KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. The University of Florida may not be playing for a national championship on the football field, but two future Gators remain contenders for an international tennis title at the Dunlop Orange Bowl. With Coach Andy Jackson looking on, Bob Van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Sekou Bangoura (Bradenton, Fla.) upended a pair of British upstarts to reach the Boys 18s quarterfinals at Crandon Park Thursday.

Its good for Florida, said Bangoura, who, like Van Overbeek, will enroll at UF in January. We actually warmed up today, so well probably do that again. Get that good karma going.

Big-hitting Brit George Morgan made the first set a nightmare for Bangoura, crushing cross-court forehands on consecutive points to break the Americans serve for the third time and take a 5-4 lead. The 16-year-old qualifier consolidated by brushing a down-the-line backhand at 30-30 on his serve and then converting his first set point when a Bangoura lob landed long.

Bangoura bounced back to take the second set and had two match points on his serve at 5-3 in the third. But Morgan rallied to 5-5.

With momentum now in Morgans favor, Bangoura saved a break point in the 11th game by running down the Brits killer cross-court forehand and drawing an error. When he held with a service winner down the tee, the typically subdued Sekou screamed, Lets go!

Bangoura reached 15-40 on Morgans serve in the following game, earning his third and fourth match points. But the Brit remained calm and erased them with an unreturnable serve and a down-the-line backhand that Bangoura couldnt retrieve. Unafraid to venture forward, Morgan stepped inside the baseline for a backhand volley winner and a cross-court forehand winner to force a final set tiebreak.

It was getting really annoying, actually; Im not going to lie, said Bangoura. It was the second time I had match points, and he came up with great shots. All credit to him. What could I do?

After saving four match points, it was Morgan who earned the first match point of the tiebreak, leading 6-5 with Bangoura due to serve.

The American missed his first serve and spun in his second, which allowed Morgan to rip a forehand return. Though Bangoura anticipated the ball up the line, Morgan appeared to be in a winning position when he approached the net.

But the American blasted a cross-court backhand pass that drew a short volley, which he attacked with a forehand directed down the middle of the court. Morgan managed to make a reflex volley, but when Bangouras next forehand went towards his body again, he failed to put a racquet on the ball.

At 6-6, Morgan missed a return off a second serve. Facing a fifth match point, he ended a baseline rally prematurely with a drop shot that dribbled off the net and back onto his side of the court, ending a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6) victory for Bangoura in two hours and 50 minutes.

It could have gone either way, said Bangoura. Im just going to go rest up and be ready tomorrow, fight like today and see what happens.

Van Overbeek nearly found himself in a final-set tiebreak during his round of 16 win over Morgans training partner, Jack Carpenter. Serving at 5-6, 30-30, in the third set, Carpenter missed a backhand to give the American a match point. Engaged in a baseline rally, it was the Brit who pulled the trigger on an inside-out forehand that Van Overbeek could not handle.

Carpenter made another backhand error at deuce to give Van Overbeek a second match point. But with a look at a second-serve return, Van Overbeek missed a backhand of his own.

On deuce No. 2, Carpenter attempted a drop shot that bounced backwards off the top of the tape. Facing a third match point, Carpenter serve-and-volleyed. The Americans backhand return landed at Carpenters feet, forcing him to hit a half-volley that Van Overbeek pummeled for a down-the-line forehand that Carpenter couldnt handle.

The first match point I played way too tentative, said Van Overbeek. On the second one, I wanted to be more aggressive on the return and pushed it a little bit wide. Then on the last one, I didnt know he was going to serve-and-volley because he only had on a couple big points.

Luckily for me, I was hitting my returns as short as possible not on purpose. I dont know if serving-and-volleying was the right play because I wasnt returning great.

In other Boys 18s action, No. 5 seed Mitchell Frank (Annandale, Va.) saved six set points in the second set of his 7-5, 7-5 win over Oliver Golding. Goldings loss made British boys 0-3 in the round of 16, a day after he, Carpenter and Morgan each upset a top-10 seed.