Florida Men’s Tennis Upsets No. 25 LSU

The Florida Gators men’s tennis team remained undefeated at home Sunday after taking down the No. 25 LSU Tigers, 4-1.

Doubles

The Tigers (11-2, 1-1 SEC) won its ninth straight doubles point, which started when LSU’s Chen Dong-Julien Penzlin’s senior and junior duo beat Florida’s Jeremy Jin-Henry Jefferson’s freshman duo 6-1 on Court 3.  Dong-Penzlin improved to 6-0 this season, while Jin-Jefferson fell to 2-2 with one match unfinished.

Shortly after the Tigers’ Court 3 victory, the teams had to stop for a weather delay. LSU was leading on both courts. Fifth-year senior and freshman duo Stefan Latinovic-Aleksi Lofman was up on Court 1 6-5 over the junior and freshman duo Nate Bonetto-Aidan Kim.

Meanwhile, on Court 2, fifth-year senior and senior duo Welsh Hotard-George Stouple led 5-4 over the sophomore and freshman duo Tanapatt Nirundorn-Adhithya Ganesan.

We are back underway in doubles!

Current scores:
Ct.1 tied 6-6, tiebreaker 2-2
Ct.2 LSU leads 5-4
Ct.3 LSU def. UF 6-1 pic.twitter.com/K71upIkOkS

— Gators Men's Tennis (@GatorsMTN) March 3, 2024

After almost two hours, the remaining matches were moved into the Perry Indoor Tennis Facility. Latinovic-Lofman improved to 4-2 with two unfinished matches after beating Bonetto-Kim 7-6 (7). This won the doubles point for the Tigers. Bonetto-Kim fell to 2-4 this year in doubles competition.

Nirundorn-Ganesan and Hotard-Stouple went unfinished ending 5-5.

Doubles Final:

Lofman/Latinovic (LSU) def. Kim/Bonetto (UF) – 7-6 (7)
Ganesan/Nirundorn (UF) vs. Stoupe/Hotard (LSU) – 5-5 (unf.)
Dong/Penzlin (LSU) def. Jin/Jefferson (UF) – 6-1

LSU leads 1-0 heading into singles play. Courts 1-3 will play, followed by 4-6. pic.twitter.com/GK2tfa4IGR

— Gators Men's Tennis (@GatorsMTN) March 3, 2024

Singles

After a long doubles start, the Gators (6-4, 2-0) ended singles 4-0 to make it a clean sweep. Only three matches were played at a time, starting with Jin and Latinovic on Court 1, Kim and Stoupe on Court 2 and Bonetto and Lofman on Court 3.

Florida’s first win came from Bonetto as he won 6-2, 7-5 during his season debut in the third position. He improved to 6-1 with two unfinished matches. Lofman fell to 4-5 on the season. Next up to take their place was Nirundorn and Tiger freshman Alessio Vasquez on Court 4.

Jin was the second to win after beating Latinovic 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2. He improved to 6-1 with three unfinished matches, on the other hand, this was Latinovic’s third straight loss as he fell to 6-3 with two unfinished matches.

JIN TAKES THE BATTLE ON COURT 1!!!

Jin (UF) def. Latinovic (LSU), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2

Florida leads the dual 2-1! pic.twitter.com/cDDkdsdeD0

— Gators Men's Tennis (@GatorsMTN) March 3, 2024

Florida’s third point came when Kim beat Stoupe 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. Kim improved to 5-4 with one unfinished match. Stoupe fell to 6-3 with one unfinished match.

The Gators ended with a clean win as Nirundorn defeated Vasquez 6-4, 6-3. This was his fourth win of the season and it came during his debut in the fourth position. Vasquez fell to 4-2 on the season.

https://twitter.com/GatorsMTN/status/1764415065527140534

Back On The Road

The Gators’ next match is 5 p.m. Friday at the Kentucky Wildcats (11-2, 2-0).