It’s not often you see college teammates competing against each other in a professional tournament. On Monday morning, however, two of Florida’s men’s tennis players will go head to head for a spot in the City of Sunrise Pro Tennis Classic’s main draw.
Senior Jordan Belga and freshman Oliver Crawford dominated their first three matches of the event, winning every set they played in to earn a spot in the final round of their qualifying bracket.
Freshman Duarte Vale will also play for a bid in the tournament’s main draw after a convincing 6-2, 6-2, victory over Mikhail Sokolovskiy in the third round of competition. Vale, the bracket’s No. 10 seed from Cascais, Portugal, will challenge No. 8-seeded Filip Bergevi of Sweden in the final match of qualifying play, also set for Monday morning.
At least one of the three Gators playing Monday will advance to the tournament’s main event, which features professional players ranked as high as No. 258 in the world.
Sunday’s action required two matches from each of the seven UF players who survived the tournament’s opening round earlier in the weekend.
Senior Chase Perez-Blanco, junior McClain Kessler and sophomore Johannes Ingildsen all lost their second contest of the day. Ingildsen played the Gators’ most competitive match, falling in three sets to Karl Poling, 6-4, 4-6, 4-6 in the third round.
In the second round, freshman Andy Andrade failed to overcome No. 3-seeded Florian Lakat, losing in a match that seemed to favor Andrade after the first set. A final score of 7-5, 2-6, 4-6 ended Andrade’s hopes of an upset and landed Florida its second loss of the weekend. Its first came on Saturday when sophomore Stephen Madonia was the Gators’ lone loser in the first round. He dropped a one-sided match to Korey Lovett 6-1, 6-2.
Monday’s play begins at 10 a.m. and will last only one round, giving the winning players a chance to rest before the tournament’s main draw opens on Tuesday.
Follow Benjamin Brandt on Twitter @bhb1227 and contact him bbrandt@alligator.org.
Florida sophomore Johannes Ingildsen lost in the third round of the City of Sunrise Pro Tennis Classic's qualifying draw on Sunday, leaving teammates Jordan Belga, Oliver Crawford and Duarte Vale as the only Gators remaining in the event.
