Florida men’s tennis senior Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) and sophomore Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton, Fla.) posted two wins each on Saturday to advance into the quarterfinals at the SEC Indoor Championships at the Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville, Tenn. The top-seeded and 11th-ranked doubles pair of Lacroix and Nassim Slilam (Paris, France) also advanced to the doubles semifinals.
Bangoura and Lacroix each posted dominating straight-sets victories in the Round of 32 before battling to much tougher three-set wins in their Round of 16 matches. Lacroix fought off two match points to rally for his 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(5) win over Tennessee’s Tennys Sandgren, while Bangoura bounced back from a set down to top Georgia’s Drake Bernstein, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Lacroix and Slilam posted an 8-6 quarterfinal win against Artem Ilyushin and Tanner Stump of Mississippi State.
In Sunday morning action, Bangoura takes on Tennessee’s John-Patrick Smith, while Lacroix faces Georgia’s Will Spencer. The semifinals will then be played Sunday afternoon. Lacroix and Slilam later play in the doubles semifinals at 5:30 p.m. against UT’s Smith and Boris Conkic.
A live blog of each day’s action is hosted at UTSports.com, and all scores will be posted on that website, as well. Score updates will also be available by following SEC Indoors on Twitter at twitter.com/SECIndoors2011. A recap of all the Gator scores will also be available each day on gatorzone.com.
2011 SEC Indoor Championships
Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center
Knoxville, Tenn.
Jan. 14-17, 2011
Saturday Results (UF Only)
Singles Round of 32
(4) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) def. Brad Cox (Kentucky) – 6-2, 6-4
(28) Sekou Bangoura Jr. (UF) def. Julien Gauthier (LSU) – 6-1, 6-0
Jonas Lutjen (Ole Miss) def. Michael Alford (UF) 5-2 (inj.)
Hernius Pieters (Georgia) def. Billy Federhofer (UF) 7-6, 6-2
(39) Alex Musialek (Kentucky) def. Nassim Slilam (UF) – 6-2, 6-7, 6-1
Neal Skupski (LSU) def. Andrew Butz (UF) – 6-1, 6-4
Singles Round of 16
(4) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) def. Tennys Sandgren (Tennessee) – 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(5)
(28) Sekou Bangoura Jr. (UF) def. Drake Bernstein (Georgia) – 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
Doubles Quarterfinals
(11) Lacroix/Slilam (UF) def. Ilyushin/Stump (Miss. St.) – 8-6
Singles Consolation Round of 32
Campbell Johnson (Georgia) def. Andrew Butz (UF) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles Consolation Round of 16
Butz/Federhofer (UF) def. Brasseaux/Johnson (Georgia) – 8-5
Doubles Quarterfinals
Chadwell/Proskura (Alabama) def. Butz/Federhofer (UF) – 8-1
Sunday Schedule (UF Only)
Singles Quarterfinals
10:30 a.m. – (28) Sekou Bangoura Jr. (UF) vs. (21) John-Patrick Smith (Tennessee)
11:30 a.m. – (4) Alexandre Lacroix (UF) vs. (53) Will Spencer (Georgia)
Singles Semifinals
Scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Doubles Semifinals
5:30 p.m. – (11) Lacroix/Slilam (UF) vs. Conkic/Smith (Tennessee)
Singles Consolation Round of 16
10:30 a.m. – Billy Federhofer (UF) vs. Matteo Fago (Tennessee)
Singles Consolation Quarterfinals
Scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
Remaining Schedule
Monday
Final Singles: 10 a.m.
Final Doubles to follow, not before 11:30 a.m.
