Sophomore Henrique Cunha continued to etch his name in Duke history Monday at the ITA Carolina Regionals, capturing two tournament titles after playing nine matches over the last three days.
The No. 2 singles player in the nation was unfazed by the busy match schedule and became the first Blue Devil since 2003 to win both the singles and doubles championship in an ITA Regional.
Cunha accomplished the feat in hostile territory as well, as he beat North Carolina players in the final three rounds of the tournament on their home court at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill.
The Brazilian beat Joey Burkhardt in the quarterfinals 6-4, 6-3 and followed that victory with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Stefan Hardy in the semis.
The championship match was a closer contest. Cunha, the top seed in the main draw, faced second-seeded Jose Hernandez and dropped the first set of the match 7-6. He fought off four set points before Hernandez took the tiebreaker 10-8. Cunha turned on another gear in the next two sets, however, charging out of the gates in the second to take a 3-0 lead. He ended up winning that set 6-2 and proceeded to clinch the win with a 6-3 victory in the third set.
Senior Jared Pinsky, junior David Holland and freshmen Chris Mengel and Fred Saba all reached the round of 32 in the singles tournament as well. Pinsky scored an upset victory over tenth-seeded Dominic Hodgson of N.C. State to advance to the round of 16, yet he got no farther after losing that match 7-6(7), 7-6(5).
Cunha had little time to rest after winning the singles championship Monday morning since he had to compete with senior Reid Carleton in the doubles final the same afternoon. The country’s No. 1 doubles team rolled over Tar Heels Hernandez and Burkhardt by a score of 8-1 to win the doubles title for the second year in a row and push their record to 11-1 on the season. The reigning ITA National Doubles Team of the Year dropped only four games over its first three matches.
Cunha’s singles crown earned him a berth to the ITA National Indoor Championships held in Flushing, N.Y., Nov. 4-7. Carleton already qualified for the event by reaching the semifinals at the ITA All-American Championships a little over a week ago. The two players will also compete in doubles at the National Indoors and will look to improve upon last year’s loss in the final round.
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