The Florida men’s tennis team prepared for the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Orlando, riding the high of a 4-1 win over South Florida. However, No. 15 Central Florida shielded its home court from the Gators and defeated Florida 4-1 on Sunday afternoon, ending its season.
Central Florida notched an impressive 23 wins and posted an 11-3 record at home during the regular season. It bested No. 2 Texas Christian 4-3 in the Big 12 Semifinals before falling to No. 11 Arizona in the championship. In the NCAA Tournament, Central Florida continued to demonstrate its dominance by defeating Miami 4-1 Saturday before its win over Florida, which was initially delayed due to inclement weather conditions.
Florida’s top-ranked pair, No. 15 junior Tanapatt Nirundorn and sophomore Henry Jefferson, won the first game of the match against No. 55 fifth-year Liam Branger and junior Paul Colin. The Central Florida pair won three of the next four games to lead 4-2. Nirundorn and Jefferson ultimately couldn’t overcome their two-point deficit on court one, falling 6-4 to open doubles play.
UF sophomore Kevin Edengren and freshman Ben Weintraub also found themselves trailing early in their doubles match, falling behind UCF juniors Santiago Giamichelle and Mehdi Benchakroun 4-2. The Gators fought back, trailing only 5-4 after nine games, but fell short of tying the match as Central Florida notched a 6-4 victory on court three to clinch the doubles point.
In their court two doubles match, UF sophomores Adhithya Ganesan and Jeremy Jin took a commanding 5-2 lead against UCF juniors Yassine Dlimi and Emilio Sanchez. But the Knights battled back to tie the match at five apiece before doubles play was stopped.
Entering singles with a 1-0 lead, UCF kept the pressure up, allowing a loaded singles lineup to exhibit a powerful return game that shut down the Gators’ hopes for a comeback.
Florida freshman Niels Villard lost his second straight match in the NCAA Tournament by falling in straight sets to UCF freshman Nicolas Oliveira on court six. Oliveira controlled the first set, winning 6-3, but Villard produced a stronger effort in set two. Despite an early lead for Villard, Oliveira kept his poise to beat the Frenchman 7-5 and earn the Knights a 2-0 lead.
No. 41 Ganesan kept Florida’s hopes alive with a hard-fought win over No. 63 Dlimi in straight sets on court one. Ganesan was on fire in the NCAA’s second round, rushing to a 6-2 victory in set one over his ranked opponent. In the second set, Ganesan braved an early deficit to win 6-4 and secure Florida’s first and only point of the match.
Meanwhile, UF senior JanMagnus Johnson narrowly dropped set one to Branger 7-5. With nothing to show for his efforts after a hard-fought first set, Johnson couldn’t find a way to overpower the fifth year and lost the second set 6-3. The Gator’s 7-5, 6-3 loss put UCF ahead 3-1 with only three matches left in play.
Florida’s No. 82 Jin, who hadn’t won a singles match since March, saw his struggles continue in a straight set loss to No. 84 Benchakroun. Jin kept pace with Benchakroun 3-3 in set one, but a late surge from the junior resulted in a 6-4 loss for the Gator.
Jin took charge, battling to a 4-3 lead in the second set, but allowed his ranked opponent to go on another impressive run as Benchakroun won three straight games. Benchakroun’s 6-4, 6-4 victory on court two lifted UCF over Florida 4-1 and punched the Knights a ticket to the NCAA Tournament’s third round to face No. 2 TCU in Fort Worth, Texas.
Jefferson bested Colin with an impressive 6-3 win in set one, and despite leading a second set tiebreaker 3-1, went unfinished tied 6-6. Edengren lost set one 6-3 to Giamichelle on court five and trailed 6-5 when play stopped.
Florida ends its 2025 season with a 15-12 record, its best mark since 2022.
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.com and follow him on X at @CuranAhern
Curan is the men's tennis beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. He enjoys spending his free time with pets, at the beach and fishing.
