Blue Devils Take Two Sunday

Sunday, February 8

Durham, N.C.

12:00 PM

Duke University

Michigan

Men?s Tennis Begins Fall Season This Weekend

Blue Devils Take Two Sunday

2/8/2015 7:49:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke men's tennis team continued its strong start to the 2015 campaign with a pair of wins Sunday, topping No. 47 Michigan 6-1 and N.C. Central 6-1. Senior Raphael Hemmeler stole the show for the Blue Devils, earning his 100th and 101st career singles victories. Hemmeler became just the fifth Duke player to reach 100 triumphs in both singles and doubles.

The pair of wins pushed the Blue Devils' record to 9-0, the second-best start in program history. The only year Duke started better was 1933-34, when the squad finished with a 12-0 record. The Blue Devils' win against Michigan extended their victory streak against ranked foes to eight. It is the longest winning streak against ranked opponents to begin a year in program history.

“Obviously, recordwise, it could not have gone any better,” head coach Ramsey Smith said of the indoor portion of the season. “We're playing really well. I feel like every single person on the team has stepped up and contributed in some way. Each day it seems like we can be a little different. That's always good. Our team chemistry is really good. The guys are working hard. Mentally we're in a very good place.”

Duke got off to a quick start against Michigan, claiming the doubles point after having lost in doubles the last two matches. Senior Jason Tahir and junior Josh Levine earned the Blue Devils' first win with a 6-2 triumph against Alex Petrone and Michael Zhu on court one. With both teams on serve and the set tied 2-2, the Blue Devils got a break to go ahead 3-2 and went on to take the next three games for the win. The Duke pair improved to 5-1 this spring.

On court three, redshirt senior Chris Mengel and junior Bruno Semenzato secured the doubles point for Duke with a 6-4 victory over Davis Crocker and Tyler Gardiner. The Duke pair earned a break to go ahead 2-1 and held serve throughout the remainder of the set to finish off the win. Mengel and Semenzato improved to 4-1 this spring.

The court two match between Hemmeler and freshman Nicolas Alvarez and Michigan's Alex Knight and Runhao Hua was abandoned with the Blue Devils leading 5-3.

“Our doubles teams came out with really good energy,” Smith said. “We lost two doubles points in a row, so I thought it was really important that we set the tone from the beginning. At No. 1 in particular we did a really good job.”

In singles, Hemmeler extended Duke's lead to 2-0 and earned his 100th victory with ease, cruising past No. 100 Knight 6-1, 6-3 on court three. Hemmeler, ranked No. 103 in the latest ITA poll, joins Henrique Cunha (2010-13), Doug Root (1997-2000), Reid Carleton (2008-11) and Smith (1998-2001) as the only Blue Devils in the 100-100 club.

“I was aware it would be 100 before the match, but it didn't change anything in how I went into the match,” Hemmeler said. “It's definitely a nice number to get. It's a long journey through your four years even though time flies. As a freshman, everything is so new and you're just trying to compete as hard as possible in every match. It's a very nice outcome now as a senior.”

Michigan got a point back to make it a 2-1 deficit as Crocker topped sophomore TJ Pura 6-1, 6-4 on court six.

Duke made it a 3-1 advantage with a 6-2, 6-3 win on court five from Mengel against Carter Lin. In the first set Mengel trailed 2-0 before earning three consecutive breaks to win six straight games. In the second set, Mengel picked up a break at 3-3 to go ahead 4-3 and broke again in the final game to secure the set.

The Blue Devils clinched the match victory with a 6-2, 7-5 triumph on court two from Tahir against Zhu. With the first set tied 2-2, Tahir broke to go up 3-2 and again broke Zhu in his next service game to take a commanding 5-2 lead and close out. In the second set, the two remained on serve until Tahir was able to take a 6-5 lead. He held serve in the final game to capture the win.

On court one, Alvarez pushed Duke's lead to 5-1 by topping Petrone 6-2, 6-7 (5), 1-0 (4). In the first set, Alvarez broke at 1-1 to take a 2-1 lead and recorded another break to go up 5-2 before closing out the set. Alvarez trailed 4-1 in the second set before capturing three consecutive games to tie it at 4-4. From there, the two stayed on serve and headed to the tiebreaker, where Petrone got ahead 4-1 and held on, 7-5. In the first-to-10-points super tiebreak third set, Alvarez jumped out to a 3-0 and 4-1 lead, only to have Petrone narrow it to 4-3. Alvarez answered with four of the next five points to go up 8-4 en route to the victory.

Duke finished off the match on court four as Semenzato defeated Hua 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (8). Semenzato broke Hua and took a 5-4 lead in the first set, but Hua responded with three straight wins. In the second set, Semenzato was ahead 3-0, only to have the lead cut to 4-3 and 5-4. Semenzato then closed out on his serve to end the set. In the super tiebreaker, Semenzato took a 5-3 lead and made it a 7-3 before Hua narrowed the lead to 9-8. Semenzato served and won the final point.

“Experience always helps us,” Smith added. “Experience throughout the years and within this year itself. Our guys aren't panicking and we're playing big points well. When things are not going as well, we're just hanging in there until things turn around. We certainly have a mature, upper-class team.”

In the match against N.C. Central, Duke took the doubles point, winning on courts three and two. Junior Daniel McCall and Pura got Duke on the board with an efficient 6-1 win against Jamal Hoyte and Thomas Persico on court three. The Blue Devils got a break on the second game to go up 2-0 and again at 4-1 to coast to the victory.

On court two, Mengel and Semenzato locked up the doubles point with a 6-3 win against Daniil Gerasimov and Fabrice George. The Duke pair broke at 2-2 and again at 4-2 and closed out the set with a third break.

Hemmeler and Levine played together on court one and led 5-4 against Kert Kilumets and William East when the match was halted.

In singles, Duke got its first win and took a 2-0 advantage on court four as Pura defeated Hoyte 6-0, 6-0.

The Blue Devils made it a 3-0 lead with Hemmeler's second singles victory of the day as he downed Kilumets 6-3, 6-2 on court one. It was the first time in Hemmeler's career he played in the No. 1 singles slot.

On court five, Duke gained its fourth point and clinched the overall match victory when McCall finished off a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Tamina Kienka.

Duke made it a 5-0 lead when court three finished as Mengel topped East 6-2, 6-1. The win extended Mengel's winning streak to nine straight matches.

On court six, freshman Andrew DeJoy earned his first collegiate victory, topping George 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (6). After DeJoy used a break late in the first set to secure the victory, the two stayed on serve in the second set until George broke DeJoy in the 10th game to claim the victory. In the super tiebreak, DeJoy fell behind 4-1 but came back to take a 5-4 lead and win five of the next seven points for the match. DeJoy had played in one other match this spring, against Louisville's Stjepan Cagalj on Jan. 8.

N.C. Central got its lone point on the last match to finish as Gerasimov came back to defeat Levine 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10) on court two. Levine's team-best 10 match winning streak in singles was snapped with the setback. Gerasimov took an early break in the second set on Levine and made it count. Levine trailed 8-5 in the tiebreaker and made it 8-7 and 9-8 before evening it at 9-9. He won the next point for a 10-9 lead. Gerasimov responded with two points on his two serves to take an 11-10 advantage and Levine hit the final ball wide for Gerasimov's victory.

Duke returns to action at this week's ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championship in Chicago. The Blue Devils will play their first match at the event on Friday. The draw for the event has not yet occurred.

#6 Duke 6, #47 Michigan 1
Feb. 8, 2015 at Durham, N.C. (Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. #18 Nicolas Alvarez (DU) def. Alex Petrone (UM) 6-2, 6-7 (5), 1-0 (4)
2. #36 Jason Tahir (DU) def. Michael Zhu (UM) 6-2, 7-5
3. #103 Raphael Hemmeler (DU) def. #100 Alex Knight (UM) 6-1, 6-3
4. #112 Bruno Semenzato (DU) def. Runhao Hua (UM) 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (8)
5. Chris Mengel (DU) def. Carter Lin (UM) 6-2, 6-3
6. Davis Crocker (UM) def. TJ Pura (DU) 6-1, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. Jason Tahir/Josh Levine (DU) def. Alex Petrone/Michael Zhu (UM) 6-2
2. Raphael Hemmeler/Nicolas Alvarez (DU) led Alex Knight/Runhao Hua (UM) 5-3
3. Chris Mengel/Bruno Semenzato (DU) def. Davis Crocker/Tyler Gardiner (UM) 6-4

Match Notes
Michigan 1-4; National ranking #47
Duke 8-0; National ranking #6
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (3,6,5,2,1,4)
T-2:32 A-382

#6 Duke 6, N.C. Central 1
Feb. 8, 2015 at Durham, N.C. (Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. #103 Raphael Hemmeler (DU) def. Kert Kilumets (NCCU) 6-3, 6-2
2. Daniil Gerasimov (NCCU) def. Josh Levine (DU) 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10)
3. Chris Mengel (DU) def. William East (NCCU) 6-2, 6-1
4. TJ Pura (DU) def. Jamal Hoyte (NCCU) 6-0, 6-0
5. Daniel McCall (DU) def. Tamina Kienka (NCCU) 6-2, 6-1
6. Andrew DeJoy (DU) def. Fabrice George (NCCU) 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (6)

Doubles competition
1. Raphael Hemmeler/Josh Levine (DU) led Kert Kilumets/William East (NCCU) 5-4
2. Chris Mengel/Bruno Semenzato (DU) def. Daniil Gerasimov/Fabrice George (NCCU) 6-3
3. Daniel McCall/TJ Pura (DU) def. Jamal Hoyte/Thomas Persico (NCCU) 6-1

Match Notes
N.C. Central 0-3
Duke 9-0; National ranking #6
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (4,1,5,3,6,2)
T-2:12 A-192