, 6-0.
Meanwhile, Ingildsen took care of Nesterov, 6-3, 6-0.
Lipman secured the match for UF when he defeated the Tide’s Spencer Richey, 6-3, 7-6.
“It was a good road win tonight in some windy, cool conditions,” coach Bryan Shelton said in a release.
“I like the toughness our guys showed.”
From Tuscaloosa, Florida will travel to Lexington to face Kentucky on Saturday at 1 p.m. The No. 24 Wildcats (13-8, 4-4 SEC) feature a lineup with the ITA 17th and 24th-ranked players.
“I am looking forward to another good practice tomorrow before we play Kentucky on Saturday,” Shelton said.
Contact Mark Stine at mstine@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @mstinejr.
Senior Chase Perez-Blanco and two of his teammates will be recognized for their contributions to the team before tonight's Senior Day matchup with Alabama.
