Over the weekend, Florida men’s tennis competed in the ITA Masters and ITA Sectionals tournaments with hopes of having a few more Gators qualify for the NCAA’s later this month. So far, only junior Henry Jefferson and senior Tanapatt Nirundorn have qualified in the doubles division.
Florida sent junior Jeremy Jin to the ITA Masters in San Diego, and Jefferson to the ITA Sectionals in Athens, Georgia, both to compete in singles play. Both tournaments ran from Nov. 6-9, with both players in a 32-team field. For both men to qualify, they would need to reach the semifinals of their respective tournaments.
While Jefferson took an early exit in the round of 16 of the ITA Sectionals, Jin made the most of his opportunities out west, as he won the tournament and secured his spot in the NCAA’s. Jin’s title run began on Nov. 6 with a straight-sets win (6-1, 6-1) over Saint Francis sophomore Kevin Titus Suresh in the round of 32.
Later that day, Jin locked his spot up in the quarter finals with another dominant straight sets win, this time over Hawaii senior Azuma Visaya (6-4, 6-0). Jin faced his toughest task yet in the quarters on Nov. 7 against ITA No. 36th-ranked redshirt freshman Emon van Loben Sels of UCLA.
Each man traded blows in the first set, but with nobody gaining the edge, a tiebreak set was needed. Jin bested his opponent with a 7-5 win and clinched the first frame 7(7)-6(5). Putting up a good fight in the first set, Loben Sels had no answers for Jin in the second set, resulting in a 6-2 clinching win.
Semifinal Saturday was supposed to feature Jin taking on Pepperdine senior Edward Winter, but due to a last-minute withdrawal from Winter, Jin walked into the finals. Good luck followed Jin wherever he went this past weekend, as a similar situation followed in the finals when NC State senior Martin Borisiouk also withdrew from the tournament.
The finals withdrawal allowed Jin to be named the winner of the ITA Masters, and his spot clinched a singles spot in the NCAA Tournament that runs from Nov. 18-23 in Orlando, Florida.
With three Gators clinching their spots in the NCAA, Florida attempts to send two more to the big dance as junior Kevin Edengren and freshman Andreas Timini compete in singles action at the M15 Orlando from Nov. 10-16.
Contact Hunter DeLauder at hdelauder@alligator.org. Follow him on X @DelauderHunter.
