No. 6 Duke Bounces Back As Alvarez Clinches

Saturday, February 14

Chicago, Ill.

10:00 AM

Duke University

TCU

No. 6 Duke Bounces Back As Alvarez Clinches

2/14/2015 1:53:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

CHICAGO – After losing for the first time in 2015 on Friday, the No. 6 Duke men's tennis team bounced back Saturday morning, earning a hard-fought 4-2 victory against No. 17 TCU. With Duke clinging to a 3-2 lead and the two remaining singles matches in the third sets, Blue Devil freshman Nicolas Alvarez secured the win on court one with a comeback 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory.

The Blue Devils' 10-1 start is tied for the second best 11-match record in school history, trailing only the 1933-34 squad that began the year at 11-0. Duke has also claimed at least one victory in the last 22 ITA Team Indoor Championships it has participated.

Saturday in doubles, the Duke pair of Alvarez and senior Raphael Hemmeler earned an upset of No. 24 Will Stein and Nick Chappell on court one, winning 6-4. Alvarez and Hemmeler were ranked No. 34 this week. Duke earned a break to go ahead 4-3 and Hemmeler served to give Duke a 5-3 advantage. The two teams remained on serve for the next two games with the Blue Devils capturing the victory. Alvarez and Hemmeler are 3-2 against ranked foes this year.

The doubles win for Hemmeler was the 104th of his career, moving him ahead of current head coach Ramsey Smith and into sole possession of sixth on the Duke all-time chart. The Blue Devils' career leader is Hemmeler's former doubles partner Henrique Cunha (2010-13), who owns 147 wins.

On court two, it was a back and forth match pitting senior Jason Tahir and junior Josh Levine against Guillermo Nuñez and Cameron Norrie that TCU won 7-5. The Blue Devils' pair went up a break for a 3-1 lead, only to have the Horned Frogs break back and even the set at 3-3, then take a 4-3 advantage. Tahir and Levine responded with consecutive wins to gain a 5-4 lead, but TCU took the last three games to win the set, 7-5.

The doubles point came down to court three, with TCU's Hudson Blake and Trevor Johnson against Duke's redshirt senior Chris Mengel and junior Bruno Semenzato, with the Blue Devils claiming the 7-5 win this time. The two teams stayed on serve through 10 games and were tied 5-5. Mengel and Semenzato then captured a break to go ahead 6-5. After falling behind 15-0 in the final game, the Blue Devils did not allow another point as Semenzato served out for the victory and put Duke ahead 1-0 in the overall match.

In singles, TCU evened the score at 1-1 overall with a win on court five. Nuñez, ranked No. 112 this week, downed Mengel 6-2, 6-1, snapping Mengel's squad-high nine-match winning streak. Mengel had not lost in a dual match this spring.

Duke regained its overall lead at 2-1 with a win on court four as No. 95 Semenzato downed Stein 7-5, 6-1. In the opening set, the two stayed on serve until Semenzato gained the late break and captured the victory. Semenzato has won four straight matches and owns a 4-1 mark on court four this spring.

Finishing not far behind and giving the Blue Devils a 3-1 lead was No. 77 Hemmeler on court three. Hemmeler downed Arnau Dachs 6-2, 7-6 (2). Hemmeler breezed through the first set before falling behind 4-2 in the second set. He evened the set at 4-4 and 5-5 and secured the victory in the tiebreaker. He improved his record to 4-2 on court three and upped his career singles win total to 102, tied with Mengel and Reid Carleton (2008-11) for the 11th most in program history.

The Horned Frogs did not quit and made it a 3-2 deficit with a court two victory as No. 48 Chappell came back from a 1-6 loss to No. 38 Tahir in the first set to win the next two 6-4, 6-2. In the second set, Chappell broke at 4-4 and went up 5-4 and served out the set. He took a 5-1 advantage in the third set before ending the match.

The attention shifted to courts one and six, which were both in the third sets with Duke needing one of the two matches to win overall.

On court one, No. 18 Norrie earned a 6-4 victory in the first set. It was just the seventh opening set Alvarez has dropped in his career, and the first since a 6-7 (2) setback to Jerry Lopez of Kentucky on Jan. 19. Trailing 4-5 in the second set, No. 9 Alvarez stormed back with three straight wins to push the match to its third set. There, Alvarez gained a break to take a 4-2 lead and extended it to 5-2 before Norrie won to make it 5-3. Alvarez served out for the win and a backhand clinched the overall match for Duke.

Alvarez improved to 25-4 this year and is 10-4 versus ranked opponents. He is five wins away from entering the Duke top-10 chart for wins by a freshman and only nine off the Blue Devils' overall single-season singles victories ledger.

While the match went unfinished, Levine fought with Johnson for three sets on court six and the two ended in a deadlock. Johnson breezed through the first set 6-2 and held a 2-0 lead in the second set before Levine started the comeback. Levine took a 4-2 lead in the second set and went on to win 6-4. In the third set, Levine trailed 5-3 and again came back, evening the set at 6-6 to force a tiebreaker. The match was halted in the tiebreaker after Alvarez won on court one.

Duke ends its trip to the ITA Team Indoor Championship on Sunday with a 10 a.m. ET match against No. 19 Ole Miss, which topped No. 10 UCLA 4-3 on Saturday morning.

#6 Duke 4, #17 TCU 2
Feb 14, 2015 at Chicago, Ill. (Midtown Athletic Club)

Singles competition
1. #9 Nicolas Alvarez (DU) def. #18 Cameron Norrie (TCU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
2. #48 Nick Chappell (TCU) def. #38 Jason Tahir (DU) 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
3. #77 Raphael Hemmeler (DU) def. Arnau Dachs (TCU) 6-2, 7-6 (2)
4. #95 Bruno Semenzato (DU) def. Will Stein (TCU) 7-5, 6-1
5. #112 Guillermo Nuñez (TCU) def. Chris Mengel (DU) 6-2, 6-1
6. Trevor Johnson (TCU) tied Josh Levine (DU) 6-2, 4-6, 6-6 unfinished

Doubles competition
1. #34 Nicolas Alvarez/Raphael Hemmeler (DU) def. #24 Will Stein/Nick Chappell (TCU) 6-4
2. Guillermo Nuñez/Cameron Norrie (TCU) def. Jason Tahir/Josh Levine (DU) 7-5
3. Chris Mengel/Bruno Semenzato (DU) def. Hudson Blake/Trevor Johnson (TCU) 7-5

Match Notes
TCU 5-2; National ranking #17
Duke 10-1; National ranking #6
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (5,4,3,2,1)

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