When No. 1 seed Anna Danilina was upset by an unranked opponent in her first match of the ITA National Fall Championships, she didn’t give up and go home.
After that loss, Danilina fought her way to the singles consolation finals against Anna Bright of California and secured her third title of the season with a win, 5-7, 7-6, 7-5.
“What an incredible turnaround from four days ago when we started the tournament,” UF women’s assistant coach Dave Balogh said in a release. “Anna got better every day and played her best today.”
Danilina’s victory was one of two for Florida at the Fall Championships in Indian Wells, California, on Sunday.
In addition to Danilina, the duo of freshman Oliver Crawford and senior Chase Perez-Blanco found an easy victory over Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent of Oregon. The Gators pair won the match with scores of 6-2, 6-3, claiming the doubles consolation title.
In singles, No. 9-seeded junior Alfredo Perez put up a tough fight against No.3 seed Petros Chrysochos of Wake Forest in the quarterfinals, but Perez was ultimately knocked out of contention for a singles title after dropping the match, 7-5, 6-4.
Sophomore Johannes Ingildsen was also knocked out of the tournament after losing his quarterfinals match to Mike Pervolarakis of Portland in the singles consolation bracket, 6-2, 6-1.
Florida’s tennis program won two more titles over the weekend while competing in the Dick Vitale Invitational in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.
No. 3 seed Andy Andrade, a freshman, ended his fall season by claiming a singles title over No. 1 seed Mattias Siimar of Michigan in an upset.
Andrade made a comeback after dropping the first set to win the match, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5. Overall, he won five singles matches in the tournament. Two of them were upsets.
Senior Josie Kuhlman claimed her own singles title Sunday against Monica Matias of Central Florida in two sets, 6-2, 6-3.
Freshman Katie Kubicz made an impressive run at the Dick Vitale Invitational as well. Kubicz won three matches (all in just two sets) before losing to Matias in the third set on Saturday.
In doubles, the UF men’s duo of Andrade and senior Jordan Belga made it to the finals against No. 2 seed Carter Lin and Mattias Siimar of Michigan, but ultimately dropped the match on Sunday with a score of 8-4.
Overall, the women’s team finished its fall season with three titles (two singles and one doubles) and the men’s team finished its with eight titles (four singles and four doubles).
You can follow Mari Faiello on Twitter @faiello_mari, and contact her at mfaiello@alligator.org.
UF women's tennis player Anna Danilina won the singles consolation finals at the ITA National Fall Championships on Sunday in Indian Wells, California.
