Following a strong finish to his first collegiate season, Bruno Semenzato carried that momentum into Duke's first tournament of the fall.
Semenzato won two of Duke's three titles this weekend at the Fab Four Invitational at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C. The sophomore, who won matches in each of Duke's first two NCAA tournament victories last season, continued his upward trajectory by winning his divisions in both singles and doubles.
Aside from marking the Blue Devils' first action of the fall season, the tournament allowed the team to get its first set of matches under its belt and build some confidence.
"I think the big thing is getting a lot of matches in," Semenzato said. "I think rhythm is huge because we are all ready, we are all fit, we are all hitting the ball well. We just have to win now to grab confidence."
Facing off against the tournament’s top-seeded singles player and the No. 5 player in the country, Semenzato played with the guile of a veteran and fiery intensity of a freshman as he held off Wake Forest’s Romain Bogaerts with a 6-1, 7-5 victory to take the blue division singles title.
"I had a very good start, so I didn't need some time to adjust. I was focused the entire match," Semenzato said. “I tried to stay solid and, as soon as I started to feel more comfortable, I began to start going for my shots a little bit more."
In other singles action, fellow sophomore Josh Levine was able to push past VCU’s Michal Voscek to claim the black division’s singles title after an exhausting 6-4, 6-4 victory. Voscek had defeated Levine's Duke teammate, senior Fred Saba, in the semifinals of the same draw.
“I feel like I just competed the best that I have thus far, every point, I played like it was my last," Levine said. "Overall, I just feel like I competed better than my opponents”.
Saba was able to shake off a disappointing two-set loss to Voscek to take third place in the black draw with a 6-0, 2-6, 6-1 against North Carolina's Oystein Steiro. Saba said that although he did not accomplish his goals for the weekend, his goals for the season are much greater.
“I don't like to be result-oriented, but I'd like to see the team put up a Final Four finish in National Indoors and at NCAAs," Saba said. "We definitely have the team to do it, so it’s just about not losing focus as a team and coming together when it matters most”.
As the only other Blue Devil playing in a single’s main draw final, Michael Redlicki had a large crowd surrounding his court as he took on Elon's Cameron Silverman, the nation's No. 34-ranked player. After nearly two hours of back-and-forth play, Redlicki fell to Silverman 6-4, 7-6 (3) to take second in the white draw.
Freshman TJ Pura, who claimed the white division’s doubles title with Semenzato Saturday afternoon, was beaten by Louisville’s Sebastian Stiefelmeyer 6-2, 6-4 in a hard-fought match.
Sophomore Daniel McCall looked sharp in a 6-3 6-3 win against Wake Forest’s Nicholas Osterline in a white division consolation match, and senior Cale Hammond fell just short of Louisville’s Albert Wagner in a 6-2, 6-2 loss.
The Blue Devils return to action when they travel to Tulsa, Okla., to compete in qualifying rounds for the ITA All-American Championships Sept. 28.
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