GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 35 Auburn dropped its first SEC match of the season to No. 49 Florida on Saturday at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Florida, by a 7-0 score.
The doubles point stayed tight on all three courts to begin the match. Court two was the first to finish with Florida winning 6-4. On the top doubles court, Tanapatt Nirundorn and Adhithya Ganesan of Florida won two games with the match tied at four to defeat Billy Blaydes and Will Nolan and clinch the doubles point for the Gators.
Florida kept their momentum going in singles, picking up two straight set victories at the No. 4 and No. 5 singles position to take a 3-0 lead. With the first set tied at three on court two, Ganesan earned a break that led to a 6-4 opening set win over Alex Frusina, then won both of the first two games to start the second set. Ganesan ultimately won the match 6-4, 6-3 to clinch the team victory for Florida.
After the team win was decided, the remaining matches were played out. Blaydes won the opening set over JanMagnus Johnson 6-2, but dropped the second set to force a 10-point tiebreaker to decide the match. The two went back-and-forth in the breaker leading to a tie and nine before Johnson won each of the next two points to claim the close tiebreaker and the match.
Nicholas Heng dominated his opening set over Kevin Edengren on court six 6-0, but dropped the second set in a tiebreaker and the 10-point tiebreaker that followed to lose the match. Will Nolan also won his opening set at the top singles position 6-1 before losing a close second set and a 10-point tiebreaker.
Up next, Auburn will travel to play South Carolina at noon CT at the Carolina Tennis Center in Columbia. Live video and live scoring of the match will be available online at GamecocksOnline.com.
#49 Florida 7, #35 Auburn 0
Singles Results:
- Jeremy Jin (UF) def. Will Nolan (AUB) 1-6, 7-5, [10-5]
- Adhithya Ganesan (UF) def. Alex Frusina (AUB) 6-4, 6-3
- JanMagnus Johnson (UF) def. Billy Blaydes (AUB) 6-2, 4-6, [11-9]
- Henry Jefferson (UF) def. Joey Phillips (AUB) 6-4, 6-1
- Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF) def. Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) 6-2, 6-2
- Kevin Edengren (UF) def. Nicholas Heng (AUB) 0-6, 7-6, [10-7]
Doubles Results:
- Tanapatt Nirundorn/Adhithya Ganesan (UF) def. #9 Will Nolan/Billy Blaydes (AUB) 6-4
- Henry Jefferson/Jeremy Jin (UF) def. Alex Frusina/Joey Phillips (AUB) 6-4
- Kevin Edengren/JanMagnus Johnson (UF) vs. Thomas Kennedy/Nicholas Heng (AUB) 5-5, unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles: 2,1; Singles: 5,4,2,3,1,6