At 7-7 in the second doubles match against Clemson Sunday, senior Ludovic Walter drilled a one-handed backhand that fell just inside the doubles line to give the Blue Devils a key break point. With one chance to capitalize, Walter chipped a cross-court lob from the backhand side over the two opposing volleyers to give his team the break.
Walter and sophomore partner Ned Samuelson held serve in the final game to clinch the doubles point, which led the Blue Devils (11-3, 3-0 in the ACC) to a 5-2 victory over the No. 10 Tigers (17-5, 2-3) Sunday. Consistent doubles play also gave Duke a dominant 6-1 win over No. 27 Georgia Tech (6-6, 0-4) Saturday.
"It's good to solidify doubles by getting up in singles," head coach Jay Lapidus said. "We did a good job of that."
Against the Tigers, junior Peter Rodrigues, ranked 62nd nationally, won a baseline battle in the first set, 6-4. At 1-1 in the second, the lefty found himself with a break-point chance. His opponent sent a kick serve wide to his forehand, which he drove cross-court for an angle winner. Rodrigues did not give up any games the rest of the way to win the final set, 6-1, and provide Duke's first singles win.
Junior Joey Atas added to the 2-0 Blue Devil lead with a straight set win, 6-3, 6-3.
His teammate Walter, the fifth-ranked player in the nation, trailed a break,4-5, in the top-singles contest against Sander Koning.
"Luda started out a little slow," Lapidus said. "He wasn't moving well the first nine games, but his urgency picked up toward the end of the first set. He really got his confidence going in the second set."
Walter's 7-5, 6-2 victory gave the Blue Devils their decisive fourth point and reason to relax, but freshman Kiril Dimitrov did not ease up. After dropping the first set 6-3, the Bulgarian immediately turned the match around and cruised, 6-1, 6-1 in the next two sets.
"He got a little more aggressive the last two sets," Lapidus said. "The other guy was coming at him a little more early on. But after the first set, he started dictating points a little better."
No. 37 senior Jonathan Stokke was upset after holding a commanding 6-2, 3-0 lead against Clement Reix. At that point, there were some close calls that went against Stokke and Reix started playing much better, Lapidus said.
Against Georgia Tech Saturday, two doubles matches were simultaneously in tiebreakers. But this time, it wasn't No. 3 Walter and Samuelson who pulled out the first point.
Atas and Stokke, ranked 29th in the country, finished on top, 9-8 (4), in a tiebreaker.
"It was good they came through," Lapidus said. "I think that other team was very dangerous. They were very experienced."
The 1-0 lead over the Yellow Jackets paved the way for strong singles performances. The five singles match victories were all won in straight sets.
Duke lost at the sixth position on both days. Sophomore Alex Stone fell against Georgia Tech, and Stephen Amritraj dropped the point to Clemson.
"We've just been rotating around, trying to give everybody a chance to participate and see who's playing the best on a given day," Lapidus said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.