Duke Doubles Pairs Advance at ITA All-Americans

Tuesday, October 4

Tulsa, Okla.

All Day

Duke University

Day Four at ITA All-American Qualifying Rounds

Duke Doubles Pairs Advance at ITA All-Americans

10/4/2011 7:55:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

TULSA, Okla. - The Duke men's tennis team continued play Tuesday at the ITA All-American Championships at the University of Tulsa, with two doubles pairs advancing in the qualifying stage.

The duo of sophomore Fred Saba and freshman Raphael Hemmeler began the day with an 8-4 victory over the 29th-ranked tandem of Emmett Egger and Kyle McMorrow from Washington. Saba and Hemmeler advance to a third-round matchup at 2 p.m. EST on Wednesday with BYU's Francis Sargeant and Spencer Smith.

Seniors Luke Marchese and Torsten Wietoska also advanced in the doubles qualifying bracket Tuesday, cruising to an 8-2 victory over Radford's Patrick O'Keefe and Nicholas Sayer. The Duke duo will face ninth-seeded Nick Chappell and Orlando Superlano of TCU on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m.

The Blue Devil tandem of sophomore Cale Hammond and freshman Jason Tahir fell to Devin McCarthy and Ille Van Engelen of Ohio State, 8-6.

Three Blue Devils also saw action during Tuesday morning's singles play. Competing in the second round of qualifying singles, Tahir faced off against 60th-ranked Nelson Vick of Ohio State. Tahir took the first set by a score of 6-2, but was unable to hold off Vick in the final two sets, falling 6-3, 7-6 (7). Fellow freshman Hemmeler suffered a 6-4, 6-1 setback to No. 85 Kevin King of Georgia Tech.

Saba returned to singles play Tuesday in a qualifying consolation match against Phil Anderson of New Mexico. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native downed Anderson in the first set, 7-5, and then took the second set by a score of 6-1.

Qualifying singles and doubles play picks up again on Wednesday, Oct. 5, with the main draw of the ITA All-American Championships slated to begin on Thursday, Oct. 6. Junior Henrique Cunha and sophomore Chris Mengel each earned an automatic bid to the main draw in singles play. The two are also set to compete as a doubles tandem in the main draw.

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