BRADENTON — Florida men’s tennis sophomores Sekou Bangoura Jr. and Bob van Overbeek each advanced into the singles quarterfinals Friday at the Lakewood Ranch Intercollegiate Clay Court Classic.
Bangoura defeated Temple’s Kacper Rams, 6-2, 6-1, in first-round action before dispatching Alabama’s Carlos Taborga, 7-6 (3), 6-2, in the Round of 16.
Bob van Overbeek received a first-round bye and followed it up with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Miami’s Gabriel Flores. Sophomore Billy Federhofer posted a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Pepperdine’s David Sofaer in the first round before falling in another three-setter during second-round action to Pepperdine’s Tobias Wernet, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Three other Gators suffered setbacks: Andrew Butz lost to Miami’s Waylon Chin, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-2; Michael Alford lost to Eduardo Pavia of Miami, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4; and Nassim Slilam retired in the third set against Minnesota’s Rok Bonin.
Freshmen Michael Alford and Andrew Butz posted an 8-3 victory over the Miami pair of Flores and Christian Blocker in first-round action to advance into Saturday’s quarterfinals. Florida will have three doubles pairs in the quarters, as the tandems of van Overbeek and Bangoura as well as Federhofer and junior Nassim Slilam received byes in the opening round.
The Lakewood Ranch event is the lone clay court tournament on the Gators’ schedule and is their final tournament of the fall season. The tournament concludes Sunday.