Florida Gators
CENTRAL FLORIDA
Men's Tennis Beats UCF in Jackson's Debut
Saturday, January 26, 2002 | Men's Tennis
“This felt very good,” Jackson said. “It’s a pretty young team and when it was tied up 2-2 that put a lot of pressure on them but our guys showed that they can handle it. It’s great to get a ‘W’ here tonight. It’s feels good to get my first win as a Gator and I know I’ll always remember that it was 2-2 and we kept fighting to get it.”
UF swept the three doubles matches to open the evening’s play, securing the doubles point when Gainesvillian Chris McDonald and Hamid Mirzadeh finished off their 8-4 win at No. 1 over Augusto Sanabria and Gabriel Strangberg of UCF.
Play was interrupted 21 minutes into the singles matches by rain. After a 44-minute delay, play resumed on the three covered courts at the Ring Tennis Complex. The number one through three matches were first on the courts and UCF took two of the three to tie the score at 2-2. Eleazar Magallan gave UF a short-lived 2-0 edge when he topped Sanabria at No. 3 singles 7-6 (4), 6-3. Strangberg and Catalin Bradu evened the match at 2-2 though for the Golden Knights with their upset wins at the top two positions.
The depth of Florida’s lineup proved decisive as the Gators swept the matches at number four through six to secure the win. Olivier Levant cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win in just 1:04 to give UF a 3-2 cushion. Ross Greenstein took care of the clincher for Florida at No. 5, beating Paul Ramy 6-2, 6-3. Ramy led 2-1 when play was halted by rain in the first set. Serving, Greenstein took a lucky 13 game points to hold on and even that match at 2-2. From there he cruised, winning 10 of the final 13 games for the victory, sealing the win with a strong return of service forcing a Ramy backhand into the net. Gainesville native Trey Johnson finished the lower UF sweep with a solid win at No. 6 singles, holding serve to force a second set tiebreaker en route to a 6-1, 7-6 (2) victory.
The Gators return to action on Saturday when they host No. 64 Furman at 2:00 pm.
NCAA Men's Tennis
Florida 5, UCF 2
Doubles
No. 1 #32 Chris McDonald/Hamid Mirzadeh (UF) d. Augusto Sanabria/Gabriel Strangberg (UCF), 8-4
No. 2 #36 Olivier Levant/Eleazar Magallan (UF) d. Catalin Bradu/Antonio Sierra (UCF), 8-6
No. 3 Ross Greenstein/Ryan Sherry (UF) d. Adam Kanaan/Johan Westin (UCF), 8-3
Singles
No. 1 Gabriel Strangberg (UCF) d. #110 Hamid Mirzadeh (UF), 6-3, 7-6 (6)
No. 2 Catalin Bradu (UCF) d. Troy Hahn (UF), 6-4, 6-4
No. 3 #57 Eleazar Magallan (UF) d. Augusto Sanabria (UCF), 7-6 (4), 6-3
No. 4 #98 Olivier Levant (UF) d. Antonio Sierra (UCF), 6-1, 6-2
No. 5 Ross Greenstein (UF) d. Paul Ramy (UCF), 6-2, 6-3
No. 6 Trey Johnson (UF) d. Johan Westin (UCF), 6-1, 7-6 (2)
