GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 16 Florida men’s tennis team jumped out a 3-1 lead, but were unable to fend off the No. 66 Alabama Crimson Tide falling 4-3 in the SEC home-opener at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex on Sunday afternoon.
For the second straight match, Florida (6-7, 1-2 SEC) grabbed ahold of the early advantage with a strong showing in doubles over Alabama (9-7, 1-2 SEC). Leading the charge was No. 18 Will Grant/Axel Nefve from court one, as the Gators pair converted their first break of Enzo Aguiard/Filip Planinsek’s serve to go up 2-1 and broke again in their final return game to claim the 6-3 victory.
Both Nate Bonetto/Tanapatt Nirundorn and Jonah Braswell/Lukas Greif were locked in at court two and three, respectively, against their Crimson Tide counterparts. In just their third match as a tandem, Bonetto/Nirundorn clinched their second doubles point in a row by snatching the final two games for the 6-4 triumph over German Samofalov/Yair Sarouk. Braswell/Greif were down 5-4 against Joao Ferreira/Matias Ponce De Leon on serve before the match went unfinished.
On court two, Alabama earned the first point of singles play to equalize the score at 1-1, as Filip Planinsek took down No. 72 Grant, 6-2, 6-4. Graduate student No. 103 Nefve quickly seized the lead back, 2-1 for the Gators in straights by earning his highest ranked-win of dual play over No. 63…
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