
Duke Goes 5-1 in Doubles to Open ITA Carolinas Regional
10/13/2011 10:48:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Senior David Holland and freshman Jason Tahir made their debut as a doubles pair, opening the afternoon of play with a first-round matchup against Tom Delme and Mickael Trintignac of Charleston. The match was tied 5-5 before Holland and Tahir took control, posting an 8-6 victory. The Duke duo then defeated South Carolina's Chip Cox and Kyle Koch, 8-3, to advance to Friday's third round.
Seniors Luke Marchese and Torsten Wietoska also won both of their doubles matches on Thursday, improving to 4-2 on the season. The tandem won 8-3 over Josep Baro and Adrien Rossignon of Campbell in the first round, and then knocked off the tournament's No. 8 seed in Kosta Blank and Chris Cooprider of UNC Wilmington, 8-6.
The top seed in the tournament, junior Henrique Cunha and sophomore Chris Mengel, received a bye in the first round and cruised to an 8-1 victory over Will Kent and Jeremy Roueche of UNC Greensboro. Ranked fourth on the ITA's preseason list, Cunha and Cunha are now 2-3 in fall action.
The Duke duo of sophomore Fred Saba and freshman Raphael Hemmeler earned the No. 4 seed in the tournament. Following a first-round bye, Saba and Hemmeler suffered an 8-3 loss to South Carolina's Carl Eguez and Ivan Machado to end their run in the tournament.
The first round of singles play begins on Friday at 8 a.m., with eight Duke players set to see action in Durham. Ranked fourth on the ITA's preseason list, Cunha garnered the tournament's top seed and will receive a bye in the first round of play. Tahir, Mengel, Saba and Marchese also automatically advance to the second round as seeded players.
Hemmeler will open play for the Blue Devils, as he is set to compete against Clemson's Gerardo Meza at 9:30 a.m. Meanwhile, sophomore Cale Hammond will face John Karle of Coastal Carolina in a 12 p.m. match.
Singles matches will be split between Durham and Chapel Hill, while doubles play is set to resume on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 10 a.m. in Chapel Hill.
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