It may only take two to tango, but in college tennis, it takes more than two to win a match. So while the Blue Devils possess one of the best doubles teams in the country, it will be critical for their other players to develop if they are to sustain success as a team.
Sunday’s matches against Elon and N.C. Central at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center provided an encouraging start for those players further down Duke’s depth chart, as the Blue Devils got past Elon 7-0 without dropping a set in singles or doubles.
No. 14 Duke would do the same thing a few hours later against N.C. Central, winning 7-0 with its two best players sitting on the sidelines.
Against Elon, the Blue Devils cruised through doubles, allowing the Phoenix to take just nine games combined in the three matches. Head coach Ramsey Smith was particularly pleased with the performance of the No. 2 and 3 teams, which won 8-2 and 8-3, respectively.
“[Doubles are] something we’ve been working on a lot, especially with two and three, because one is established,” Smith said. “Honestly I think last year it was almost not a problem, but I think the guys just looked to [the No. 1 team] to win every single time. Which they almost did, but you don’t want to just rely on those guys up top.”
In singles, the hardest-earned victory belonged to No.1 Henrique Cunha. He could not manage to break opponent Philip Nemec’s serve in the first set, and served trailing 6-5. Nemec led the critical twelfth game 30-15 before three excellent serves from Cunha won him the game to force a tiebreaker. It was then that Cunha’s fortunes began to turn.
“I wasn’t returning that well in the big points,” Cunha said, “so I think that was the key in the first set that I couldn’t break him, but I played well in the tiebreaker.”
A beautiful drop shot put Cunha ahead 4-2 in the tiebreaker, and he went on to shut out an emotional Nemec the rest of the way to win 7-2. Cunha took an early break from Nemec in the second set and cruised from then on to a 7-6, 6-2 victory.
Cunha’s doubles partner Reid Carleton said the lower bounces and faster surface of the indoor courts gave an extra advantage to Nemec, and Smith gave credit to Cunha for beating a tough opponent.
“[Nemec] served and volleyed unbelievably well,” Smith said. “It was one of those tough matches where it’s hard to get in a rhythm because there weren’t many long, baseline points, but [Cunha] got into him in the second set.”
The quickest victory of the singles round was earned by junior Luke Marchese, who returned from a wrist injury to play his first match since last year’s NCAA championships, winning 6-1, 6-3.
Freshman Chris Mengel and senior Jared Pinsky took longer to finish off their opponents. Both faced some early trouble, but recovered to win handily.
“It took them a while to figure out their game plans,” Smith said. “But once they got things rolling, they both stepped up and were a little bit more aggressive.”
Players other than Cunha and Carleton also played well against N.C. Central during the second game of the Blue Devils’ doubleheader. With the No. 1 and No. 2 players taking a break on the bench, David Holland and Cale Hammond were first to win their matches, not dropping a game in the process, and Duke’s other players were quick to follow.
Overall, Sunday’s matches were a strong showing for the players who will need to support the country’s twelfth-ranked doubles team if Duke is to compete on the national stage.
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