Ranked No. 24 in the nation, Florida Gators men’s tennis took on Middle Tennessee and Columbia in the ITA Kickoff Championship on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, as the spring tennis season is underway.
UF Sophomore Henry Jefferson and junior Tanapatt Nirundorn, ranked No. 16 in doubles, faced the No. 45 doubles pair, juniors Ondrej Horak and Karim Al-Amin. The Gators pair quickly grabbed the lead and didn’t look back, cruising to a decisive 6-2 victory.
The pair of sophomore Adhithya Ganesan and freshman Ben Weintraub also won its doubles match 6-2. Defeating sophomore Jakub Kroslak and junior Shu Matsuoka in only eight games, Ganesan and Weintraub notched the Gators’ second doubles victory, securing Florida the first point of the contest.
The No. 76 ranked pair, sophomore Jeremy Jin and freshman Kevin Edengren, found itself tied up 4-4 in a back and forth bout against senior Rostislav Halfinger and freshman Kacper Szymkowiak. However, the other two Gator doubles quickly marched to victory, leaving the Jin and Edengren match unfinished.
Three of Florida’s six singles matches went unfinished on Saturday. Middle Tennessee was unable to win a point while Florida won three straight singles matches, cruising to victory (4-0).
No. 41 Jin faced Matsuoka in singles and made short work of the Middle Tennessee junior, defeating him in straight sets (6-1, 6-2) to earn Florida its first singles point and extend its lead to 2-0.
Senior JanMagnus Johnson followed Jin, securing the Gators second singles point by defeating Horak in straight sets (6-2, 6-4).
Ganesan sealed the win for the Gators by defeating No. 98 Al-Amin in his singles match. Despite winning the first set (6-3), Ganesan was unable to break the German in the second set, losing 6-4. However, the Florida sophomore rallied in the third set to take a decisive 6-1 victory and bring home the sweep for Florida.
Jefferson, Edengren and graduate Bradley Paliska left their singles matches unfinished due to Florida reaching four points in the best of seven match.
The Championship
Following Columbia’s 4-0 victory over Miami on Saturday, the Gators clashed with the Lions on Sunday in the tournament’s championship, falling 4-2 to Columbia.
Ganesan and Weintraub kicked off championship play by facing senior Max Westphal and junior Sachin Palta. Despite trading points early, the Florida pair went down 3-2 and couldn’t get back in it, ultimately falling 6-2.
Jefferson and Nirundorn battled with two ranked opponents, juniors Michael Zheng and Nicolas Kotzen.
The Gators pair found itself in trouble early against the No. 1 and No. 42 singles players as it quickly fell behind 4-1. Despite battling to 5-3, Jefferson and Nirundorn fell 6-3 as Columbia won the doubles point.
The No. 76 pair, Jin and Edengren, took on a pair of seniors, Hugo Hashimoto and Jayden Templeman. The Gators double started strong, jumping to a 3-2 lead, before trailing the veteran duo 4-3. However, the match was left unfinished (4-3) due to Columbia winning the doubles point through the other two matches.
Weintraub fought a fellow first-year, Thanaphat Boosarawongse. However, Weintraub seemed to be no match for the Thailand native, as he was shutout in both sets 6-0.
Ganesan faced Columbia’s No. 1 Zheng and struggled to find a rhythm early. After falling behind 4-0 in the first set, Ganesan’s comeback efforts were no use as he lost (6-4). The momentum from the first set was just what the No. 1 player in the nation needed, as he dominated the second set (6-2) to give Columbia its third point.
With Florida trailing Columbia 3-0, Edengren battled Palta in his singles match, winning Florida its first point of the day. Edengren jumped to an early 3-0 lead against the junior and didn’t look back, winning in straight sets (6-3, 6-2).
No. 106 Jefferson duked it out with Westphal, grabbing Florida its second point and pulling it within one. With Jefferson’s hard-fought 7-5, 6-4 victory, the Gators only trailed 3-2 with two matches in progress.
Nirundorn faced No. 33 Hashimoto with the ITA Kickoff Weekend Championship on the line. Despite his efforts, the Florida junior was unable to win on all of his serves in the first set as he fell 6-4. In the second set, Nirundorn jumped to a 2-0 lead before the senior from California surged back to tie the game 6-6, and then won the ensuing tiebreaker 7-1. Nirundorn’s 4-6, 6-7(1) loss marked Columbia’s match-winning fourth point as it defeated Florida 4-2.
No. 41 Jin took on No. 42 Kotzen in a back-and-forth singles battle. Jin won the first set (6-3) before losing the second set in a tiebreaker 7-6(5). However, the two didn’t get the chance to play a third set due to Columbia earning its fourth point from Hashimoto’s victory.
Despite the loss, Florida coach Adam Steinberg noted that his players are buying into the philosophy of the program.
“We’ve grown a lot in the last year on the culture side and just understanding what Florida Tennis is all about,” Steinberg said.
“When we play for each other, to us, you know, that’s the most important thing in our program,” he added. “And that’s the one thing that we stress every day, to take this individual sport and make it a team, a team sport.”
No. 24 Florida will now prepare to travel to Tallahassee to take on rival No. 10 Florida State University on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.com and follow him on X at @CuranAhern
Curan is the men's tennis beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. He enjoys spending his free time with pets, at the beach and fishing.
