Welcome to the Alex Lacroix Show, a program of endless thrills and excitement.
If the UF men's tennis team's dual match against Kentucky was promoted with that line, the nearly 150 in attendance wouldn't have left disappointed. The Gators defeated the No. 11 Wildcats 4-3 on Friday in their Southeastern Conference opener.
Lacroix had the crowd on its feet in his two-hour and 40-minute epic singles match against Bruno Agostinelli, the nation's No. 2 player. The sophomore beat Agostinelli 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in a slugfest that clinched the Gators (10-3, 1-0 SEC) victory on Court 1.
"I'm in shape," Lacroix said. "I'm practicing a lot and getting better day-by-day-by-day. I was tight and wasn't being aggressive, and I was maybe trying to trick him.
"But I just became calm and just played my game and became aggressive, and I won."
UF coach Andy Jackson was also impressed by Lacroix's performance, but both player and coach stress the fact that it is a team effort that has them ranked No. 9 and starting out SEC play with a bang.
Jackson compared the match to Kentucky's 4-2 upset of No. 5 Tennessee in Knoxville on Feb. 21.
"(Agostinelli) was in the exact same situation against the SEC champion J.P. Smith," he said. "Alex was able to do something the Tennessee guy wasn't able to do, which was really impressive to me. He really earned it."
Jackson's praise for his team didn't end with Lacroix. Though the Gators dropped three singles matches, he believes they played well across the board.
"We played very good doubles, and Jeff Dadamo had an extremely important win. Antoine (Benneteau) had a very difficult win to push through. We fought hard," he said.
UF will continue SEC play as they host Vanderbilt on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Jackson hopes his team maintains its mental fortitude as well as aggressive play.
"Vanderbilt is one of the teams in the league that if you come with 95 percent focus, you'll lose," he said. "They're not going to win the conference, but there's not a team in the conference that they can't beat."
WOMEN LOSE SEC OPENER: The No. 31 UF women also pressed Kentucky to a deciding singles set in their 4-3 loss in Lexington, Ky.
Barbara Pinterova wasn't able to clinch the match for the hobbling Gators. The freshman lost 6-3, 6-1.
No. 8 singles player Marrit Boonstra continued her court supremacy, defeating Carolina Escamilla 6-2, 6-1.
Anastasia Revzina and Jessica Alexander also picked up wins, but UF (6-5, 0-1 SEC) lost two of its three doubles matches, sending them into singles down 1-0.
The women head to Vanderbilt on Sunday. The dual match begins at 1 p.m.
