ORLANDO – Bogdan Pavel and Mehdi Benchakroun of the UCF men's tennis team were highlighted day two of the UCF Fall Sizzler, with each advancing to Sunday's final of their respective singles draws.
Pavel was rolling in his first singles action this fall on Saturday after earning a bye through the first round on Friday. Pavel opened his campaign with a 6-1, 6-3 over FGCU's Gugliemo Stefanacci before taking down the red draw's fourth-seeded Muhammad Dossani of Cornell by a count of 6-3, 6-2. Pavel, the top seed in the red draw, will face Cornell's third-seeded Nathan Mao in the final match of the draw on Sunday.
Rookie Benchakroun got his first taste of singles action as a Knight on Saturday after earning a bye through Friday's opening round in the orange draw. He went toe-to-toe in a tight matchup with Stetson's Juan Jose Gasceron and ultimately came away with the 4-6, 6-4, 10-4 victory. Benchakroun cruised to a straight set victory in his second match of the day, beating Kennesaw State's Hugo Salmeron 6-1, 6-3. Benchakroun will match up against North Florida's Rodrigo Crespo in Sunday's final of the orange singles draw.
Emilio Sanchez earned his first victory as a Knight, topping Furman's Ben Cahill in the orange back draw. The freshman earned a 6-2, 7-6 victory and will match up against Cornell's Bradley Paliska on Sunday.
Quinn Snyder picked up a victory in the green back draw, beating Stetson's Bendit Shroder in a tight 6-4, 7-5 contest. He'll match up with Furman's John Rado in tomorrow's action.
After earning a victory on Friday, Cooper White was topped by FGCU's Marcelo Sepulveda in the blue single draw by a score of 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinal round.
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