Duke wrapped up its fall season with a bang, turning in strong performances at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship and the Dick Vitale Clay Court Classic.
Senior Jason Tahir won one match before being eliminated from the ITA National Indoors, one of the nation’s most competitive indoor collegiate tournaments and the culmination of the indoor season. Competing in the Dick Vitale Classic, Raphael Hemmeler and Bruno Semenzato advanced through the draw to meet in the finals, but the match was cancelled due to inclement weather.
The Blue Devils sent only one player to ITA National Indoors—Tahir. The Rochester, N.Y., native opened the tournament Thursday morning with a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Denver’s Henry Craig. In the second round, Tahir faced Oklahoma sophomore Axel Alvarez Llamas, the nation’s third-ranked player. Despite a spirited comeback effort in the second set, Tahir was defeated 6-2, 7-6(1).
Duke head coach Ramsey Smith was impressed with the performance of his senior in a tournament that included the nation’s 32 best players.
“He implemented a lot of the things that we’ve been working on over the past few weeks,” Smith said. “It was clearly Jason’s best match of the fall.”
Freshman Nicolas Alvarez was also slated to compete in the ITA National Indoors, but withdrew in the week leading up to the event due to illness.
Concurrent with the ITA National Indoors was the Dick Vitale Classic, which was held in Bradenton, Fla. The Blue Devils were represented at this tournament by senior Raphael Hemmeler, juniors Josh Levine and Bruno Semenzato and sophomore TJ Pura. In the singles draw, Hemmeler and Semenzato advanced through their respective sides of the draw to meet in the finals. Unfortunately, the all-Duke matchup was cancelled due to persistent rainfall.
Regardless, Smith had nothing but praise for his two finalists.
“Both of those guys played terrific tennis,” Smith said. “It was a perfect ending to the fall for those guys.”
Levine was eliminated in the first round but advanced as far as the semifinals of the consolation draw. Pura fell in the second round to the tournament’s top-seeded player.
In the doubles draw, Hemmeler and Levine advanced to the finals but were defeated. The duo’s run in the tournament is made all the more impressive by the fact that it was their first time being paired together.
The team’s performances at the ITA National Indoors and the Dick Vitale Classic were the last of the fall season, one that has witnessed a great deal of success and improvement for the Blue Devils. Smith praised the team’s progress, specifically over the latter half of the season.
“We certainly had a great fall, especially the second half of the fall,” Smith said. “Our last two weekends of tournaments were our best.”
Coming off of such a productive fall, the head coach is optimistic and excited about the team’s chances during the regular season in the spring.
“The hard work our guys have put in has paid off. Everyone on the team has gotten better over the fall," Smith said. “It’s certainly a really good springboard going into the spring.”
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