Once again, the Blue Devils dropped two of three doubles matches. And once again, it ended up costing them.
No. 7 Illinois defeated No. 24 Duke 4-3 Friday night at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center in a showdown between two highly touted teams. The Blue Devils nearly overcame early doubles and singles deficits, but instead they suffered their third straight loss.
“It came down to the last match,” Duke head coach Ramsey Smith said. “We’re playing great teams, [and] it’s coming down to a couple points here and there.”
The Blue Devils (1-3) fell in an early 3-1 deficit but tied it up thanks to straight-set victories from freshman Catalin Mateas and senior Josh Levine. Attention then shifted to the final match, which pitted Duke captain T.J. Pura against Aleks Vukic on court two.
Pura bounced back from a 2-6 first-set loss, firing himself up in front of a packed crowd. At 4-4 deuce in the second set, he broke Vukic with a overpowering crosscourt forehand that forced a Vukic forehand that sailed wide right.
After taking the second set and trailing 3-1 in third, Pura again broke the Fighting Illini freshman, and as Mateas and Levine wrapped up their matches, momentum seemed to favor the Pacific Palisades, Calif., native.
But Pura could not hold trailing 3-4 and down 30-40. Vukic returned his serve with a crushing forehand, ultimately winning the point and then cruising in the match’s final game.
“[Vukic] plays pretty much like me, but had about four or five inches on me and probably 20, 30 pounds,” Pura said. “He’s just a really aggressive player and moved well and had a big forehand.”
Duke dropped its second straight doubles point of the season to start the match, after beginning the year by winning its first two. On court one, Lin and No. 12 Nicolas Alvarez went up a break early and did not look back.
“Doubles, I was really happy with court one,” Smith said. “I think that was one of the better matches they’ve played from start to finish.”
But on courts two and three, Levine and freshman Ryan Dickerson and Pura and Mateas did not execute and fell 3-6 and 2-6, respectively. The momentum seemed to carry over to singles play against Duke for the second straight weekend, as Alvarez and freshman Adrian Chamdani dropped their first sets.
But with Lin cruising to a 6-2, 6-1 win on court four and Pura holding tight with Vukic in the second frame, Mateas and Levine fought back late in their first sets. Levine forced his set to a tiebreak, which he won, and Mateas broke No. 41 Aron Hiltzik at 5-4 and 6-5 and overcame a 3-0 tiebreak deficit to win the set.
Lin's victory came on the heels of two-set losses to Kentucky and then-No. 19 San Diego. Smith bumped him down from third singles to court four, but the freshman stepped up against No. 67 Julian Childers, a former opponent from high school.
"Sometimes players don’t handle that very well," Smith said of moving Lin down. "But he couldn’t have handled it much better."
Lin’s doubles partner never had it together against Hiltzik. Alvarez has lost three straight singles matches in the number one spot. Chamdani also could not protect early leads in both sets, falling to Alex Jesse 3-6, 3-6.
Friday night marked the third straight loss for the Blue Devils at home by two points or less against a ranked opponent. But the team is right at the door and knocking.
“If you look back at the Kentucky match just two weeks ago to now, it’s night and day the way we look,” Pura said. “We’re on the brink of making a breakthrough."
The Blue Devils take on No. 21 Northwestern Sunday at noon, but will only play the Wildcats after the second act of Duke's scheduled double-header—a 5 p.m. match against cross-town foe N.C. Central—was postponed.
“This match on Sunday is going to be the biggest match of the year,” Smith said.
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