The men's tennis team opened its season to mixed results over the weekend at the Southern Intercollegiates Championship in Athens, Ga. Although Duke's top two singles players, Ludovic Walter and Joey Atas, were both upset Saturday, senior Jonathan Stokke advanced to the quarterfinals to help salvage the weekend.
Stokke, seeded sixth in the tournament, earned a first-round bye Friday before winning two matches Saturday. He first defeated Mississippi's Juan Pablo Di Cesare in straight sets, before gritting out a win over hometown favorite Ricardo Gonzalez of Georgia 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2. His luck ran out, however, Sunday morning when he dropped a tight match to Georgia's John Isner, the tournament's second-ranked player.
Walter, another senior, was the tournament's top seed but was upset in the third round on Saturday by Georgia's Strahinja Bobusic.
"Luda played a guy who just played a little bit above himself," head coach Jay Lapidus said. "Weird things can happen."
Atas, the nation's No. 29 player and the third seed in the tournament, also was upset Saturday. The junior transfer from Ohio State dropped his first match as a Blue Devil in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, to Andy Mack of Vanderbilt.
"Joey didn't have his best match," said Lapidus, who added that Atas showed some signs of nerves in his first Duke competition. "He'll be fine."
Senior Christopher Brown, meanwhile, earned his way into the quarterfinals of the Division II singles bracket with victories over Ryan Farlow of Mississippi State, Florida's Ryan Sherry and Julien Lousao of Southeastern Louisiana. Brown similarly ran into trouble Sunday, dropping a hard-fought three-set match to Zach Rath of Georgia Tech.
Ned Samuelson, a sophomore, lost his first match Friday night, 6-3, 6-2, to Georgia's Colin Purcell.
The Blue Devils also sent two players to the UNC Invitational in Chapel Hill. Sophomore Alex Stone lost his opening match to James Lloyd of Radford and senior Stefan Rozycki also lost his first match and injured a stomach muscle in the process.
Overall, Lapidus was pleased with what he saw over the weekend.
"There were some good improvements in a lot of the guys," he said, adding that the team applied many of the things they have focused on in practice. "I saw a lot of good things out there."
Duke now takes a break until Oct. 6-9 at the ITA All-American Tournament. Walter, Atas, Stokke, and junior Peter Rodrigues will represent the Blue Devils in Tulsa, Okla. In the mean time, Duke will continue to work on its fitness during practice in preparation for the spring season.
"We're just trying to get sharper, play some matches, and continue to work on our conditioning," Lapidus said. "The results will come."
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