Duke gets rolled by Crimson Tide

The cold weather that plagued students throughout the weekend and covered Durham in over five inches of snow was not the only challenge for the Blue Devils at the ITA Kickoff Weekend Tournament. Scheduled to play in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Duke was forced to travel an hour north to Birmingham to face off against No. 25 Alabama and No. 22 Auburn.

The Blue Devils were not fazed by the last-minute location change and showed their versatility in their first true test of the season. No. 18 Duke topped Auburn 4-2 in the first round of the tournament at the Pat M. Courington Tennis Pavilion, but Day Two of the tournament proved to be less of a success for the Blue Devils as they fell 4-2 to the Crimson Tide.

“Our guys started off sluggish in both doubles and singles,” head coach Ramsey Smith said about Sunday’s contest against Alabama. “We came back to play great in doubles but could not come back from losing four first sets in singles. Al[ain Michel] played really well for us but we had a couple of guys who were off their game today. Alabama played great in singles and we give them credit for playing well at home.”

Duke did not go down without a fight against the Crimson Tide (2-1) yesterday. After falling behind 3-0 in two of the three doubles matches, the Blue Devils battled back to post victories at the Nos. 1 and 3 spots and also won the doubles point. Eighth-ranked Henrique Cunha and Reid Carleton topped Michael Davis and Saketh Myneni 8-4, and David Holland and Jared Pinsky earned the point for Duke, but it wasn’t enough to defeat Alabama.

In the first contest, Auburn (0-2) began the evening strong, winning Nos. 1 and 2 doubles by a narrow margin. Eager to prove its mettle, Duke stormed back and won four of the five singles matches. The Blue Devils’ spectacular performance in the singles matches was led by junior Alain Michel, who topped Lucas Lopasso at the No. 6 spot with sets of 6-0, 6-1. Michel was also a part of Duke’s only doubles victory. Teaming up with Pinsky, the No. 3 doubles cruised to an easy 8-4 victory over the Tigers’ Andreas Mies and Oliver Strecker.

The typically dominant freshman Cunha struggled against the Tigers Friday, falling 8-6 alongside Carleton to the sixth-ranked doubles team in the nation of Tim Puetz and Alex Stamchev, in addition to losing in two sets in the singles match against Myneni. Ranked 17th in the nation for singles, Cunha lost for a second time to No. 24 Puetz at the No. 1 singles spot, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2. Later, Carleton managed to turn his day around, cruising to a two-set victory over Tim Hewitt at No. 2 singles.

Senior Dylan Arnould, ranked No. 62 in singles, extended his winning streak over ranked opponents to three after beating No. 86 Stamchev 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 at the No. 3 spot, but the streak ended the next day when he fell to Alabama’s Thompson, 6-4, 6-1.

Michel and Carleton were the only Duke players to win their first set in the singles matches against the Crimson Tide. Michel gave the Blue Devils an early 2-0 lead after taking down Ian Chadwell at the No. 6 singles spot 7-5, 6-4, but Wiestoska and Pinsky followed with losses at the No. 4 and No. 5 spots.