UF MTN: Men’s Tennis Bests Vanderbilt, Advances to Quarterfinal Round

The Gators won four consecutive singles matches to battle back from a 2-0 deficit.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida Gators Men’s Tennis defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores in the first round of the SEC Championship Tournament, 4-2. The win sends the Gators to the Quarterfinal round of the tournament for the 23rd consecutive year.

How it Happened
The Gators dropped the doubles point to start the match, with losing sets on courts one and two. Vanderbilt took 3-1 leads on one and two, and would hold those margins for the rest of the set, with Vandy’s Casabon/Cox winning court one 6-4, and Klopper/Ross taking court two 6-2.

In singles play, Tanapatt Nirundorn collected the first point for Florida, defeating Vanderbilt’s Michael Ross on court five. Once trailing 2-0 in the second set, Nirundorn won six of seven games to finish the set, and his opponent, with a 6-3 score. Nirundorn extends his streak of singles matches without a loss to seven straight, including five wins in that stretch.

Nate Bonetto shined in his return to the court three position, dominating Vanderbilt’s Jeremie Casabon to a 6-4, 6-3 score. The first set was a battle, but Bonetto secured an early break point and hold his advantage to earn a first set win. In set two, the junior was able to claim a 3-0 lead to open, and held that margin to seal Florida’s second point.

Adhithya Ganesan took Florida’s first lead of the match with his 7-5, 6-1 showing on court four. Ganesan went game for Game before securing a late break point to take a 6-5 advantage and hold serve to win set one. He held that momentum and ran away with the second set, finishing his match with a commanding 6-1 second set.

Aidan Kim opened singles play by dropping a 3-6 first set against Vanderbilt’s Nathan Cox. Kim returned with a vengeance, netting an easy 6-2 second set to force a third. Kim once again ran away with the set, eventually leading 5-1 in set three. Cox fought valiantly to work a 5-4 score before Kim held serve to claim court two and a 4-2 match win to send Florida to the Quarterfinals
Next up
The Gators will face Tennessee in the SEC Championship Tournament Quarterfinal round. The match will begin at 3 p.m. ET in Baton Rouge. Tennessee claimed victory over the Gators this season on March 10, when Tennessee claimed a 6-1 win in Knoxville.

From Head Coach Adam Steinberg
On the match, and his team’s comeback win…
“It’s like the expression… ‘survive and advance.’ That is exactly what we did. That’s a very good team, they’re very tough, they make a lot of balls, we knew that coming in… First time for a lot of these guys, playing in the postseason, I’m proud of them. After the doubles, we’re in five of those six singles matches, we’re right there… Great effort, great hard-fought win. We’re excited to play tomorrow.

Results
Singles competition
1. #61 Danil Panarin (VUM) def. #52 Jeremy Jin (UF) 6-3, 6-1
2. Aidan Kim (UF) def. Nathan Cox (VUM) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
3. Nate Bonetto (UF) def. Jeremie Casabon (VUM) 6-4, 6-3
4. Adhithya Ganesan (UF) def. Joubert Klopper (VUM) 7-5, 6-1
5. Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF) def. Michael Ross (VUM) 6-4, 6-3
6. Kevin Edengren (UF) vs. Hugo Coquelin (VUM) 6-1, 5-7, 5-1, unfinished

Doubles competition
1. Jeremie Casabon/Nathan Cox (VUM) def. #23 Nate Bonetto/Aidan Kim (UF) 6-4
2. Joubert Klopper/Michael Ross (VUM) def. #69 Tanapatt Nirundorn/Adhithya Ganesan (UF) 6-2
3. Kevin Edengren/Jeremy Jin (UF) vs. Danil Panarin/Hugo Coquelin (VUM) 4-4, unfinished

Match Notes:
Vanderbilt Men’s Tennis 13-12; National ranking #40
Florida 13-10; National ranking #25
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (1,5,3,4,2)

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