The No. 23 Gators men’s tennis team battled past the Southern Methodist University Mustangs on a cold and windy afternoon at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex Sunday afternoon
Beginning with doubles, Florida took the point 2-0, with the match on Court 1 left unfinished. On Court 2, Gators freshman Adhithya Ganesan and sophomore Tanapatt Nirundorn went up against redshirt junior Maks Silagy and sophomore Jerry Barton of the Mustangs. Initially, the match was tight, but Ganesan and Nirundorn found another gear and won 6-2.
On Court 3, the Gators played junior Nate Bonetto and graduate transfer JanMagnus Johnson against the No. 60 pairing of graduate student Huntley Allen and senior Julian Steinhausen of SMU. Bonetto and Johnson came out with a 6-2 victory, but several games came down to the deciding points at 40-40. This intense match won the doubles point for Florida.
On Court 1, the Gators had the freshman duo of Jeremy Jin and Aidan Kim facing off against senior Adam Neff and freshman Trevor Svajda. Svajda and Neff jumped on the UF duo early, breaking their serve early and were up 5-1. Jin and Kim fought back to get the match to 5-4 when the doubles session ended.
The crowd at Linder Stadium brought energy and noise as both teams were emotional on the courts.
The Gators took a 1-0 lead in the match going into singles play.
The first singles match to finish was on Court 5 between Florida’s No. 69 Tanapatt Nirundorn and graduate student No. 122 Eric Hadigian of SMU. Nirundorn dominated this match from start to finish, winning 6-0, 6-0. This gave the Gators a 2-0 lead in the match overall.
Ganesan secured the next point for the Gators with his 6-3, 6-3 victory over SMU senior Liam Krall on Court 3. Krall dug himself out of early holes in both sets, but Ganesan eventually pulled away. The Gators led 3-0 and only needed one of the remaining four matches to win the match.
Kim, the No. 57-ranked singles player, took on Svajda from the Mustangs and lost in a close battle 6-3, 6-3. With three singles matches still playing, the Gators led 3-1 over SMU.
Jin, the 75th-ranked singles player faced Neff on Court 2. In the first set, neither player had complete control of the match. Jin broke the serve of Neff late in the set to help him win it 6-4. Jin hit his stride in the second set, winning 6-2. This win also clinched the match for the Gators, leading 4-1.
The Gators will be back in action Saturday to take on No.15 Wake Forest in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
Contact Chandler Hawkes at chawkes@alligator.com. Follow him on Twitter @HawkesChandler.
