Gator Country

Junior Billy Federhofer, above, teamed with Nassim Slilam for a win in the top doubles match and also won his singles match at Baylor in the season opener in Waco, Texas, on Sunday. / Gator Country file photo by Tim Casey.

The University of Florida men’s tennis team started the dual-match season with an impressive 6-1 victory on the road at No. 5 Baylor in Waco, Texas, on Sunday afternoon. After winning all three doubles matches to earn the first point, the Gators won five of six singles matches for the final margin.

Sophomore Andrew Butz (Vero Beach, Fla.) and junior Bob van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) jumped out to a fast start and won 8-5 over BU’s Kike Grangeiro and Mate Zsiga at the No. 3 doubles spot. Junior transfer Frank Carleton (Naples, Fla.) and sophomore Spencer Newman (Miami, Fla.) played a tight match against Baylor’s Diego Galeano and Roberto Maytin, but earned a late break and clinched the doubles point for Florida, winning 8-6 at the No. 2 doubles position.

Junior Billy Federhofer (North Miami, Fla.) and senior Nassim Slilam (Paris, France) completed the doubles sweep for UF with an 8-5 win in the top position against Marko Krickovic and Roberto Verzaal.

The University of Florida men’s tennis team started the dual-match season with an impressive 6-1 victory on the road at No. 5 Baylor in Waco, Texas, on Sunday afternoon. After winning all three doubles matches to earn the first point, the Gators won five of six singles matches for the final margin.

Sophomore Andrew Butz (Vero Beach, Fla.) and junior Bob van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) jumped out to a fast start and won 8-5 over BU’s Kike Grangeiro and Mate Zsiga at the No. 3 doubles spot. Junior transfer Frank Carleton (Naples, Fla.) and sophomore Spencer Newman (Miami, Fla.) played a tight match against Baylor’s Diego Galeano and Roberto Maytin, but earned a late break and clinched the doubles point for Florida, winning 8-6 at the No. 2 doubles position.

Junior Billy Federhofer (North Miami, Fla.) and senior Nassim Slilam (Paris, France) completed the doubles sweep for UF with an 8-5 win in the top position against Marko Krickovic and Roberto Verzaal.

In singles action, Federhofer breezed past Grangeiro in the sixth position, 6-0, 6-1, to push Florida’s lead to 2-0 overall. Zsiga got Baylor on the board with a straight-set win over van Overbeek in the No. 1 position, 6-4, 6-2. It proved to be the Bears’ only point of the match, as the Gators swept the remaining four courts. Slilam gave UF a 3-1 lead after downing Galeano, 6-3, 7-5, at No. 2 singles.

Sophomore Florent Diep (Paris, France), making his dual-match debut for Florida, clinched the match with a close win over Krickovic, 7-5, 7-5, at the fourth position.

Carleton and Newman earned the final two points for Florida at No. 3 and No. 5 singles, respectively. Carleton beat Maytin in three sets, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Newman won in a superset tiebreak against Lars Behlen, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 1-0 (10-7).

The Gators will open their home schedule next weekend, hosting the ITA Kickoff Weekend Jan. 28-29. Florida will face New Mexico on Saturday morning, and either Miami (Fla.) or Wake Forest on Sunday. Check GatorZone.com later in the week for the complete event schedule.


No. 8 Florida vs. No. 5 Baylor
Hurd Tennis Center
Waco, Texas
Jan. 22, 2011

Doubles
1 – (4) Slilam/Federhofer (UF) def. Krickovic/Verzaal (BU) – 8-5
2 – *(41) Carleton/Newman (UF) def. Galeano/Maytin (BU) – 8-6
3 – (25) Butz/van Overbeek (UF) def. Grangeiro/Zsigo (BU) – 8-5
Order of Finish: 3-2-1

Singles
1 – (20) Mate Zsiga (BU) def. (69) Bob van Overbeek (UF) – 6-4, 6-2
2 – Nassim Slilam (UF) def. Diego Galeano (BU) – 6-3, 7-5
3 – Frank Carleton (UF) def. (54) Roberto Maytin (BU) – 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
4 – *Florent Diep (UF) def. Marko Krickovic (BU) – 7-5, 7-5
5 – (84) Spencer Newman (UF) def. (52) Lars Behlen (BU) – 6-1, 6-7 (3), 1-0 (10-7)
6 – Billy Federhofer (UF) def. Kike Grangeiro (BU) – 6-0, 6-1
Order of Finish: 6-1-2-4-3-5

*Clinching point

Courtesy of UF Sports Information

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