The No. 10 University of Florida men’s tennis team shutout No. 47 Arkansas on Sunday, 7-0, at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex in their last home match of the regular season. With the win, UF improved to 14-6 on the season and 5-3 in conference play.
The Gators swept the Razorbacks in doubles action to take a quick 1-0 lead. On court three, freshman Carlos Cueto teamed with sophomore Alex Lacroix to take down Arkansas’ Taylor King and Matt Walters 8-2 in just 30 minutes. The pair of freshman Joey Burkhardt and junior Antoine Benneteau clinched the doubles point with an 8-4 victory in the No. 1 position.
Sophomores Jeff Dadamo and Johnny Hamui completed the sweep with an 8-6 win over Arkansas’ Matthew Hogan and Dmitry Lebedev.
Dadamo pushed the Gators lead to 2-0 with a quick 6-0, 6-3 win over Tyler Tarnasky on court six. Minutes later, Burkhardt earned another point for Florida with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Lebedev in the No. 4 position.
The clinching point came on court five, where Hamui blanked Bradwin Williams in the second set to earn a 6-4, 6-0 win. The Gators improved to 11-1 at home this season with Sunday’s win.
Benneteau breezed through his first set and fought back in the second set to down Hogan 6-0, 7-5 at No. 3 singles. Cueto completed the shutout with a 6-4, 6-3 win over 13th-ranked Blake Strode on the premier court.
The Gators will hit the road next weekend for their last two regular-season matches, taking on Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Friday at 4:00 p.m., and playing at Auburn on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
Super Photo Gallery: Men’s Tennis vs. Arkansas, 4/5/09
DIRECTORY OF GATOR COUNTRY PHOTO GALLERIES