No. 10 UF men's tennis dropped a tight road match against No. 27 Auburn (12-8, 5-5), 4-3, on Sunday afternoon. The Gators are currently 15-7 overall and 6-4 in the SEC.
Freshman Carlos Cueto (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) and sophomore Alex Lacroix (Paris, France) cruised an 8-0 win over Alex Petropoulos and Michel Monteiro on court three, but Auburn victories on courts one and two gave the Tigers a 1-0 advantage after claiming the doubles point.
Sophomore Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, Fla.) evened the score, 1-1, with a straight-set victory over Petropolous, 6-4, 6-4. It appeared as if momentum was in favor of the Orange and Blue, as they took two more singles matches to extend their lead to 3-1. Following Dadamo's win, Joey Burkhardt (St. Augustine, Fla.) defeated Lukas Marsoun in three sets. After the freshman took the first set, 6-0, he dropped the second, 2-6 and rallied back to take the final set, 6-1, for the win.
Sophomore Johnny Hamui (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) took what would be the final match in Florida's favor with a straight-set win over Alex Stamchev, 7-5, 7-5.
The Tigers fought back to take wins on courts one and two and force court six to be the deciding match. Sophomore Erik Corace (Naples, Fla.) took the match against Milan Krnketin to three sets, eventually falling, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6, and sealing the win for Auburn.
The Gators continue their road stretch as they travel to Columbia, S.C. to take on the Gamecocks on Saturday at 2 p.m. The match-up is the final one for the Gators before the SEC Championships on April 23-26.
College Men's Tennis
Auburn, Ala.
Yarbrough Tennis Center
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Final Score: No. 10 Florida 4, No. 27 Auburn 3
Doubles
No. 1 (11) Tysrenov/Puetz (AU) def. (17) Benneteau/Burkhardt, 8-2
No. 2 Marsoun/Stamchev (AU) def. Dadamo/Hamui (UF), 8-5
No. 3 Cueto/Lacroix (UF) def. Petropoulos/Monteiro (AU), 8-0
Singles
No. 1 (59) Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) def. (28) Alex Lacroix (UF), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
No. 2 (106) Tim Puetz (AU) def. Antoine Benneteau (UF), 7-6, 3-6
No. 3 Joey Burkhardt (UF) def. Lukas Marsoun (AU), 6-0, 2-6, 6-1
No. 4 Johnny Hamui (UF) def. Alex Stamchev (AU), 7-5, 7-5
No. 5 Jeff Dadamo (UF) def. Alex Petropoulos (AU), 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 Milan Krnketin (AU) def. Erik Corace (UF), 6-3, 2-6, 7-6
Order of Finish: Doubles – 3, 2, 1 Singles – 5, 3, 4, 1, 2, 6
-UF-
