ORLANDO - The UCF men’s tennis team earned its sixth-straight win with a 4-0 sweep over Florida Atlantic Thursday night at the USTA National Campus. After securing the doubles point, the Knights went on to win three consecutive singles courts to earn the sweep. The 6-0 start to the season marks the best season-opening record since 1980. With one more win, the 2024 squad will hold the record for the best start in program history.
We are doing a really good job as a team. We are fighting, we are all together, we are having a good time at practice and working hard, and I think that it is paying off. As long as we keep playing the way that we’re playing, we are going to have a great season.”
Santiago GiamichelleThe doubles competition started off strong as Toto Llanes and Santiago Giamichelle came out fired up and kept the momentum until the end of the match, which they took 6-1 against FAU’s Jiri Jenicek and Simon Myslivec. Following the pair, Yassine Dlimi and Paul Colin went on to secure the doubles point with a 6-3 win, with Colin holding serve consecutively to seal the decision. With the doubles point clinched, the match on court 2 went unfinished.
Leading 1-0 going into singles, the Knights started off strong, winning five of the six first sets. In just his second singles match of the 2024 campaign, Colin made quite the statement on court six, earning a 6-1, 6-3 victory to give the Black and Gold a 2-0 lead. Llanes also won his first set, with a commanding 6-0 decision. The second set proved to be more of a challenge for the Knight, but he came out on top, 6-4, for his fourth-consecutive singles victory. With the Knights leading 3-0, Giamichelle clinched the match on court four with a 6-4, 6-4 win. The transfer continues to make a large impact on the team and is now a perfect 5-0 in singles this season.
Three matches remained unfinished after the Knights clinched the win, all of which proved to be competitive matches. Dlimi dropped his first set 7-5 but was up 4-3 in his second set. Lleyton Cronje was tied 2-2 in the second after taking the first set 7-6(5). The final unfinished match was Benchakroun, who, after winning his first set 6-2, fell in the second 6-2. When the match was clinched, the sophomore led the third set 2-0.
UP NEXT
The Knights will look to make history Sunday at the USTA National Campus. The squad will host Miami Feb. 11 with a first serve time of noon.