Icy-cold weather—by Brazilian standards, at least—wasn’t enough to slow down Henrique Cunha and Reid Carleton this weekend, as the duo stormed to the ITA All-American title in the doubles consolation bracket in Tulsa, Okla.
Playing outdoors in weather nearing 40 degrees, Cunha and Carleton both lost early in singles play but brushed aside three opponents convincingly en route to another piece of hardware.
Cunha won the A3 Singles championship at the UVa Ranked +1 Invitational two weeks ago.
“The great thing about winning the backdraw is that sometimes it’s a little hard to motivate yourself but they did a great job of taking advantage of the opportunity,” head coach Ramsey Smith said.
Carleton and Cunha, who is from São Paulo, lost their first and only match in the main draw to the No. 6 seed from Wisconsin Thursday, but came back firing in the backdraw Saturday.
An 8-3 win over Virginia’s Drew Courtney and Lee Singer put the Blue Devil pair into the semifinal, where Cunha and Carleton swept past host Tulsa’s Philip Stephens and Ashley Watling.
The final presented a little more of a challenge, as Duke took down a duo from Louisville 8-4.
The three convincing wins, coupled with a victory over North Carolina’s top doubles team in qualifying for this tournament, are quickly solidifying this Duke doubles team as one of the nation’s best. Smith said Cunha and Carleton could be ranked in the top ten in the country in the near future after their performance.
The singles portion of the tournament did not go quite as well for the two Blue Devils in the draw.
Cunha recorded a creditable win over No. 17 Dean Jackson from San Diego in the draw’s first round, but lost to Tulsa’s Watling in the second.
Smith said the Brazilian struggled with Watling’s game, but also with the weather. The court thermometer read 47 during the match, and Tulsa has no indoor facility.
‘It was a bit of an adjustment for Cunha because I don’t think he’d ever played in anything less than 70 [degrees],” Smith said. “He showed me his hands after the first set and they were completely white.”
Carleton had an even more dificult time in singles play. The junior lost in the first round of the main draw, and he dropped a tight two-setter in the first round of the consolation bracket as well.
The Blue Devils take to Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center for the first time next weekend, as they co-host regional qualifiers with North Carolina. Both sites will be used Friday and Saturday, and the later rounds will all be played in Chapel Hill next Sunday and Monday.
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