Florida’s men’s tennis team started the fall season the same way it ended the spring season: with domination.
The Gators spent the weekend competing in the Seahawk Invite at Porters Neck Country Club in Wilmington, North Carolina.
On Friday, juniors Brian Berdusco and Josh Goodger picked up a 6-3 victory in doubles, as did junior Duarte Vale and freshman Blaise Bicknell. The Gators suffered a setback when sophomores Greysen and Harrison Cacciatore lost to Georgia Gwinnett’s Federico Herrera Duran and Jose Dugo 6-4.
Singles play was a mixed bag. Vale and Goodger received byes into Saturday’s action as the top two seeds and Bicknell won his first-ever-singles match for the Gators, besting Duran 6-2, 6-4. However, Berdusco fell in a tough three-set battle 2-6, 6-3, 7-6.
Saturday saw similar results. Vale and Bicknell advanced to the finals with a 6-4 win, but No. 1 seed Berdusco and Goodger were upset 6-2. In singles, Vale made his first appearance and cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win over UNF’s Dominic Barton in the quarterfinals before defeating UNC Wilmington’s Bruno Caula in the semifinals.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 3 seed Bicknell and No. 2 Goodger each won their quarterfinal matches, setting up a match against each other, which Bicknell took 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 to advance to the final and face his teammate Vale.
Before Vale and Bicknell dueled in the singles final, they teamed in the doubles final and took the title up with a 7-5 win over Georgia Gwinnett. Vale then took the singles championship with a 6-3, 6-1 win, capping off the tournament for UF.
“We faced a lot of adversity, mentally and physically, today and were able to meet it head on with resilience,” associate head coach Tanner Stump said in a release. “I am certainly proud of the guys for that.”
Florida also began competition this weekend at the Texas Tamale Co. Houston Cup at Rice University. The weeklong tournament began on Sunday and featured 100 players ranked 250-800 in the ATP rankings. Junior Oliver Crawford and sophomore Sam Riffice received byes to the main draw. Sophomores Lukas Greif and junior Andy Andrade won their qualifying matches on Sunday, with Greif beating No. 11 Abraham Asaba 5-7, 6-4, 10-3 and No. 10 Andrade besting William Mottet 6-2, 6-4.
Qualifying matches will continue through Monday with the main draw starting on Tuesday.
“Andy (Andrade) played well and Lukas (Greif) had a tough match but competed like a champion and found a way to win,” associate head coach Scott Perelman said in a release. “We are all looking forward to tomorrow (Monday) as the competition gets better and better.”
Follow Noah Ram on Twitter @noah_ram1. Contact him at nram@alligator.org.
Noah is a third year journalism-sports and media student from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He has been with The Alligator since Spring 2019 and has covered men’s and women’s tennis, gymnastics and volleyball. When he isn’t on his beat, Noah is usually sadden over his beloved South Florida sports teams, such as the Heat and Dolphins.
