WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The University of Florida men's tennis team went on the road Friday and earned their biggest win of the year, knocking off top-ranked Wake Forest 4-3, and improving to 13-6 on the season.
All season long the most telling stat for No. 10 Florida has been winning the doubles point. The Gators entered their match against No. 1 Wake Forest (15-2) with an 11-1 record when they win that point. Good news for Florida, they have one of the best doubles lineups in the country.
Florida was strong on all three courts against Wake, taking the early advantage when the No. 8 ranked pair of
Chase Perez-Blanco and
Oliver Crawford won 6-2. This was Perez-Blanco and Crawford's fourth straight win and 10th of the season. After the Gators fell on court one it came down to
McClain Kessler and
Duarte Vale, ranked 32nd in the country, to steal the doubles point from the Demon Deacons. The two duos were evenly matched throughout and that continued into the 10-point tiebreak where the teams traded points to a five-all tie. Late in the tie-break, Florida fell behind at 6-7 and then again at 7-8, but Kessler and Vale battled to eventually tie the match at nine all. After switching sides one last time the duo won back-to-back points to take the match 7-6 and win the doubles point for the Gators.
Entering singles play the Gators needed to win three out of the six matches to earn the upset. They took a step towards that number when Kessler played one of his best matches as a Gator while earning an upset of his own over No. 95 Yuval Solomon 6-0, 6-0. Kessler's match moved so fast that he nearly completed half of set two before any other court had completed their first set.
After the Gators took a 2-0 lead in the match Wake Forest bounced back to tie the match at two with wins on courts two and four. The Gators next shot at inching closer towards the upset came on court five with Vale. In one of the biggest matches of his young career Vale looked sharp from the start. After winning the first set 6-4, he battled some adversity in set two. Leaning on past experiences of his young career he didn't falter, taking the second set 6-4 and giving Florida a 3-2 lead.
With the match in sight and only two courts still in play, the next court nearing completion was court three. Crawford, ranked 51st, took on No. 30 Skander Mansouri for the chance to clinch the match. Crawford trailed early in the first set but found a way to take it 7-5. With all the momentum on his side, he never wavered, blitzing his opponent in set two by a score of 6-1 and earning his team-high fifth clinched match of the year.
Quoting Coach Shelton
On the overall team performance
"I'm really proud of our team. Tough to win on the road and under tough conditions, but our guys showed a lot of heart and conviction. It's so much fun to work with my staff and these players. I believe we gained some confidence today in how we can focus and solve problems. Our play will vary from one day to the next, but we can control how we compete. We are getting better and tougher as we go through this season."
On Vale's strong showing
"Great to see Duarte come through in both doubles and singles today. He was mentally tough and played his best tennis in the biggest moments."
On Kessler's great performance
"Kess was outstanding as well. He has been doing the extra work each week and nice to see it paying off.
On avoiding a let down on Sunday
"South Carolina is a tough team and I know they are getting ready for us. We'll have a great practice tomorrow and reset.
Quoting Kessler
On the big win for the program
"This is a huge win for us and for the program as a whole, especially with it coming on their home courts. This will be the site of this year's NCAA tournament so to get a win here and have a chance to get a feel of the courts is huge. I think overall we showed that we are a top-level program that we can play with any team in the country."
On his impressive win
"I just did everything that I've been doing in practice. Over the course of the last couple of matches, I've felt really good. I didn't start the year off the best but in the past few weeks, things have started to click for me. I'm sticking to the game plan that the coaches have come up with and it is putting in good positions to play some really good tennis and help the team."
On avoiding a let down on Sunday
"Sunday will be a huge trap match for us. South Carolina is an excellent program with a lot of talent and they are going to fight all the way to the end. Going into the match we know we are going to have to stay mentally strong and keep playing our game."
Gator Notes
• Florida improved to 14-5 all-time against Wake Forest
• This was the Gators first win over the No. 1 ranked team in the ITA rankings under coach Shelton
• This was Florida's first win over an ITA top 5 team since 2015 when they defeated No. 4 UCLA
• Florida improved to 4-2 in road matches and 7-4 against teams ranked in the top 25
• The Gators are now 12-1 this season when winning the doubles point
• Crawford improved his winning streak in singles to 11 straight and he and Perez-Blanco have won four straight doubles matches
• Perez-Blanco earned combined win number 175 in his career. He is three total wins away from tying for the eighth spot in program history
• Kessler and Vale have won two consecutive doubles matches
• Vale earned his 20th and 21st career victories
Match Results
Doubles
(1) Skander Mansouri/Ian Dempster (WF) def. #1 Perez/Ingildsen (UF) – 6-3
(2) #32 Kessler/Vale (UF) def. Bar Botzer/Petros Chrysochos (WF) – 7-6
(3) #8 Perez-Blanco/Crawford (UF) def. Borna Gojo/Alan Gadjiev (WF) – 6-2
Florida won Doubles Point
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
(1) #7 Petros Chrysochos (WF) def. #8
Alfredo Perez (UF) – 6-4, 7-6
(2) #29 Borna Gojo (WF) def. #11
Johannes Ingildsen (UF) – 6-2, 6-2
(3) #51
Oliver Crawford (UF) def. #30 Skander Mansouri (WF) – 7-5, 6-1 *
(4) Bar Botzer (WF) def.
Chase Perez-Blanco (UF) – 6-3, 6-2
(5)
Duarte Vale (UF) def. Julian Zlobinsky (WF) – 6-4, 6-4
(6)
McClain Kessler (UF) def. #95 Yuval Solomon (WF) – 6-0, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6, 2, 4, 5, 3*, 1
*Clincher
Up Next
The Gators will be back in the SEC on Sunday when they take on No. 26 South Carolina in Columbia. The Match is schedule to begin at 1 p.m.
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