Junior Reid Carleton and freshman Henrique Cunha advanced to the main draw of the ITA All-American Championships in both singles and doubles play this week in Tulsa, Okla.
Carleton had by far the easier road of the two. Because of his proven record of success and his lofty national ranking—Carleton is the No. 29 player in the country—he was not required to go through qualifying for singles play. Instead, he was placed directly into the main draw, which begins this morning.
The Brazilian Cunha, on the other hand, made it through three rounds of qualifying. Playing in just his third collegiate competition, Cunha was pushed hard in his first match, nicking a 7-5 win in the third set to move on. Head coach Ramsey Smith, though, said that Cunha got better and better as the tournament continued, culminating in a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Tennessee’s Matt Brewer Wednesday to earn a spot in the rest of the tournament.
“I can’t think of the last time we had a freshman start that well, especially at the level that he’s been playing,” Smith said.
Carleton and Cunha were also in Tulsa to compete in the doubles tournament, and they swept through qualifying comfortably to earn a spot in the main bracket.
The duo did well in doubles Tuesday, winning two matches to advance to the final qualifier. One of those two wins came against the pair of Clay Donato and Stefan Hardy, North Carolina’s top doubles team.
Smith said Carleton and Cunha’s 8-5 victory against the Tar Heels, who have beaten the Blue Devils consistently in recent years, will be important when the team season begins in January.
“We’ve typically struggled against their No. 1 team, so that’ll give us a lot of confidence that they won pretty convincingly,” Smith said.
After that win, Cunha and Carleton still had some work to do, and took care of another ACC duo in the final, this one comprising Virginia’s Milo Johnson and Santiago Villegas. The Duke pair won that match 8-4 to earn a main-draw seed.
Looking ahead to the rest of the tournament, which runs from this morning until Sunday’s finals, Smith spoke glowingly of Duke’s two participants. The lone Blue Devil not to qualify was senior Dylan Arnould, who was eliminated in the second round of qualifying.
“A lot will depend on the draw, but the way Cunha is playing, I don’t see anyone that either one of them can’t beat if they are playing well,” Smith said. “They are both playing well now, and everyone here is good so it will be fun to see how they match up.”
The ITA All-American Championships involve 64 singles players and 32 doubles squads, and includes most of the nation’s top players. Cunha is one of only two freshmen to have qualified for the singles tournament, and he is the only freshman to have made it through qualifying in both singles and doubles.
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