The Florida men’s tennis team opened competition in the SEC Indoor Championships with four singles wins in four first-round matches in the Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville, Tenn., on Friday. The top-seeded and 11th-ranked doubles pair of Alexandre Lacroix and Nassim Slilam also advanced to the doubles quarterfinals.
With Lacroix, Bangoura and van Overbeek all receiving seeds and a first-round bye in the singles draw, the UF quartet of Michael Alford, Andrew Butz, Billy Federhofer and Slilam swept their opening-round singles matches to give the Gators a seven players in the Round of 32, tied for the most of any team. Alford, Butz and Federhofer all claimed straight-sets victories over their respective opponents, while Slilam battled to a three-set win against Mississippi State’s James Chaundry.
Lacroix and Slilam, the top-seeded doubles team in the draw and 11th-ranked duo nationally, received a first-round bye before dispatching Tennessee’s Jarryd Chaplin and Edward Jones, 8-4, to advance into the quarterfinals. Lacroix won last year’s doubles draw alongside Antoine Benneteau.
In other doubles action, Bangoura and Alford topped LSU’s 27th-ranked tandem of Sebastian Carlsson and Neal Skupski, 8-6, in the opening round before falling in the Round of 16.
A live blog of each day’s action is hosted at UTSports.com, and all scores will be posted on that website, as well. Score updates will also be available by following SEC Indoors on Twitter at twitter.com/SECIndoors2011.
2011 SEC Indoor Championships
Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center
Knoxville, Tenn.
Jan. 14-17, 2011
Friday Results (UF Only)
Singles Round of 64
Michael Alford (UF) def. Stefan Szacinski (LSU) – 6-4, 7-5
Billy Federhofer (UF) def. Ryuji Hirooka (Kentucky) – 6-3, 6-3
Nassim Slilam (UF) def. James Chaundry (Miss. St.) – 6-0, 6-7, 6-4
Andrew Butz (UF) def. Maks Gold (Kentucky) – 7-6, 6-2
Doubles Round of 32
Alford/Bangoura (UF) def. (27) Carlsson/Skupski (LSU) – 8-6
Gauthier/Szacinski (LSU) def. Butz/Federhofer (UF) – 8-6
Doubles Round of 16
(11) Lacroix/Slilam (UF) def. Chaplin/Jones (Tennessee) – 8-4
Bernstein/Spencer (Georgia) def. Alford/Bangoura (UF) – 8-1
Saturday Schedule (UF Only)
Singles Round of 32
8:30 a.m. – Michael Alford (UF) vs. Jonas Lutjen (Ole Miss)
8:30 a.m. – (52) Bob van Overbeek (UF) vs. Artem Ilyushin (Miss. St.)
8:30 a.m. – Billy Federhofer (UF) vs. Hernius Pieters (Georgia)
10 a.m. – (28) Sekou Bangoura Jr. (UF) vs. Julien Gauthier (LSU)
10 a.m. – Nassim Slilam (UF) vs. (39) Alex Musialek (Kentucky)
10 a.m. – Andrew Butz (UF) vs. Neal Skupski (LSU)
11:30 a.m. – (4) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) vs. Brad Cox (Kentucky)
Singles Round of 16
Scheduled for 4 and 5:30 p.m.
Doubles Quarterfinals
Not before 5:30 p.m. – (11) Lacroix/Slilam (UF) vs. Ilyushin/Stump (Miss. St.) – Not before 5:30 p.m.
Singles Consolation Round of 32
Scheduled for 2:30 and 4 p.m. Players losing in the Round of 32 will have the opportunity to play in the consolation draw.
Doubles Consolation Round of 16
7 p.m. – Butz/Federhofer (UF) vs. Brasseaux/Johnson (Georgia)
Doubles Quarterfinals
8 p.m. – Alford/Bangoura (UF) vs. Taborga/Walston (Alabama)
Remaining Schedule
Sunday (Beginning at 8 a.m.)
Consolation Doubles: Round 2
Main Draw Doubles: Semifinals
Consolation Singles: Round 2
Main Draw Singles: Quarterfinals
Consolation Singles: Round 3
Main Draw Singles: Semifinals
Monday
Final Singles: 10 a.m.
Final Doubles to follow, not before 11:30 a.m.