Florida tennis struggled in the individual championships Monday as the majority of the Gators’ remaining athletes were eliminated.
Junior Sam Riffice defeated Georgia Tech’s Andres Martin. Riffice struggled out of the gate and lost the first set for the second day in a row. The junior recovered to down Martin 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 and will face Illinois’s Siphosothando Montsi in the round of 16 on Tuesday at noon.
Elsewhere in men’s singles play, seniors Duarte Vale and Andy Andrade were both sent home in their round of 32 matches.
Vale took the first set against San Diego’s August Holmgren, but went on to drop sets two and three, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. UCF’s Gabriel Decamps defeated Andrade in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.
In men’s doubles, the Gator duos of Vale and Riffice and senior Johannes Ingildsen and sophomore Will Grant both exited the tournament after decisive first-round losses.
Duke’s Kelly Chen snapped senior McCartney Kessler’s nine-match win streak in straight sets in women’s singles. Kessler was Florida’s only female participant in singles, and her loss left Riffice as the only remaining singles competitor for the Gators.
Despite dropping in singles, Kessler and junior Marlee Zein took the court in doubles Monday afternoon as the No. 7 seed. The Florida duo defeated No. 13 Louisville’s Raven Neely and Tatiana Simova and advanced to play Tuesday.
Contact Ryan Zehnder at rzehnder@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @ryan_zehnder.
