Two Blue Devils Advance to Quarterfinals of Southern Intercollegiates

Saturday, September 24

Athens, Ga.

All Day

Duke University

Day Two

2005 Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championship Selections Announced

Two Blue Devils Advance to Quarterfinals of Southern Intercollegiates

9/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

Athens, Ga. - Two Blue Devils advanced to the quarterfinals of the Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens, Ga. on Saturday with wins in singles competition. Jonathan Stokke and Christopher Brown both won two singles matches to move on in the tournament.

Stokke received a first round bye on Friday, but came out strong on Saturday with a pair of wins. Stokke, ranked No. 53 in the ITA rankings, is the sixth seed in the tournament and started the day with a win in straight sets over Juan Pablo DiCesare of Ole Miss 6-2, 6-2. In his second match, Stokke came back to defeat Ricardo Gonzalez of Georgia in three sets on his home court. Gonzalez won the first set 6-3, but Stokke crawled his way back in to the match with a 7-6 (1) victory in the second set and then carried the momentum for a 6-2 win in the deciding game. Stokke will play another Georgia player on Sunday. He will take on second seeded John Isner at 10 a.m.

Brown is competing in the Division II singles bracket and improved to 3-0 on the season in singles action with two wins today. He advanced to the third round with a victory over Florida's Ryan Sherry, who had a bye in the first round. After a 6-3 win in the first set, Brown fell just short of closing out the match with a 6-7 (4) loss in the second set. He came back and regained control in the deciding set, winning 6-1 to move on. In his next match, Brown faced Julien Lousao of Southeast Louisiana. Brown won in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 to move on to the quarterfinals where he will face Zach Rath of Georgia Tech at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.

In his first singles match of the year, Ludovic Walter, ranked No. 2 in the preseason Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) singles rankings, won in straight sets to advance to the third round. Walter, the top seed in the tournament, defeated Florida State's Sam Chang 6-1, 6-3 in the morning match to move onward. In the afternoon, he squared off against Strahinja Bobusic from Georgia who advanced after coming from behind in his first match for a three set victory (2-6, 6-1, 6-3) over Felix Insaurralde of East Tennessee State. Walter won the first set against Bobusic 6-4, but fell in the next two 4-6, 2-6. Bobusic will advance to play Nestor Briceno of Florida in the quarterfinals.

Joey Atas, a junior transfer from Ohio State and ranked No. 29 in the preseason ITA rankings, entered the tournament as the third seed. Atas drew Vanderbilts Andy Mack in the first round. Mack defeated Ben Pauluhn of Furman in a close match on Friday. He won the first set 6-4, but lost 6-7 (4) in the second set. He came back to take the third set by a count of 6-1 to move on to face Atas. Mack came away with an upset over Atas in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.

Ned Samuelson who lost to Georgia's Colin Purcell in a Division I singles match on Friday 6-3, 6-2 was back in action on Saturday in the consolation bracket. Samuelson defeated the Citadel's Danny Dossetor 6-2, 6-1 to move on in the bracket. He will face Rodrigo Santos of Winthrop at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday.

The tournament is being held at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Doubles play will continue on Sunday. There will also be two more rounds of singles played on Sunday with the championships for both taking place on Monday.