Several Florida Gators made deep runs at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southeast Regional Championships, held at the University of Georgia in Athens over the past five days. Fourteen schools from Florida and Georgia competed for NCAA tournament qualification.
UF was represented by seven players: redshirt senior JanMagnus Johnson, junior Tanapatt Nirundorn, sophomores Jeremy Jin, Henry Jefferson, Kevin Edengren, Mattia Akcan and freshman Francesco Cordova.
All seven competed in singles, while six also played in doubles.In singles, Akcan and Cordova needed to qualify for the main draw.
Akcan rallied from one set down to defeat Kennesaw State sophomore Kyvan Rietkerk, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1. Cordova beat Kennesaw State senior Sam Baldwin in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.
Both advanced to the Round of 32 in the qualifier bracket, but neither made it to the main draw, with Akcan losing to Kennesaw State University’s senior Juan Jose Rodriguez Garceran in a third-set tiebreak, 1-6, 6-3, 6-7, and Cordova falling to Miami sophomore Leonardo Dal Boni, 6-7, 6-4.
With their exits, attention shifted to the main singles and doubles draw for the Gators.
Jin and Nirundorn were the No. 2 and No. 9 seeds, respectively, while Jefferson, Johnson, and Edengren entered unseeded. Jin, Nirundorn, Johnson, and Edengren won their Round of 64 matches, while Jefferson lost a tight three-set match to Miami year Martin Katz, 6-1, 7-6, 7-5, after missing a chance to close out the match in the second-set tiebreak.
In the Round of 32 in singles play, Jin, Edengren and Nirundorn all advanced.Jin staged an impressive comeback to win 6-7, 7-5, 6-4. Johnson lost to Georgia's No. 3 seed Ryan Colby, 6-2, 6-2. In the Round of 16, only Jin advanced, beating South Florida junior Elijah Cham in straight sets.. Edengren lost in three sets, while Nirundorn fell in straight sets. Jin’s run ended in the quarterfinals against Georgia’s senior Perez Pena.
Cordova and Johnson lost their Round of 64 match against USF sophomore Ben Hudson and senior Tom Pavleovich, while Jin, Edengren, Nirundorn and Jefferson received first-round byes.
In the Round of 32 in doubles play, Jin and Edengren won a tightly contested match against USF junior Agustin Cuellar and freshman Stepan Mruzek, 8-7, while Nirundorn and Jefferson defeated Stetson freshman Kartik Mandla and senior Lucus Olivier, 8-2.
In the Round of 16, Jin and Edengren claimed an 8-4 victory, while Nirundorn and Jefferson edged the UCF freshman duo of Adriano Dzhenev and Nicolas Oliveira in an 8-7 tiebreaker.
In the doubles quarterfinals, both UF duos advanced. Jin and Edengren beat Georgia Southern seniors Pol Del Castillo and Dimitris Paliouras, 8-5, while Nirundorn and Jefferson were victorious in yet another tiebreaker, 8-7.
Jin and Edengren lost a hard-fought match to UGA sophomores Freddy Blaydes and Niels Ratiu in the semifinals, 6-4, 7-5. Nirundorn and Jefferson, however, won their match against Georgia Tech sophomore Krish Arora and junior Christophe Clement, 6-4, 7-6, securing a spot in the final.
In the championship, Nirundorn and Jefferson pulled off a major upset, dominating UGA’s No. 1-seeded pair to win the doubles title.
With the victory in the championship, Tanapatt Nirundorn and Henry Jefferson are now qualified for the NCAA Doubles Championships, scheduled for Nov. 19-24.
Contact Carston Handy at chandy@alligator.org. Follow Carston on X @carston_handy.
Carston Handy is a junior journalism major with a focus in sports and media. Fall 2024 marks his first semester reporting sports with the Alligator. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his fiancé and their dog. He also enjoys playing a bunch of sports, including pickleball, basketball and soccer.
