Florida Gators
ITA Southeast Regional Championship
Men's Tennis Powers through First Day of ITA Southeast Regional Championships
Saturday, October 24, 2009 | Men's Tennis
The Florida men's tennis team had a strong showing on the opening day of the 2009 Wilson/ITA Southeast Regional Championship hosted by the University of Georgia at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., as the Gators went 6-2 in singles and 5-1 in doubles action.
“We had two great things happen today. First, it was a great day overall because of the number of victories we were able to get,” head coach Andy Jackson said. “In addition, the best thing I saw today was that, even though he ultimately lost, Erik Corace played the best match of his career.”
Corace, a junior out of Naples, pushed Florida State's Clint Bowles, the No. 33 player in the country, to a third-set tiebreaker before falling to the tournament's fifth seed.
The day began on a strong note with all three Gator doubles teams scoring first-round wins. Junior Johnny Hamui (Wesley Chapel) and senior Dan Cash (Oslo, Norway) scored an 8-4 victory over Georgia Tech's Doug Kenny and Austin Roebuck, while freshman Billy Federhofer (North Miami) and junior Erik Corace (Naples) downed Daniel Vardag and Lawrence Harradine of Florida Atlantic by the same count.
The first-round doubles action was topped off by an 8-6 win by junior Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) and redshirt senior Antoine Benneteau (Boulogne-Billancourt, France) of Central Florida's Claudio Romano and Brock Sakey. Jackson withdrew the Carlos Cueto (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) and Joey Burkhardt (St. Augustine) pair from doubles to allow them to focus on singles.
Hamui and Cash along with Benneteau and Lacroix continued their doubles runs with respective Round of 16 wins later in the day to give the Gators two duos in the quarterfinals.
In first-round singles action, the Gators posted six wins in eight matches to open the main draw. No. 23 Lacroix, the tournament's No. 4 seed, took a three-set match from Florida State's Connor Smith, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, to run his record this fall to 7-1. No. 11 Cueto, the event's No. 3 seed who was seeing his first action of the season, scored a 6-4, 6-1 straight-sets win over Justin Flynn of Georgia Southern.
No. 107 Benneteau, Cash and No. 117 Hamui and all scored straight-sets victories in their respective matches, while Federhofer took a three-set affair from Stetson's Mark Mestan, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Burkhardt, also taking the court for the first time this season, fell in the opening round to Georgia Tech's Miguel Muguruza.
Play continues on Saturday with the doubles quarterfinals opening the day's slate. Two rounds of singles action will settle the quarterfinalists by day's end, with consolation play providing a break between second- and third-round action.
2009 Wilson/ITA Southeast Regional Championship – Friday Results (UF only)
Doubles
Round of 32
Hamui/Cash (UF) def. Kenny/Ortiga (Georgia Tech) – 8-4
Federhofer/Corace (UF) def. Vardag/Harradine (Florida Atlantic) – 8-4
Benneteau/Lacroix (UF) def. Romano/Sakey (Central Florida) – 8-6
Round of 16
Hamui/Cash (UF) def. Levanovich/Gallo (Stetson) – 8-5
O'Brien/Potvin (Georgia Tech) def, Federhofer/Corace (UF) – 8-2
Benneteau/Lacroix (UF) def. Mestan/Hackett (Stetson) – 8-2
Singles
Round of 64
(107) Antoine Benneteau (UF) def. Austin Roebuck (Georgia Tech) – 6-2, 6-1
Miguel Muguruza (Georgia Tech) def. (105) Joey Burkhardt (UF) – 6-1, 7-6(1)
Dan Cash (UF) def. Barnabas Carrega (Miami) – 6-2, 6-2
(33) Clint Bowles (Florida State) def. Erik Corace (UF) – 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(5)
(11) Carlos Cueto (UF) def. Justin Flynn (Georgia Southern) – 6-4, 6-1
Billy Federhofer (UF) def. Mark Mestan (Stetson) – 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
(117) Johnny Hamui (UF) def. Blaze Schwartz (Central Florida) – 6-2, 6-3
(23) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) def. Connor Smith (Florida State) – 6-3, 1-6, 6-1
Saturday Schedule (UF Only)
Doubles – Quarterfinals
9 a.m.
Hamui/Cash (UF) vs. Schnugg/Hunt (Georgia)
Benneteau/Lacroix (UF) vs. Vitulli/Malo (Georgia)
Singles – Round of 32
11 a.m.
Dan Cash (UF) vs. Vahid Mirzadeh (Florida State)
Billy Federhofer (UF) vs. (38) Javier Garrapiz (Georgia)
(23) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) vs. Dean O'Brien (Georgia Tech)
Noon
(11) Carlos Cueto (UF) vs. Juan Spir (Georgia Tech)
(117) Johnny Hamui (UF) vs. Ryan Smith (Georgia Tech)
(107) Antoine Benneteau (UF) vs. Borja Malo (Georgia)
Singles – Consolation
12:30 p.m.
(105) Joey Burkhardt vs. Thibaud Aime (Florida Gulf Coast)
Erik Corace (UF) vs. Will Reynolds (Georgia)
Singles – Round of 16
Matches beginning at 3 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Sunday Schedule
10 a.m. – Singles Quarterfinals
2 p.m. – Singles Semifinals
TBA – Doubles Semifinals
TBA – Doubles Finals*
Monday Schedule
TBA – Singles Finals
TBA – Doubles Finals*
All times subject to change; *Doubles finals could be played Sunday or Monday
-UF-
