Duke’s Ludovic Walter moved on to the second round of the ITA Indoor singles Championships Thursday in Ann Arbor, Mich., but his attempt to repeat as doubles champion fell short.
Stanford’s K.C. Corkery pushed the Blue Devils’ top singles player to a pair of tiebreakers, and Walter prevailed in each.
Walter, who won both tiebreakers 7-3, will play Rohan Gajjar of Arkansas in the second round Friday. Gajjar also advanced with two tiebreak wins, knocking off top-seeded Catalin Gard of Mississippi 7-6, 7-6.
Walter reached the semifinals in last year’s tournament on what he calls his favorite surface.
If the Duke junior advances when he returns to the court today, he will face either Old Dominion’s Izak van der Merwe or Michigan’s Brian Hung in the quarterfinals later in the afternoon.
Walter and partner Jason Zimmermann’s bid to repeat as doubles champions came up short yesterday as the pair fell in the first round. Hung and Ryan Heller of host Michigan beat the Blue Devils in a hard-fought tiebreaker.
Walter earned a berth in the event by winning a qualifying tournament at North Carolina Oct. 24.
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