Gators earn second-straight top-25 victory
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 11 Florida (5-1, 1-0 SEC) defeated No. 23 Alabama (8-3, 0-1 SEC), 6-1, on Friday at the Perry Indoor Facility as the Gators got off to a bright start in the Southeastern Conference.
Despite playing its first match since Jan. 29 at UCF, UF looked to be in midseason form early on as the doubles pairings of Sam Riffice/Duarte Vale and Johannes Ingildsen/Will Grant earned Florida the doubles point to kick proceedings off.
With the matchup taking place on the indoor courts, only three singles matches could be a played at a time. Those three matches were all the Gators needed to clinch their first SEC win of the season as Vale, Riffice and Andy Andrade all won in straight sets.
Following the conclusion of those matches, and with UF leading 4-0, the Crimson Tide would pull one back as Riccardo Roberto defeated Ingildsen in No. 4 singles.
Ben Shelton and Lukas Greif added two more victories in No. 5 and No. 6 singles to close out the match for Florida.
For the Gators, this was their second-straight top-25 victory and they’ll look to keep momentum going as Auburn comes to Gainesville on Sunday at noon ET.
Singles Results: 3, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6
1. #12 Duarte Vale (UF) def. Zhe Zhou (UA) 6-2, 6-4
2. #8 Sam Riffice (UF) def. #89 Edson Ortiz (UA) 7-6, 7-5
3. #85 Andy Andrade (UF) def. Patrick Kaukovalta (UA) 6-2, 7-6
4. Riccardo Roberto (UA) def. Johannes Ingildsen (UF) 7-6, 6-1
5. Ben Shelton (UF) def. Jeremy Gschwendtner (UA) 6-3, 7-6
6. #96 Lukas Greif (UF) def. Alexey Nesterov (UA) 6-4, 7-6 (9-7)
Doubles Results: 2, 3, 1
1. #45 Sam Riffice/Duarte Vale (UF) def. Patrick Kaukovalta/Riccardo Roberto (UA) 7-6 (7-5)
2. Johannes Ingildsen/Will Grant (UF) def. Gabriel Diaz Freire/Zhe Zhou (UA) 6-4
3. Alexey Nesterov/Edson Ortiz (UA) def. Ben Shelton/Andy Andrade (UF) 6-4
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