Last week marked the beginning of a new year in Florida Gators men’s tennis as Florida sent five players to the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The tournament ran from Sept. 20-28 with all five Gators — senior Tanapatt Nirundorn, juniors Kevin Edengen, Jeremy Jin, Henry Jefferson and freshman Andreas Timini — all competing in singles play as well as Jefferson and Nirundorn playing in the doubles tournament too.
The pre-qualifying draw ran until Sept. 22, where Jefferson and Timini advanced to the Round of 64. While Edengren, Nirundorn and Timini all saw their singles runs come to a close in the pre-qualifiers Round of 64, Timini was able to keep him alive momentarily after another player ahead of him withdrew from the tournament.
On Sept. 22, Timini was knocked out of the tournament for real after losing in straight sets to UVA’s Keegan Rice (6-1, 7-5), while Jefferson advanced through the qualifiers draw after taking his matchup against Arizona’s Sasha Rozin in straight sets (6-2 and 6-4) and kept things rolling with a Round of 64 win over TCU Albert Pedrico Kravtsov (6-3, 6-3) that Tuesday.
Wednesday, Jefferson and Jin’s singles run also came to a close in the main draw Round of 32. Jefferson fell to Ohio State’s Jack Anthrop (6-3, 7-5), while Jin lost in straight sets (6-3, 6-2) to Wake Forest’s Luca Pow.
After being bounced out of the main draw, the two were moved to the consolation rounds. Jefferson dropped his first match, ending his singles run, while Jin beat Mississippi State junior Mario Martinez and Stanford graduate student Alex Chang before being defeated by Jack Loutit of Kentucky.
While no Gators were left standing in the singles bracket, Jefferson and Nirundorn found success in the doubles bracket.
The No. 33 ITA-ranked duo got underway on Wednesday in what was supposed to be the qualifiers round, but due to another team dropping out in the main draw, Jefferson and Nirundorn moved up.
The duo took down the University of Oklahoma in the Round of 32 before winning their following and quarterfinal matchups against fellow Southeastern Conference schools Auburn and Texas on Thursday and Friday.
However, Jefferson and Nirundorn were knocked out in the semifinals Saturday by Mississippi State’s Benito Sanchez Martinez and Petar Jovanovic in straight sets (6-4, 6-1). Sanchez Martinez and Jovanovic won the tournament on Sunday.
Contact Hunter DeLauder at hdelauder@alligator.org. Follow him on X @DelauderHunter.
