Senior Jonathan Stokke's outstanding play continued this weekend as he reached the finals of the 2005 ITA Mideast Regional Championships. But his teammate and the tournament's top seed, Ludovic Walter could not replicate the same success, as he fell in the quarterfinals.
The fifth-seeded Stokke dropped only one set in six matches en route to reaching the finals along with 17th seed Martin Sayer of Radford. The two opponents agreed not to play the final match because both players had already qualified for the ITA National Indoors in November by reaching the final match.
Stokke enjoyed similar success with his doubles partner, junior Joey Atas. Seeded second, the duo reached the finals before losing to the sixth-seeded pair of Rylan Rizza and Darrin Cohen of Virginia. Duke's other doubles team of Walter and junior Peter Rodrigues, which was seeded third, lost in the quarterfinals. Neither of the Blue Devils' double teams advanced to the ITA Indoors.
This weekend's performance continued a rash of disappointing results for Walter, who began the season ranked second nationally. Walter has faltered early in each of his tournament appearances this season, losing in the third round of the Southern Intercollegiate Championships Sept. 24 and falling in the second round of the All-America Tennis Championships Oct. 6 to an unseeded freshman.
"When you're highly seeded, everyone's gunning for you," head coach Jay Lapidus said. "Guys are going to come with their best stuff. He's got nothing to be ashamed of."
Despite failing to defend his ITA regional title, teammates said Walter, who should still receive an at-large bid to the ITA Nationals, is playing fine and will only improve as he moves toward spring play.
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