GAINESVILLE, Fla. –The Gators Men’s Tennis opened their dual season against an instate opponent with a 4-3 win against the USF Bulls on Saturday. The Gators now lead the Bulls 55-3 in their all-time series.

The team came out strong with a sweep in the doubles matches, with the pairing of Kevin Edengren and Andreas Timini earning a 6-0 victory against Timeo Gaillard and Gughi Verdese on court three. The first-time duo of Adhithya Ganesan and Pablo Perez Ramos clinched the victory with a 6-3 win over Max Mroz and Stepan Mruzek on court two. With the two-court victory, Henry Jefferson and Tanapatt Nirundorn did not finish their match on court one against Hugo Car and James Newton, however, they were leading the match 5-2 before ending.

The singles portion of the match served a little more challenging for the Gators. The team started strong with victories on court four by Ramos and court six by Timini to put the Gators up 3-0. However, losses on court one by Lorenzo Claverie, court three by Edengren and court five by Nirundorn evened the score out to 3-3.

The deciding point came from court two with Jefferson facing off against Ettore Danesi in a tight three set match. Jefferson took the first set 7-6(5), but was forced to go to a third set after falling 5-7 in the second set. Jefferson started the third set with an early lead and was able to break serve three times to get a

Straight from Coach Steinberg

Coach Steinberg opening statement…

“We knew from last year playing South Florida at the NCAA Tournament how tough of a team they are. So, it was not a shock that this was just going to be a really close match. We have some guys that are playing their first match for the Gators and we looked rusty at times for sure, but a lot of credit to South Florida they have a great coach and they play really hard. The match last year is still in our minds about how hard they played against us. But we’re happy to get through the first one for sure.”

Coach Steinberg on how they plan to carry their momentum into the rest of the season…

“We have a really tough, great weekend next weekend at the ITA Kickoff to make the National Indoors. We’re going to be going up against the best in the country. So, we go indoors now, which will be different, but the guys understand the goals here at Florida to be number one, and that will never change. I think getting through this match will for sure help them because I think they learned a lot today that we’re going to be talking about in the next couple of days. We can talk all da about what it is like to play in these matches, but until we do it, it’s different. I’m excited to get indoors and get to work, and ready to play Kentucky next Friday.”

Coach Steinberg on how Pablo Perez Ramos and Andreas Timini have added to the team in their first year at Florida…

“They bring a lot. Pablo’s got a lot of experience. He’s played three years of college tennis, and so he gets it. His energy, his spirit about him as a person is so contagious from the first day he walked on our campus, off and on the court. He’s a pleasure to coach and he mean’s a lot out there for these guys. Our little man Timini did a great job today in his first dual match, and he also has a great spirit about him. He’s been struggling with his tennis a bit, so I was really happy to see that. I think it was a huge lift for him personally because he hasn’t been playing the way that he thinks he is capable of and the way we all know he is capable of. So, for him personally, and obviously for our team, it was a great for Andreas to get that one the way he did.”

Results

Doubles

• Court 1: No. 6 Jefferson/Nirundorn vs. Hugo Car/James Newton (UNFINISHED: 5-2)
• Court 2: Ganesan/Perez Ramos def. Max Mroz/Stepan Mruzek (6-3)
• Court 3: Edengren/Timini def. Timeo Gaillard/Gughi Verdese (6-0)

ORDER OF FINISH: 3, 2, 1

Singles

ORDER OF FINISH: 4, 6, 3, 1, 5, 2

Up Next

The Gators look to keep the momentum at the ITA Kickoff Weekend hosted in Columbia, N.Y. on Jan. 23-24. They will begin the weekend against an SEC opponent with Kentucky on Jan. 23 and will wait to see who they will play on Jan. 24 based off the weekend’s results.

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