Florida Gators
UCF
Florida Men's Tennis Downs Central Florida
Friday, January 30, 2004 | Men's Tennis
The third-ranked University of Florida men's tennis team kept things rolling on Thursday night as the Gators defeated UCF, 6-1, at the Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville. With the win, UF improved to 3-0 on the year, while UCF suffered its first loss in falling to 2-1. In addition, Florida moved to 8-0 against in state opponents during the head coach Andy Jackson era.
"I thought we played our best match of the season," Jackson said. "We had a turnaround in the doubles. We still need work, but we played well. Janne (Holmia) is struggling, but I hoped the entire season depends on how he is doing because he is a great player. We used some different guys tonight because we have a lot of guys that can play. We are going to use depth to our advantage. We are looking forward to playing Furman on Saturday because they are a lot like Florida State and we need another test before National Team Indoors (Feb. 5-8, Seattle, Wash.)
UF worked for the doubles point and took the matches on all three courts although they would have to work. Janne Holmia and newcomer Martin Stiegwardt paired to defeated UCF's Paul Ramy and Simon Jaeger in just under an hour. Two minutes later and Florida had the point when Hamid Mirzadeh and Chris Brandi rattled off wins in five straight games to come back from a 6-3 deficit and take the match, 8-6. On court two, Trey Johnson and Vladimir Obradovic outlasted Ener Gursoy and Rhett Rosen, 9-8 (3).
In the singles things eased up a little as Stefan Tell quickly put Florida on top, 2-0, when he did not give up a game to Simon Jaegar on court five (6-0, 6-0). In his first outing of the spring, Stiegwardt defeated Rhett Rosen (6-1, 6-2) and moments later Mirzadeh clinched the victory on the top court as he took a straight set (6-2, 6-2) decision over Ener Gursoy. Vladimir Obradovic would later keep his record spotless in dual match play with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Joel Allen on court three. Ryan Sherry rounded out the Florida scoring as he took Simon Jaegar in the only match to go to a third set (4-6, 6-4, 6-1).
The Gators will host the last of four home matches that started the season on Saturday, Jan. 31 as Florida meets Furman at 1 p.m. A season ago, UF defeated Furman, 6-1, in Gainesville.
Florida Men's Tennis vs. UCF
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Singles
Hamid Mirzadeh (UF) d. Ener Gursoy (UCF), 6-2, 6-2
Antonio Sierra (UCF) d. Janne Holmia (UF), 6-0, 6-4
Vladimir Obradovic (UF) d. Joel Allen (UCF), 6-3, 6-4
Ryan Sherry (UF) d. Simon Jaegar (UCF), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
Stefan Tell (UF) d. Paul Ramy (UCF), 6-0, 6-0
Martin Stiegwardt (UF) d. Rhett Rosen (UCF), 6-1, 6-2
Doubles
Mirzadeh/Brandi (UF) d. Allen/Sierra (UCF), 8-6
Obradovic/Johnson (UF) d. Gursoy/Rosen (UCF), 9-8 (3)
Holmia/Stiegwardt (UF) d. Ramy/Jaegar (UCF), 8-5
