Multiple players on Florida’s men’s tennis team made it clear that they believe this team has the makings of a national title contender. An opening weekend that saw the Gators take four titles certainly backed up those assertions.
UF claimed three doubles titles and a singles title over the course of the weekend with players competing in multiple tournaments. Florida claimed championships in all three doubles draws at the UVA Masters in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Oliver Crawford won the singles title over teammate Johannes Ingildsen.
Freshmen twins Greysen and Harrison Cacciatore also represented the Gators in South Carolina at the Gamecock Invitational.
All three doubles championship matches featured Gators duos, and they swept the field. In the blue doubles draw, freshman Sam Riffice and sophomore Andy Andrade defeated Jackie Tang and Adam Ambrozy of Columbia 6-4.
Freshman Lukas Greif and sophomore Brian Berdusco narrowly came out on top against Ivan Saveljic and Igor Saveljic of N.C. State 7-6 in the orange draw.
The white draw saw All-Americans sophomore Duarte Vale and senior McClain Kessler defeat Florian Broska and Strahinja Rakic from Mississippi State 6-4.
Success in doubles carried over to singles play for Florida. All eight players advanced to the round of 16, and Greif picked up an upset win over Giovanni Oradini, the top overall seed from Mississippi State.
Andrade, Ingildsen and Crawford all advanced to the quarterfinals. Crawford defeated Andrade with a trip to the semifinals on the line alongside Ingildsen. Their wins in the semifinals set up a Gator vs. Gator championship match, which Crawford won in two sets, 6-4 and 6-1, to claim his first individual championship at UF.
“Our guys had a lot of success throughout the weekend, and it was great to win all four titles,” head coach Bryan Shelton said in a release. “Having Joe (Johannes Ingildsen) and Oliver (Crawford) face off in the finals of the singles draw was incredible. Oliver was just a little bit better in the bigger moments today in both the semis and the finals.”
The Cacciatore twins were victorious in their first two doubles matches for the Gators in South Carolina. They fell in the semifinals of the Gamecock Invitational to Connor Williamson and Lluis Miralles from Winthrop but finished their first tournament with two doubles wins together.
“The goal in these fall tournaments is to improve and get better,” assistant coach Scott Perelman said of the Cacciatores. “They both accomplished that this weekend. Time to go home and get back to work.”
There will not be much time to rest for the Gators before their next tournament. They will travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the 2018 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championships.
Follow Kyle Wood on Twitter @Kkylewood or contact him at kwood@alligator.org.
Sophomore Oliver Crawford has advanced to the quarterfinals of the USA F28 Futures tournament in Harlingen, Texas. He'll try and advance with a win during his 11 a.m. match today, while most of his UF teammates will see action at the ITA Regional Championships in Athens, Georgia.
