Florida men’s tennis gave the Arkansas Razorbacks no room to breathe in Gainesville.
The No. 22 Florida Gators (9-7, 4-2 SEC) defeated the No. 55 Arkansas Razorbacks (12-8, 0-7 SEC) 6-1 Friday evening at Alfred A. Ring Complex.
Doubles play was no problem for the Gators.
Florida senior Lukas Greif and freshman Jonah Braswell took care of Arkansas sophomore Jake Sweeney and junior Foster Rogers, 6-2, to win the first doubles match.
Gators graduate student Axel Nefve and junior Will Grant defeated the Razorbacks’ junior pair of Adrien Burdet and Melvin Manuel 6-4 to win the next doubles match. The win secured the doubles point for Florida.
Florida sophomore Nate Bonetto and freshman Tanapatt Nirundorn competed against Arkansas juniors Stefanos Savva and Alan Sau Franco. The match was retired since Florida had already secured the doubles point.
Freshman Togan Tokac carried Florida’s momentum into singles play. He won his match against Arkansas sophomore Oscar Pinto Sansano in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1.
Greif matched his teammate’s performance in his match against Razorbacks freshman Gerard Planelles Ripoll. The senior won the match by the same straight-sets score, 6-4, 6-1.
The No. 81-ranked Grant earned UF’s next win. He defeated Manuel in two sets, 7-5, 6-4. The win put Florida up 4-0 and secured the victory.
There were three singles matches left to be finished even though Florida clinched the win.
Nefve — the No. 70-ranked singles player — took on Savva in his singles match. Nefve won the first set 7-5, while Savva won the second set 7-6 (3). Nefve won the final set 10-7.
Arkansas scored its first point of the evening in the fifth singles match to finish. Sau Franco overcame Bonetto in a three-set match, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
The No. 97-ranked Braswell finished the day with a three-set win over Burdet, 6-3, 7-5, 10-2.
The Gators will host the No. 18-ranked Auburn Tigers at noon Sunday in Alfred A. Ring Complex.
Contact Eitan Ohana at eohana10@gmail.com. Follow him on twitter @eitan_ohana.
