In the final game of his last home match, Florida senior Alexandre Lacroix was feeling the gravity and emotion of the situation.
It took five match points, but Lacroix notched his 209th career victory Sunday to become the all-time winningest player in Florida history, and the host Gators downed Miami 4-0 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
"It's amazing," Lacroix said. "I thought about it a little bit when I was close to the record. It feels amazing in my last match, beating this record. I know that there's a lot of great players at Florida."
UF's match against Miami, which was pushed back by a six-hour rain delay on Saturday, was suspended by thunderstorms late at night at the Ring Tennis Complex.
Florida won the doubles point on Saturday with Lacroix grabbing his program-best 101st career win.
On Sunday, Florida Junior Nassim Slilam was first off the court with a 6-2, 6-2 victory against UM's Christian Blocker. Lacroix then defeated Miami's Keith Crowley 6-1, 6-1 on his fifth match point, as he battled nerves in closing out the final home match of his career at Florida. Gator freshman Spencer Newman clinched the match with his 6-0, 6-4 win against Pedro Ast.
"At the end you could see how important the match was to us," coach Andy Jackson said. "We certainly could smell it. There's the finish line. Alex's last match at the University of Florida. He definitely thought about it at the end and then got across the finish line."
The Gators (20-8), with the No. 7 overall seed in the NCAAs, advance to face Kentucky in the Round of 16 in Palo Alto, Calif., Thursday at 3 p.m., EST.
Three weeks ago, Florida defeated the Wildcats 4-0 in Gainesville to win the SEC Tournament.
"We believe the Tournament is wide open," Jackson said. "We believe that we have a chance. We know Kentucky extremely well."
