Duke ended its bid at the UNC Fall Invitational a day early, as junior Alex Stone dropped in the second round of his singles bracket Saturday.
Stone fell to South Carolina's Pedro Campos, 6-4, 7-6, a day after swinging past Felix Insaurralde of East Tennessee State, 6-4, 6-3, in Friday's first round of Flight A-2 singles.
"That match was even closer than the scores would indicate," Stone said of his second-round loss. "[Campos] played very well on big points. I struggled on my serves at the end of both sets. I had my opportunities, but he just outplayed me toward the end."
The three-day competition-which concluded Sunday-was held at North Carolina's Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. The tournament drew players from 17 schools competing in brackets of six singles flights and three doubles flights. Duke originally entered two players-Stone and junior Ned Samuelson-into the competition hoping to secure a trophy for the Blue Devils.
Samuelson was slated to compete with Stone in the doubles bracket but withdrew prior to the tournament due to illness, head coach Jay Lapidus said.
As for Stone's performance, Lapidus said he was pleased with how his player handled the matches.
"He had a good win in the first round," Lapidus said. "Alex got a little bit of confidence going in both his matches-he's been improving throughout the fall."
Lapidus added that Stone will need to improve his mental game for future competitions, as the junior attempts to improve upon his 6-4 singles record from a year ago.
"He's a real perfectionist, and you can't always be perfect," Lapidus said. "I think he needs to continue to work on trying to play relaxed on the court."
Stone said he played better matches this past weekend than at his first two tournaments this season, where he said he "really played below [his] potential." Stone took the summer off from competitive play while completing an internship.
"A month into the season, I feel like I'm really starting to get my game back, and I hope to play better in the next couple of tournaments," Stone said. "I thought I finally got my nerves in control on the court, and that really helped me play loose in both matches."
As for now, Stone said he will relax and cheer for his teammates who are competing this week at Tulsa's ITA All-American Tournament. Five Blue Devils-freshman Dylan Arnould, sophomore Kiril Dimitrov, junior David Goulet and seniors Joey Atas and Peter Rodrigues-will see action on the courts.
"I hope they'll do well out there," Stone said. "Hopefully they'll get some good wins."
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