It was another day of success for Florida sophomore Alfredo Perez at the NCAA Individual Championships, but it was a day of close calls for him in both the singles and doubles competitions.
Perez’ day started off with an early morning matchup against a fellow sophomore, TCU’s Alex Rybakov. The Gator number one took the first set over the Horned Frog, 6-3. However, Rybakov came right back to win a close second set, 7-5. But despite the momentum swinging into the direction of Rybakov, Perez was able to keep his composure and capture a late third-set break. He served for the match and will advance to the round of 16 by way of a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory.
Perez then moved into doubles play his partner, UF freshman Johannes Ingildsen. The nation’s third-ranked partnership defeated UC Santa Barbara’s of Simon Freud and Morgan Mays in a match that ended in a tiebreak.
Freud/Mays won the first set over the Gator duo, 6-4. However, Perez/Ingildsen fired back, taking the second set 6-3. Splitting the first two sets caused for a third-set tiebreak. The Florida pairing avoided the upset, taking the tiebreak and the match 4-6, 7-5, 10-7.
The next team up for Perez/Ingildsen is the tandem of Juan Benitez and Will Little, who hale from Baylor, at 4 p.m. No. 8 Perez will also take on North Carolina’s No. 16 William Blumberg in singles at 11 a.m.
Contact Mark Stine at mstine@alligator.org and following him on Twitter @mstinejr.
UF's Alfredo Perez advanced in singles play at the National Fall Championships in Indian Wells, California, with a win over Nicolas Moreno de Alboran of UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday afternoon.
