Gators head to Athens for ITA Regional Championships

Friday, October 19

Athens, Ga.

ALL DAY

Florida Gators

ITA Regional Championships (Qualifying)

Florida Gators open ITA Regional play in Athens on Friday and six others join the competition on Saturday.

Gators head to Athens for ITA Regional Championships

Thursday, October 18, 2018 | Men's Tennis

By: Corinne Simpson

2018 ITA SOUTHEAST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

ATHENS, Ga. –Florida men's tennis team will be back in action this weekend at the 2018 ITA Southeast Regional Championships.

The tournament, held at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the University of Georgia's campus, runs from Oct. 19-23. The Gators are one of 15 teams in the field featuring programs from Florida and Georgia and one of two SEC teams represented along with host Georgia.

Singles finalists and doubles champions of the ITA Southeastern Regionals will advance to the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in Surprise, Ariz. Nov. 7-11. Sophomores Andy Andrade and Oliver Crawford (doubles) have already qualified for the event.

Freshman Greysen Cacciatore will kick things off for the Gators in the qualifying singles draw. He earned a bye in the first round and will begin the regional against Miami's Stephen Madonia on Friday at 11 a.m. The final round of qualifying will be Saturday.

Six Gators will open competition on Saturday when the main draw for doubles and singles begins.

Success at the ITA Regional Championships:
The Gators have had plenty of success at the regional championships since 2009, with four doubles championships and a singles crown.

Florida won doubles titles in 2009 and '11 and after a three-year drought, the Gators earned back-to-back championships in 2015 (Gordon Watson and Diego Hidalgo) and 2016 (Alfredo Perez and Johannes Ingildsen). Last year, Crawford and Chase Perez-Blanco lost in the doubles finals.

Florent Diep won the last singles title for the Gators in 2012. Since 2009, Florida has advanced someone into the semifinals of the singles draw six of the last eight years. Andrade rallied through the consolation draw of last year's tournament to take the consolation singles title.

Gators competing at the ITA Regional Championships:

Qualifying Singles:
- Greysen Cacciatore
Main Draw Singles:
Main Draw Doubles:

Saturday's Main Draw Lineup:

Main Draw Singles Round 1:
- 8:30 a.m. - Brian Berdusco vs. Alex Knauff (Florida State)
- 10:30 a.m. – Duarte Vale vs. Felipe Escobar (Florida Gulf Coast)
- 10:30 a.m. – McClain Kessler vs. Antoine Sanchez (Stetson)
- 11:30 a.m. – Lukas Greif vs. Alan Rubio (University Of Central Florida)
- 12:30 p.m. – Andy Andrade vs. Blake Croyder (University Of Georgia)
- 1:00 p.m. – Johannes Ingildsen vs. Qualifying Singles Finalist
Main Draw Doubles:
- Round 1: Ingildsen/Berdusco vs. BYE
- Round 1: Andrade/Greif vs. BYE
- Round 1: Kessler/Vale vs. BYE
- Round 2, 5 p.m. – Ingildsen/Berdusco vs. Felipe Ramirez/Feliksas Sakalauskas (FGCU) OR Bryn Nahrung/Richard Thongoana (Florida State)
- Round 2, 5:30 p.m. – Andrade/Greif vs. Alan Rubio/Manoel Alencar (UCF) OR Andrei Duarte/Roberts Grinvalds (Georgia State)
- Round 2, 5:30 p.m. – Kessler/Vale vs. Diego Padilha/Bailey Showers (Georgia State) OR Luis Fernandez Labarta / Thomas Guy (FAU)

Teams at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships:
Joining the Gators in Athens at this year's Southeast Regional are FAU, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Mercer, Stetson, South Florida, UCF, Georgia, Miami and North Florida.

Follow the Gators
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram