No. 17 Men's Tennis Bested by No. 16 Baylor, 4-0No. 17 Men's Tennis Bested by No. 16 Baylor, 4-0

No. 17 Men's Tennis Bested by No. 16 Baylor, 4-0

by Alex Clough
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ORLANDO - The No. 17 UCF men’s tennis team dropped its penultimate home match of the season Friday night, falling to No. 16 Baylor 4-0.

While each court exchanged early holds in doubles, the Bears (18-8, 4-1)  gained the upper hand on two and three. On one, the Knights (16-7, 2-3)  tandem of Yassine Dlimi and Emilio Sanchez broke serve early to go up 2-1 before Baylor’s 18th-ranked Oskar Poulsen and Marko Miladinovic fired off five-consecutive games to claim the match, 6-2.

The win was paired with a court-three triumph from Zsombor Velcz and Alexandru Chirita to give the Bears the early advantage.

Five first-set wins from Baylor made for a tough road ahead, though Nicolas Oliveira powered through an over one-hour opening set to take the tiebreak, 10-8, to garner momentum for the Knights. Seconds before the court-five thriller, Mehdi Benchakorun responded to his early deficit with a 6-3 result in the second set.

A top-100 matchup on court one lived up to the hype early on, as 77th-ranked Dlimi and 36th-ranked Devin Badenhorst held serve throughout a first-set tiebreak that fell Baylor’s way. 

The Bears’ early leads came to fruition, however, after Sanchez fell to Marko Miladinovic on court six, 6-3, 6-3, and Colin was handed the same fate on court three against the 100th-ranked  Velcz, 6-4, 6-4.

While each remaining court was either nearing a third set or amidst one, Dlimi’s contested court-one contest eventually was taken by Badenhorst, breaking the junior for the first time to clinch the contest for Baylor.

UP NEXT

The Knights will look to bounce back into the win column for the third consecutive time during conference play as they host No. 35 Arizona State on Sunday at Noon.

Singles Results

  1. No. 36 Devin Badenhorst (BU) def. #77 Yassine Dlimi (UCF) 7-6(4), 6-4
  2. #86 Mehdi Benchakroun (UCF) vs. O. Brostrom Poulsen (BU) 2-6, 6-3, 3-3, unfinished
  3. No. 100 Zsombor Velcz (BU) def. Paul Colin (UCF) 6-4, 6-4
  4. Santiago Giamichelle (UCF) vs. Alexandru Chirita (BU) 5-7, 5-6, unfinished
    5. Nicolas Oliveira (UCF) vs. Louis Bowden (BU) 7-6(8), 0-5
  5. Marko Miladinovic (BU) def. Emilio Sanchez (UCF) 6-3, 6-3

Doubles Results

  1. #18 O. Brostrom Poulsen/Marko Miladinovic (BU) def. Yassine Dlimi/Emilio Sanchez (UCF) 6-2
  2. #86 Devin Badenhorst/Luc Koenig (BU) vs. Mehdi Benchakroun/Santiago Giamichelle (UCF) 5-3, unfinished
  3. Zsombor Velcz/Alexandru Chirita (BU) def. Paul Colin/Nicolas Oliveira (UCF) 6-2