In its first event of the year, the men's tennis team traveled to Georgia last weekend to play in the Southern Intercollegiate Tournament, a competition that includes 24 teams and over 140 players. Duke sent seven players to compete in the event, six of whom advanced to the third round.
Among the outstanding performances, sophomore Ludovic Walter advanced to the semifinals in the top A flight singles bracket. He lost the semifinal match in three sets to the top-seeded and second-ranked player in the nation, Bo Hodge of Georgia.
"Ludovic is definitely establishing himself as one of the top guys in collegiate men's tennis," Duke head coach Jay Lapidus said. "Its exciting to see his progress."
In the first singles bracket, Jonathan Stokke advanced to the fourth round, where he lost to the third seed, Vanderbilt's Matt Lockin. Also starting the season on a strong note were freshman Peter Rodrigues and sophomore Christopher Brown, both of whom reached the quarterfinals in their respective B flight singles matches. Brown soundly defeated Birgir Soiland of Stetson, 6-3, 6-0, before losing to Georgia Tech's Trevor McLeod yesterday morning.
Rodrigues, in his first collegiate tournament, took on and subsequently beat Florent Girod of Mississippi State, but fell to Frederik Aarum of Mississippi. Ryan Heinberg, who earned a pair of three-set victories Friday, was defeated by Armstrong Atlantic State's Roger Thiele in the third round.
In the third singles bracket, sophomore Stefan Rozycki advanced to the third round of play, but retired from the tournament thereafter.
"I think clearly the younger guys, the freshmen from last year, have made a lot of improvements and I look forward to the rest of the season," Lapidus said.
In the doubles flight, eighth-seeded Brown and Heinberg play in the semifinals today.
With its strong performance at the tournament last weekend, the team looks forward to another successful season. Duke, who currently holds the ACC title and was ranked ninth at the end of last year, hopes these tournaments will give greater experience to its players in order to continue the tradition.
"I was really pleased with the level of play this weekend," Lapidus said. "I think the guys have made a lot of improvements over the summer and I'm very optimistic thus far."
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