Florida men’s tennis senior Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France) advanced to the second round of the NCAA singles championship with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 first-round win over Tulsa’s Japie De Klerk at the Taube Tennis Center on the Stanford University campus in Stanford, Calif., on Wednesday.
The sixth-seeded Lacroix was originally slated to face USC’s Jaak Poldma, but Poldma withdrew from the tournament and was replaced in the draw by De Klerk. Lacroix will face Jose Hernandez of North Carolina in the Round of 32 on Thursday, with the start time to be determined.
“I was a little nervous because I got the first set and was up, but he got a break and won the second set,” Lacroix said. “I went up a break again in the third and he came back and made it a close match, but I got another break late. I’m excited and am just going to take it one match a time now.”
After Lacroix built a 3-1 lead in the third set, De Klerk rallied to knot the set at 3-3. The turning point came when Lacroix broke serve at 4-4, enabling him to serve out the match and advance to the second round of the NCAA singles championship for the second consecutive year.
Lacroix improves to 36-10 (.783) in singles and also moves into a tie for fourth in the UF record books with his 110th career singles win (Greg Ouellette, 2005-08).
Also in first-round action, sophomore Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton, Fla.), playing in his first national singles championship, fell to eighth-seeded Henrique Cunha of Duke University, 6-2, 6-4. The 40th-ranked Gator sophomore finishes the 2010-11 season with a 31-13 (.705) singles record and reached a career-best No. 28 ranking on Jan. 4.
Bangoura and Lacroix open the doubles championship on Thursday against California’s Nick Andrews and Christoffer Konigsfeldt. The start time has not yet been determined.
NCAA Individual Championships
Taube Tennis Center
Stanford Calif.
Wednesday, May 25 – Singles first round
Alexandre Lacroix (UF) vs. Japie De Klerk (Tulsa) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
(8) Henrique Cunha (Duke) def. Sekou Bangoura Jr. (UF) 6-2, 6-4
Thursday, May 26 – Singles second round; doubles first round
Time TBD – Alexandre Lacroix (UF) vs. Jose Hernandez (UNC)
Time TBD – Bangoura/Lacroix (UF) vs. Andrews/Konigsfeldt (Cal)
