
Men's Tennis Continues Singles Play at Fab-4 Invite
9/17/2011 10:51:00 PM | Men's Tennis
DURHAM, N.C. - Play continued on day two of the Duke Fab-4 Invitational Saturday, with inclement weather moving matches indoors to the Sheffield Tennis Center at Duke University.
In the blue singles bracket, top-seeded Henrique Cunha posted a 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal win over N.C. State's Robbie Mudge, advancing to a semifinal matchup with the No. 3 seed, Anthony Rossi of Kentucky. In that match, Cunha took the first set, 6-4, but was unable to hold off Rossi, who advanced to Sunday's final by a score of 4-6, 6-2, 6-0. Cunha will face Jarryd Botha of Alabama on Sunday in the third-place match.
Senior Luke Marchese also continued play in the blue bracket, as he faced second-seeded Joey Burkhardt of North Carolina in the quarterfinal round. Marchese recorded a 1-6, 6-0 6-2 upset over Burkhardt, and then toughed his way to a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Botha in the semifinals. That victory earned Marchese a spot in Sunday's final against Rossi.
On the consolation side of the bracket, sophomore Cale Hammond recorded a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Sean Weber of N.C. State in the quarterfinals before falling to Elon's Cameron Silverman in the consolation semifinals, 4-6, 2-6. Hammond will face Thomas Dehaen of Radford Sunday in the consolation third-place match.
In the black bracket, top-seeded Chris Mengel cruised past Ivan Sanchez of N.C. State, 6-4, 6-0, in quarterfinal play. Mengel then posted a 6-0, 6-2 victory over South Carolina's Andrew Adams to advance to Sunday's final, where he will face No. 2 seed Stijn Meulemans of Radford.
Freshman Jason Tahir took Louisville's Andrew Carter to three sets in their quarterfinal match in the black bracket, but Carter would prevail, 1-6, 7-6, 6-2. Meanwhile, senior Torsten Wietoska was forced to retire due to injury in his semifinal match against Meulemans.
Duke also had two players continuing competition Saturday in the white bracket, with second-seeded Fred Saba claiming a pair of two-set victories. Saba defeated Carl Eguez of South Carolina 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals and posted a 6-4, 6-2 victory over North Carolina's William Parker in the semifinal round. Saba will face top-seeded Luke Somen of Virginia Tech in Sunday's final.
Freshman Raphael Hemmeler also competed in the white bracket, falling to N.C. State's Austin Powell in the quarterfinals, 6-7, 7-6 (5), 0-6. He then faced Sebastian Stiefelmeyer of Louisville in the fifth-place bracket, with Stiefelmeyer claiming the 6-3, 7-6 victory. A withdraw on Saturday evening gave Hemmeler a seventh-place finish overall.
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