Florida
Adithya Ganesan and sophomore Tanapatt Niduron shake hands with their opponents in the Gators men's tennis team's loss to Florida State February 3, 2024. Photo courtesy of Lorenzo Vasquez.

Florida Men’s Tennis Beats Georgia For First Road Win

The Florida Gators beat the Georgia Bulldogs 4-2 to get their first road win of the season Sunday.

Georgia (10-11, 3-6 SEC) made an impressive comeback to win doubles, but it was Florida (10-9, 4-5) which got the win after outplaying the Bulldogs in singles.

Comeback During Doubles

The deciding match for the doubles point came down to Court 3. Florida’s duo Tanapatt Nirundorn-Kevin Edengren led by as much as 4-1 over Georgia’s duo Miguel Perez Peña-Cyrus Mahjoob, but would lose their match and the doubles point with it.

Every Gators’ team had built a 3-1 lead in their match. On Court 1, Freddy Blaydes-Niels Ratiu closed the gap to 4-3, but went on to lose 6-3 to Florida’s Nate Bonetto-Aidan Kim. After a good start in each match and one win secured, the Gators were in a good position. However, this didn’t last long as the Bulldogs had started their comeback.

https://twitter.com/UGAtennis/status/1774491508269535287

Georgia dominated the rest of the doubles play. After building a 3-1 lead over Ryan Colby-Thomas Paulsell on Court 2, Jeremy Jin-Henry Jefferson didn’t win another game. The Bulldogs duo tied the match 1-1 after Colby-Paulsell won 6-3. The pressure was now on Court 3.

Unfortunately for Florida, just like their teammates on Court 2, Nirundorn-Edengren didn’t win another game after their 4-1 lead. Perez Peña-Mahjoob stepped up and won their match 6-4. Georgia walked into singles with a 1-0 lead.

Big Wins in Singles

The Gators and Bulldogs went to war during singles competition as four out of six matches went to a third set.

Lineup

Court 1: Jin versus Paulsell

Court 2: Kim versus Colby

Court 3: Adhithya Ganesan versus Ratiu

Court 4: Bonetto versus Perez Peña

Court 5: Nirundorn versus Mahjoob

Court 6: Edengren versus Blaydes

Set 1

Florida came out swinging to start singles. The Gators won set one on Courts 3-6. Edengren had the best performance beating Blaydes 6-1.

The Bulldogs took care of business on Courts 1 and 2 winning 6-4 and 6-1, respectively.

Set 2

Georgia came back during the second set winning on Courts 1, 3, 4 and 5. Paulsell swept Jin 6-0 giving Georgia its second and last point of the day putting the Bulldogs up 2-0.

Kim battled back beating Colby 6-1, and Edengren got Florida’s first point after beating Blaydes 6-4, making it 2-1.

Set 3

Florida won or led every match that went to a third set.

Ganesan returned to the lineup after not competing in Florida’s last seven singles matchups. He won his third set which tied the match with Georgia 2-2. He beat Ratiu 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Next up was Kim. He defeated Colby 7-5 in their final set giving Florida a 3-2 lead. The Gators now only needed one more win to finish the day. It came from Nirundorn who beat Mahjoob 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

The only unfinished match was between Bonetto and Perez Peña. Bonetto led 6-4, 4-6, 4-1 before the match went unfinished.

https://twitter.com/GatorsMTN/status/1774544261184119006

Up Next

The Gators will return to Gainesville to host the Vanderbilt Commodores (11-9, 2-6) at 5 p.m. on Friday at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.

About Michael Tubbs

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