In their first event of the year, the Blue Devils came out swinging and hit their marks with several winners. Duke hosted the Fab Four Invitational, which featured 11 schools from around the country, at Cary Tennis Park this weekend, and its players won five of the six possible championships, including each of the three singles brackets and two of the doubles brackets.
While the Fab Four is an individual tournament, like most of the ones the team will compete in during the fall, it still served as an important indicator of the team’s strengths and weaknesses.
“Players on your team are getting individual results rather than a team win or loss,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “And to win all three individual draws really shows our depth.”
Sophomore Henrique Cunha, the No. 2 player in the nation, and senior Reid Carleton were dominant in their singles victories, both winning in straight sets. Carleton, the No. 45 player in the nation, was particularly overpowering, surrendering only one game on the way to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Louisville’s Simon Childs. Cunha and Carleton, who form the number one doubles tandem in the nation, also won their doubles bracket 9-8 (3), in a match played against Wake Forest’s Lain Atkinson and Reid’s brother Tripp.
Smith was impressed that Cunha and Carleton—both of whom were favored in their respective pools—didn’t just win but won convincingly and improved as the tournament went on.
“Cunha just cruised through the tournament,” Smith said. “I thought it was great for him even though he was a number one seed; he improved with each match. Carleton...played by far the best match of the tournament for him in the final.”
In the third singles bracket, freshman Chris Mengel beat Wake Forest’s Carleton in straight sets to advance to the final. Once there, he faced a stiff challenge from South Carolina’s Ivan Machado but managed to fight back from two match points to win 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Despite his inexperience, Mengel said the pressure didn’t faze him.
“I was pretty fired up, actually,” he said. “I tried not to think too much and played two really good points to get right back into the match. It felt pretty good getting through all the matches. There are some things to build on and some things I need to work on, but all in all I’d say it was a pretty good start.”
“Chris really stood out, winning his draw as a freshman,” Smith added. “He fought unbelievably well and was able to win the match and win the tournament, which is really impressive for a freshman given the amount of top players in that bracket.”
Mengel wasn’t the only freshman to succeed in his first tournament. Fellow first-year Fred Saba managed to claim third place in his draw after losing in the semifinals to Reid Carleton and also won Duke’s other doubles title with senior Jared Pinsky.
The strong play from the freshmen coupled with the singles victories from the more experienced Blue Devils had Smith confident about the direction his team is headed.
“It was a perfect start to the fall,” Smith said. “You couldn’t ask for much more. Everyone got wins and everyone played well.”
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