As the crowd filed into the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex and the sun lowered on the western horizon, the Florida Gators (8-4) entered their third SEC match of the season against conference rival Kentucky (8-4) with a sense of poise.
The Wildcats exuded a business-like demeanor with minimal smiles and chants before the match, seeming to know that they would need to outlast Florida in tonight’s war to end the Gators’ undefeated stint of conference play.
Kentucky won the starting coin-toss on each of the three doubles courts and elected to serve, allowing the Wildcats to kick off doubles with a 1-0 advantage on each court.
UF junior Tanapatt Nirundorn and sophomore Adhithya Ganesan were broken in the second game of their doubles match and quickly found themselves trailing sophomores Eli Stephenson and Jack Loutit 3-0. The Gators were out of it from there as they continued to drop their remaining three games to quickly lose 6-0.
Sophomore Kevin Edengren and senior JanMagnus Johnson fell behind freshman Antoine Ghibaudo and junior Charlelie Cosnet early on in their doubles match and couldn’t climb back, ultimately losing 6-2.
Sophomores Henry Jefferson and Jeremy Jin quickly found themselves down 2-0 to Kentucky juniors Jaden Weekes and Martin Breysach before they took four straight games. The Gators’ energy only seemed to grow as the match progressed, but it went unfinished with Florida one point from victory in the ninth game (5-3), as Edengren and Johnson fell in their doubles bout.
After dropping the doubles point, the Gators changed out of white shirts and into black. This seemed to give Florida a boost of energy as it came surging back in singles play with all six courts winning set one.
Nirundorn quickly evened up the score with his straight set win over Stephenson on court five. The former raced to a 6-2 set-one victory before cruising to a 6-3 victory in set two, tying the match 1-1 and firing up his fellow Gators.
Ganesan secured Florida its second point by snagging a win against Ghibaudo, the No. 69 singles player in the nation. The sophomore won three straight matches in the first set to squeeze out a 6-4 victory. From there, it was all Ganesan as the Gator lept to a 6-2 second set victory, bringing the score to 2-1 in favor of UF.
Florida freshman Niels Villard continued the Gators’ dominance with his straight-set victory over Kentucky sophomore Matt Rankin 6-3, 6-3. The former outlasted the Wildcat in both sets, taking three straight games from 3-3 to win 6-3 and put Florida ahead 3-1.
No. 61 Jin’s hard-fought straight-set win over No. 66 Weekes 6-2, 6-3 clinched the victory for Florida as it came roaring back from the doubles point loss to take a 4-1 lead. Jin broke the Canadian a total of five times in two sets and won three straight games in set two to tally his third singles victory of the spring season.
Johnson also picked up a win in singles with his 6-2, 7-6(4) victory over No. 81 Loutit, bringing the score to 5-1. Despite allowing his opponent to come back from down 2-0 in the second set, Johnson displayed a good serve and strong desire to win, fighting for every last point in his straight set victory.
Jefferson was the only Gator not to win in straight sets as No. 121 Cosnet stole the second against him. Despite allowing the Frenchman to make a comeback in set two, Jefferson ultimately pulled out the third set to win the match 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and secure a 6-1 win for Florida.
After what was its worst doubles showing all season, coach Adam Steinberg believes that his squad showed character and mental toughness to overcome the deficit. He also noted that the great energy-filled start to singles was what turned the tide and spurred Florida’s momentum.
“We were playing with a lot of confidence and when we play like that and play together, it's a really fun group to watch and compete with.”
The Gators will continue their play at noon on Sunday when they host the No. 4 Texas Longhorns.
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.
