ORLANDO, Fla..- Stefan Correa went a perfect 5-0 to win the Red Flight Championship in singles and paired with
Gabriel Valdes to reach the finals in the doubles bracket to lead the way for the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles in their first tournament of the fall season this weekend in Orlando.
Correa dominated his first three rounds of singles action, winning in straight sets against foes from North Florida, Florida Atlantic, and West Florida to reach the semifinals where he squared off against teammate
Gabriel Valdes. Valdes gave him his biggest challenge of the weekend, pushing him to a third set tiebreak where Correa eventually outlasted his doubles partner 6-4, 4-6 (4), 10-4 to advance to the finals. In Sunday's final, Correa squared off with Roman Sancilio from Florida and dropped the first set 6-4 before roaring back for a 6-3 win in the second and closing Sancilio out with a 6-4 win in the third to claim the title.
Valdes put together the Eagles second-best run of the weekend, going 3-1 and reaching the semifinals of the Red Flight. His first two wins came against ASUN opponents in North Florida and Stetson before winning a three setter in the quarterfinals against UCF to punch his ticket to the final four. He took the first set from his doubles partner Correa 6-4, but couldn't close him out, dropping the second 7-6 (4) and the third 10-4 to bring his weekend to a close.
Six other Eagles picked up singles wins in the tournament.
Hugo Magnusson picked up a big three set victory over Andreas Timini of Florida in the opening round while
Gustav Hasslegren,
CJ Smith, and
Harry Michalowski earned wins over ASUN foe North Florida and
Jonathan Baron and
Tanner Povey chalked up wins over USF.
Overall the Eagles went 14-11 in singles play on the weekend.
Correa and Valdes also made the deepest run in the doubles draw, getting a bye in the opening round and a walkover in the semis to reach the finals without playing a single point. They put together a valiant effort in the final, but fell 6-3 to West Florida to finish as runners-up in Draw No. 4.
Jonathan Baron and
Mika Bunjes picked up an impressive win in their first round matchup, taking down Florida State 6-3 to reach the semifinals where they were unable to compete due to an injury.
Hugo Magnusson and
Tanner Povey also earned a victory in doubles, downing North Florida 6-4 in the first round of their draw.
Overall the Eagles were 3-4 in doubles action.
The Eagles return to the court October 14
th when they take part in the ITA Southeast Regional in Atlanta with a ticket to the ITA Sectional Championships on the line.
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