On a dreary day in Gainesville, Florida’s clash with No. 19 Alabama was moved to the Perry Indoor Tennis Facility — but that didn’t deter any of the excitement that was yet to come.
Coming off of a tough loss to their first SEC opponent, South Carolina, the Crimson Tide (8-3) traveled to Gainesville hungry for a win. Following the Gators’ strong showing in their 7-0 sweep of Auburn only two days prior, UF looked to keep its rackets hot on Monday.
However, it was Florida’s passion and echoing cheers that lifted the Gators (7-4) over the Crimson Tide, 4-3.
“I think it’s going to give them a lot of confidence that against a really good Alabama team, that they can come back,” UF head coach Adam Steinberg said. “It was a great day to be a Gator.”
Alabama freshman Matic Kriznik and senior Filip Planinsek, the No. 41 doubles pair in the nation, broke UF’s sophomore Adhithya Ganesan and junior Tanapatt Nirundorn in games four and six of their court one routing of the Gators. Winning five straight games in a 6-1 win, the Crimson Tide snagged an early advantage in doubles.
UF’s sophomore Kevin Edengren and senior JanMagnus Johnson displayed an immaculate return game in their 6-4 win over juniors Roan Jones and Matias Ponce De Leon. Stealing three games off opposing serves, the Gators bested the Crimson Tide to even doubles play.
With the doubles point on the line, Florida sophomores Henry Jefferson and Jeremy Jin found themselves in an intense battle with Alabama senior Damian Nezar and sophomore Andrii Zimnokh on court two. With neither pair willing to budge, a tiebreaker ensued. However, Jefferson’s booming serve and strong return game weren’t enough, as the Crimson Tide took an 8-6 tiebreaker victory to win the doubles point 7-6(6).
After letting the opening point slip through their fingers, the Gators entered singles play knowing they had to push even harder to make up for the lost ground.
Johnson defeated Ponce De Leon in straight sets on court three. The former came back from down 3-0 in set one, causing Ponce De Leon to slam his racket out of frustration. Johnson broke the Spaniard in the 11th game of each set en route to a 7-5, 7-5 victory that tied the score 1-1.
No. 61 Jin couldn’t overcome No. 23 Planinsek on court one, as he narrowly lost the first set and fell in the tiebreaker 7-4. Jin couldn’t push past the senior in set two either, falling 7-5 for a hard-fought straight-set loss (7-6(4), 7-5), moving the match score to 2-1.
Ganesan’s stunning upset of No. 59 Jones on court two sparked new life in the Gators heading into the second half of singles play. The UF sophomore dominated in set one 6-3 before dropping the second set 7-5.
Jones seemed to have all the momentum after his victory in the second set. He took a 3-0 lead in set three before Ganesan won five straight games and took the third set by storm (6-4) to push past a disgruntled Jones and tie the match.
With the match even at 2-2, Kriznik’s court-five win over Nirundorn gave Alabama the advantage, bringing the Crimson Tide one point away from victory. The former took three straight games over Nirundorn in the first set and never looked back in a 6-4, 6-2 win.
Florida freshman Niels Villard played in place of Edengren on court six and picked up a monumental win over Nezar to tie the match. Villard wasted no time taking set one 6-1 before cruising to a 6-3 victory in the second set, firing up his teammates in the process.
When asked about the decision to play Villard on court six over Edengren, coach Adam Steinberg said if you want to learn how to swim you have to be thrown into the deep end.
“Niels has been playing really well in practice,” Steinberg said. “He brings an amazing energy to the team and I felt like we needed that today against this team.”
Tied 3-3, the match point laid in the balance of Jefferson’s match against Zimnokh on court four. Jefferson took set one 6-4 before the latter pushed him to an intense tiebreaker in the second set. Zimnokh won the tiebreaker 7-5 to take set two (7-6(5)) and push the match into an all-deciding third set.
Despite the pressure of all eyes on court four and Alabama bench's relentless chants of “We love you Andrii, we do, we love you Andrii, we do, oh Andrii we love you,” Jefferson shined in set three, breaking Zimnokh in the 10th game and taking the match 6-4 to lift Florida over Alabama 4-3.
“I went into the locker room, changed clothes, let my anger out there, and then came back fresh,” Jefferson said. “I knew it’s gonna be one set, me or him, and it’s not about what happened before, so I felt confident — I had no doubt I was going to come through.”
Jefferson’s relentless effort proved to be the final spark Florida needed, which Steinberg believes could serve as a turning point going forward.
“I felt like he was being too passive on the return games and just that last game, come forward and, you know, be aggressive,” Steinberg said. “He needed to win that match on his racket and he did it, and he did it pretty perfectly.”
Florida will look to continue its dominant win streak on Friday, when it hosts the University of Kentucky at 5 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.
