GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Gators enjoyed a solid day of competition in the ITA Southeast Regionals' second day of competition at the Alfred A. Ring Complex, seeing first round singles wins from
Duarte Vale,
Johannes Ingildsen,
Josh Goodger and
Lukas Greif on Friday. The Gators won four of six singles matches on the day to move into Saturday's round of 32, while
Greysen Cacciatore and
Blaise Bicknell claimed a first round doubles victory, though, the Gators would ultimately fall in second round action.
No. 52
Duarte Vale, the draw's No. 5 seed, was the first Gator to ring in a singles win, downing UCF's Mikhail Sokolovskiy, 6-4, 6-2, to continue his fall hot streak with his eighth consecutive singles victory. Shortly after, No. 68
Josh Goodger, the No. 7 seed, would finish shortly after with a 6-2, 6-2 decision over Georgia Tech's Brandon Freestone to also mark an appearance in Saturday's round of 32.
Next, No. 70
Lukas Greif would add another win for the blue and orange on the day, meeting Georgia Tech's Pablo Schelcher in the first round. Greif dominated in the first set, 6-2, while managing to hold off a resilient Schelcher in the second set, 7-5, to advance to the draw's second round.
Last to finish was No. 64
Johannes Ingildsen, the draw's No. 5 seed, who found himself a three-set battle with UCF's Manoel Alencar. Ingildsen came out hot in the first set, dropping Alencar decisively, 6-2. Alencar came into the second set spirited, as he gave Ingildsen a fight in forcing a third set with a 6-4 answer, though, Johannes would set the tone for the match in finishing Alencar off, 6-2, again to secure his spot in Saturday's round of 32.
Brian Berdusco put up a steady fight against top-seeded No. 29 Gabriel Decamps of UCF, coming out strong to take the first set, 6-3. Berdusco continued his solid play to start the second set, though, Decamps began to find his rhythm in answering with a 6-2 decision. With the upset on the line, Decamps would manage to hold off Berdusco in the third set, earning the win 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to stay alive in the main singles draw.
Lastly,
Blaise Bicknell met Georgia State's Roberts Grinvalds in his first round matchup, though, Grinvalds would manage to get the best of Bicknell in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to knock him out of the main singles draw.
The two losses move Berdusco and Bicknell into Saturday's back draw consolations.
The morning began with main draw doubles competition, as Cacciatore and Bicknell were the first Gators to take the court on the day in facing Mercer's Carver Arant and Oliver Stuart in the first round. Cacciatore and Bicknell would hand the Bears' duo a decisive 8-2 loss in the first round, advancing to face Georgia Tech's Brandon Freestone and Chris Yun in the second round.
Cacciatore and Bicknell came out strong, leading for most of the match, before Freestone and Yun would chip away to eventually force a tiebreak at 7-7. In a close tiebreak, the Yellowjackets would manage to pull away down the stretch with an 8-7 (6) decision to knock off Cacciatore and Bicknell in the round of 16.
The two underclassmen would be the bright spot for the Gators in Friday's doubles competition, picking up the lone doubles win on the day out of three other Florida duos who received first round byes.
Juniors
Brian Berdusco and
Duarte Vale, the draw's top seed, entered Friday's second round slated against Georgia's Blake Croyder and Mateo Reyes. Vale and Berdusco competed hard in their doubles opener, however, Croyder and Reyes would hold the hot hand to move into Saturday's quarterfinals with an 8-5 win.
Johannes Ingildsen and
Josh Goodger, the No. 3 seed, would find a competitive matchup in their second round duel, facing Miami's Franco Aubone and Benjamin Hannestad. Miami held the advantage early on with a 4-3 lead to start. The Gators would retaliate taking a game, however, the Hurricanes never looked back, eventually notching an 8-4 victory to move on.
Lastly,
Andy Andrade and
Lukas Greif, the draw's No. 5 seed, would fall in a tough matchup to Georgia State's Patrick Lazo and Diego Padilha, as the two traded blows all match to force a tiebreak. With the match knotted at 7-7, Lazo and Padilha would narrowly take the edge over the Gators, 8-7 (5), to move on to Saturday's quarterfinals.
UP NEXT:
Saturday's competition will begin with round of 32 singles action followed by the back draw consolation matches. Round of 16 singles matches will ensue, followed by round of 16 back draw consolation matches, with doubles quarterfinals to close the day.
