Alfredo Perez will advance to the second round of the NCAA Singles Championship for a second straight year.
A season ago, Perez entered NCAA singles play ranked No. 53 overall in the country and fell to Petros Chrysochos of Wake Forest on day two of the national tournament.
In 2017, however, the Havana, Cuba, native looks primed for a deeper run in the competition.
Perez opened play on Wednesday as the No. 6 seed of the bracket and defeated Illinois’ Aron Hiltzik by a score of 6-4, 6-1.
The first set was kept close and remained on serve until Perez captured a late break, giving him a 5-4 lead and allowing himself to serve out the set.
The sophomore then asserted his dominance throughout the second set. He served well and played with aggression, making critical plays at the net to take a commanding 5-0 lead. Hiltzik was able to avoid the shutout by capturing a service game, but that allowed Perez to serve out the set once again, clinching the victory and a spot in the Round of 32.
The Gators’ star will next face TCU’s No. 20-ranked Alex Rybakov today at 9 a.m. Perez will also compete with doubles partner Johannes Ingildsen at 1:30 p.m. when they face UC Santa Barbara’s Simon Freund and Morgan Mays in the opening round of the NCAA Doubles Championship.
Contact Mark Stine at mstine@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @mstinejr.
Florida men's tennis player Alfredo Perez emigrated from his hometown of Artemisa, Cuba, to live in Miami when he was 10-years-old.
