ORLANDO - The UCF men's tennis team (2-7) dropped in a heartbreaker match against No. 16 Florida State (7-3) at USTA National Campus on Saturday afternoon. Freshman Yassine Dlimi picked up his first ranked win of his collegiate career, but the Knights were defeated 6-1.
The match got off to a rough start for the Knights, dropping the doubles point after FSU picked up both courts one and two. No. 48 Bogdan Pavel and Lleyton Cronje put up a good fight, but ultimately fell short by a score 3-6 on court one.
Singles play was highlighted by an astounding performance from Dlimi on court three. He faced a difficult matchup against the 89th-ranked singles player from FSU. Not letting this deter him, he took the match in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5. The Knights battled hard, taking three other courts to three sets, but were unable to capitalize off of the momentum created by Dlimi. Bogdan Pavel took the first set against No. 2 Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, but ultimately fell short in three sets.
UP NEXT
The Knights will head back on the road for a three-game road trip, where they will face No. 53 FAU, No. 30 Oklahoma State, and conference foe No. 68 SMU.
#16 Florida State 6, UCF 1
Singles competition
1. A. Cornut-Chauvinc (FSU) def. Bogdan Pavel (UCF) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
2. Loris Pourroy (FSU) def. Lleyton Cronje (UCF) 5-7, 6-2, 6-1
3. Yassine Dlimi (UCF) def. Youcef Rihane (FSU) 6-4, 7-5
4. Andreja Petrovic (FSU) def. Mehdi Benchakroun (UCF) 6-2, 6-3
5. Jamie Connel (FSU) def. Liam Branger (UCF) 1-6, 6-2, 6-3
6. J. Dous-Karpenschif (FSU) def. Francisco Llanes (UCF) 6-1, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Maks Silagy/J. Dous-Karpenschif (FSU) def. #48 Bogdan Pavel/Lleyton Cronje (UCF) 6-3
2. A. Cornut-Chauvinc/Barnaby Smith (FSU) def. Liam Branger/Yassine Dlimi (UCF) 6-0
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (6,4,3,5,2,1)
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