No. 4 Duke Sweeps Saturday Doubleheader

Saturday, February 28

Durham, N.C.

10:00 AM

Duke University

Coastal Carolina

No. 4 Duke Sweeps Saturday Doubleheader

2/28/2015 5:47:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – After a week off, the Duke men's tennis team returned to action Saturday with a doubleheader sweep, topping Coastal Carolina 7-0 and Charlotte 4-0 at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. The two matches extended the Blue Devils' shutout streak to three and were the last of the regular season against nonconference foes.

With the victories, Duke improved to 13-1 on the year, good for the best 14-match record in program history. The Blue Devils also improved to 8-0 at home and are just three wins shy of entering the program's top-10 chart for home wins in a season.

“It was a really good day overall,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “We went 2-0 and didn't drop a point. We were pushed in a lot of different areas. Coastal Carolina and Charlotte are both good teams. Different guys stepped up and I'm certainly happy with the result. We're playing with a lot of confidence and playing really well.”

Individually, senior Raphael Hemmeler earned the 104th singles win of his career to move into sole possession of eighth place on the all-time Duke list. Redshirt senior Chris Mengel picked up the 103rd singles win of his career to move into a tie for ninth on the list. Sophomore TJ Pura also went 4-0 on the day with two singles wins and two doubles triumphs with Hemmeler.

Duke got off to a quick start against Coastal Carolina, claiming the doubles point. Hemmeler and Pura teamed up on court three and earned the first doubles win, downing Vuk Velickovic and Rick Timmerman, 6-2. The Blue Devil pair took a 2-1 lead and pushed it to 5-1 before closing out the set.

Duke clinched the doubles point when senior Jason Tahir and junior Josh Levine defeated Kaue Pereira and Philippe Tsangarides 6-3 on court one. Tahir and Levine took a 2-0 lead, only to have Pereira and Tasngarides cut it to a 3-2 deficit. From there, the Blue Devils' duo took over and won three of the final four games.

At the same time that match finished, Mengel and junior Bruno Semenzato downed Garik Yedigarian and Renan Samed 6-3 on court two.

In singles, No. 99 Hemmeler extended Duke's lead to 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Tsangarides on court one. Hemmeler held a 4-1 lead in both sets before closing out for the victories.

Pushing the Blue Devils' lead to 3-0 was Pura on court five, who coasted to a 6-1, 6-3 triumph against Jabor Al-Mutawa. Pura fell behind 2-1 and 3-2 in the second set and answered with four consecutive wins to close the match.

“I think we're playing well,” Pura said. “But there's a long way to go. We're getting better and better as a team, which is huge. We're still hungry and I think we're in a great spot. Now we have some time to really put in some good work on the practice courts before it gets really intense with ACC matches.”

Duke clinched the match victory with a 7-5, 6-4 win on court two from Semenzato against Pereira that made the overall score 4-0 in favor of the Blue Devils. In the first set Semenzato led 4-2 only to have Pereira even it at 4-4 at 5-5 before consecutive wins from Semenazto ended the set. Semenzato fell behind 3-2 in the second set and evened it at 3-3 and 4-4. He won the final two games to take the match.

The Blue Devils went ahead 5-0 when Levine topped Velickovic 7-6 (5), 6-3 on court four. The two remained on serve in the first set with Levine up 5-4 when Velickovic broke and went ahead 6-5. Levine dug in for the tie and took a close tiebreaker, 7-5. In the second set, Levine jumped out to a quick 3-0 advantage and never looked back.

The sixth point went to junior Daniel McCall on court six, as he defeated Pedro Leme 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (8) in the super tiebreaker third set. McCall led 2-0 in the opening set before Leme cut it to a 3-2 lead. McCall went up 4-3 and closed out for the 6-3 first set. With the second set tied 5-5, Leme won the last two games to take the set. Since the overall match had already been decided, the two played a third set to a first-to-10 super tiebreaker. McCall outlasted Leme, 10-8, to win the set.

Closing out the match was Mengel on court three as he also won in three sets, 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, topping Yedigarian. Mengel played a full third set since the overall match had not been decided when the third set began. Mengel fell behind 2-1 in the first set but answered to take a 4-3 lead and won the last two games. After Yedigarian swept through the second set, Mengel took a 2-1 lead in the third set before extending it to 5-2 and earning the win to complete the Blue Devils' sweep.

In the match against Charlotte, Duke again took the doubles point, winning on courts three and one. Hemmeler and Pura gave the Blue Devils an early edge with a 6-3 victory on court three against Jordi Massalle Ferrer and Nate Shanok. Hemmeler and Pura held serve and led 3-2 before gaining a break to take a 5-2 lead and hold on for the win. The two doubles matches Saturday were the first Hemmeler and Pura had played together this year.

On court one, Tahir and Levine locked up the doubles point with a 6-3 win against Vikram Hundal and Jack Williams. The Duke pair broke at 2-1 to take a 3-1 lead and pushed the advantage to 4-1. The Blue Devils led 5-2 before Charlotte got a game back. Tahir served out for the victory. Tahir and Levine improved to 10-4 on the season and 7-4 in dual match play.

The match on court two with Mengel and Semenzato was halted with Charlotte's Forrest Edwards and Alex Calott leading 6-5.

In singles, Duke took a quick 2-0 lead as Levine defeated Calott 6-3, 6-1 on court four. Levine was tied 2-2 in the opening set before breaking out with four wins in the final five games. Levine's two Saturday wins upped his dual match record to 8-2.

The Blue Devils pushed the lead to 3-0 as Pura topped Williams 6-3, 6-1 on court five. Pura trailed 3-2 in the opening set and won four consecutive games to capture the set. Saturday's two wins lifted Pura's dual match record to 5-1.

The match was played to clinch and Duke ended it with its fourth point as No. 32 Tahir topped Edwards 6-4, 6-4. In the opening set, Tahir recorded a break at 3-2 and won the last three games to earn the win. The two remained on serve in the second set until Tahir earned a break on the final game to secure the match for the Blue Devils. The win was Tahir's 95th of his career and he looks to become the 15th Blue Devil, and third this season, to reach the 100-win plateau.

On the remaining courts, Hemmeler led Hundal 6-2, 6-5 on court two. On court three, Semenzato and Massalle Ferrer were all even in the third set. Massalle Ferrer won the first set 6-2 but Semenzato took the second 6-3. The two were tied 2-2 in the third. Finally, on court six, Paul Cisti led McCall 6-1, 6-6.

“We had a heck of a nonconference schedule,” Smith added. “To go 13-1 is great, but now the season kind of restarts and we're 0-0. There are a lot of really good teams in the conference. The guys need to know that every ACC team is really tough every single day. We're going to have to be ready to go every weekend. We're looking forward to conference play.”

Duke has just over a week off before starting ACC action, traveling to No. 35 Virginia Tech for a 1 p.m. ET match on Sunday, March 8.

#GoDuke

#4 Duke 7, Coastal Carolina 0
Feb. 28, 2015 at Durham, N.C. (Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. #99 Raphael Hemmeler (DU) def. Philippe Tsangarides (CC) 6-1, 6-2
2. Bruno Semenzato (DU) def. Kaue Pereira (CC) 7-5, 6-4
3. Chris Mengel (DU) def. Garik Yedigarian (CC) 6-3, 0-6, 6-4
4. Josh Levine (DU) def. Vuk Velickovic (CC) 7-6 (5), 6-3
5. TJ Pura (DU) def. Jabor Al-Mutawa (CC) 6-1, 6-3
6. Daniel McCall (DU) def. Pedro Leme (CC) 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (8)

Doubles competition
1. Jason Tahir/Josh Levine (DU) def. Philippe Tsangarides/Kaue Pereira (CC) 6-3
2. Chris Mengel/Bruno Semenzato (DU) def. Renan Samed/Garik Yedigarian (CC) 6-4
3. Raphael Hemmeler/TJ Pura (DU) def. Vuk Velickovic/Rick Timmerman (CC) 6-2

Match Notes
Coastal Carolina 5-3
Duke 12-1; National ranking #4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (1,5,2,4,6,3)

#4 Duke 4, Charlotte 0
Feb. 28, 2015 at Durham, N.C. (Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. #32 Jason Tahir (DU) def. Forrest Edwards (CHAR) 6-4, 6-4
2. #99 Raphael Hemmeler (DU) led Vikram Hundal (CHAR) 6-2, 6-5
3. Bruno Semenzato (DU) tied Jordi Massalle Ferrer (CHAR) 2-6, 6-3, 2-2
4. Josh Levine (DU) def. Alex Calott (CHAR) 6-3, 6-1
5. TJ Pura (DU) def. Jack Williams (CHAR) 6-3, 6-1
6. Paul Cisti (CHAR) led Daniel McCall (DU) 6-1, 6-6

Doubles competition
1. Jason Tahir/Josh Levine (DU) def. Vikram Hundal/Jack Williams (CHAR) 6-3
2. Forrest Edwards/Alex Calott (CHAR) led Chris Mengel/Bruno Semenzato (DU) 6-5
3. Raphael Hemmeler/TJ Pura (DU) def. Jordi Massalle Ferrer/Nate Shanok (CHAR) 6-3

Match Notes
Charlotte 4-2
Duke 13-1; National ranking #4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (4,5,1)
T-2:05 A-128