No. 4 Duke Wins First Four Singles Matches for 4-3 Victory at No. 34 USC

Monday, March 13

Los Angeles, Calif.

1:30 p.m.

Duke University

Southern Cal

Kiril Dimitrov Named ACC Men?s Tennis Performer of the Week

No. 4 Duke Wins First Four Singles Matches for 4-3 Victory at No. 34 USC

3/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

Los Angeles, Calif. - No. 4 Duke rallied after losing the doubles point to take a 4-1 lead before falling in the final two singles matches against No. 34 Southern California in a 4-3 win at Marks Tennis Stadium on Monday.

The Blue Devils improved to 9-2 on the season with their eighth victory over a ranked team. Trailing 1-0, they proceeded to win the first four singles matches to take a 4-1 lead and clinch the match. Three Duke players won in straight sets. No. 98 Kiril Dimitrov cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Jeff Kazarian in the No. 5 spot. Dimitrov improved to 7-2 in dual matches and 9-3 overall. Joey Atas also won easily in the No. 4 position, defeating Adam Loucks 6-3, 6-2. Atas is now 4-1 when playing in the fourth slot and evened his overall record at 8-8 for the season. No. 56 Peter Rodrigues came back from a 5-4 defecit in his first set to win 7-6 and carried his momentum to the second where he won the match with a 6-2 score. He defeated Kaes Van't Hof to improve to 15-7 on the year and 9-1 in dual competition.

No. 4 Ludovic Walter won his 115th career singles match with a three-set victory over Dejan Cvetkovic in the No. 1 match. After losing the first set 6-3, Walter came back to win handily in the next two 6-3, 6-2. He is now 9-1 in dual matches and 19-6 for the season.

The Trojans took the final two singles matches. Jamil Al-Agba upset No. 28 Jonathan Stokke in the No. 2 singles position 6-2, 6-7, 6-2. Chong Wang won in the sixth spot 6-1, 6-2 over Ned Samuelson.

The Blue Devils fell behind after the doubles matches as USC was able to pull out three close wins. Jamil Al-Agba teamed with Dejan Cvetkovic teamed up for an 8-6 upset win over No. 22 Stokke and Atas in the No. 1 doubles match. The loss was only the fifth of the year for the Duke tandem and second in dual competition as they are now 16-5 overall and 5-2 when playing in the top doubles spot.

USC also received a victory from their lone ranked doubles team as No. 60 Adam Loucks and Garrett Snyder won on a tiebreaker in the No. 3 match 9-8 over Samuelson and Walter. Jeff Kazarian and Kaes Van't Hof gave the Trojans the clean sweep with an 8-6 win against Stephen Amritraj and Rodrigues.

Duke will wrap up their trip to Southern California with a top-10 match against No. 6 UCLA on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. The Bruins are 10-4 after suffering a 4-3 loss to No. 7 Baylor on Saturday.

No. 4 Duke 4, Southern California 3
March 13, 2006 ? Los Angeles, Calif.

Singles
1. No. 4 Ludovic Walter (Duke) def. Dejan Cvetkovic (USC), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
2. Jamil Al-Agba (USC) def. No. 28 Jonathan Stokke (Duke), 6-2, 6-7, 6-2
3. No. 56 Peter Rodrigues (Duke) def. Kaes Van't Hof (USC), 7-6, 6-2
4. Joey Atas (Duke) def. Adam Loucks (USC), 6-3, 6-2
5. No. 98 Kiril Dimitrov (Duke) def. Jeff Kazarian (USC), 6-2, 6-1
6. Chong Wang (USC) def. Ned Samuelson (Duke), 6-1, 6-2

Doubles

1. Al-Agba & Cvetkovic (USC) def. No. 22 Atas & Stokke (Duke), 8-6
2. Van't Hof & Kazarian (USC) def. Amritraj & Rodrigues (Duke), 8-6
3. Loucks & Snyder (USC) def. Samuelson & Walter (Duke), 9-8