Tahir Gets Win No. 100 as Duke Tops Notre Dame, 5-2

Friday, April 3

Durham, N.C.

3:00 PM

Duke University

Notre Dame

Duke Readies for Final Home Regular-Season Match

Tahir Gets Win No. 100 as Duke Tops Notre Dame, 5-2

4/3/2015 7:57:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – In a tight contest on a breezy Friday inside Ambler Tennis Stadium, the No. 5 Duke men's team earned a highly contested 5-2 victory against No. 35 Notre Dame. Senior Jason Tahir broke a 1-1 tie and put the Blue Devils ahead for good with his 100th career singles victory, becoming the 15th player in Duke history to reach the milestone. Classmate Raphael Hemmeler clinched the match with a three-set victory, the 111th of his career, tied for the fifth most in Duke history.

“It's good to get it [100 career wins],” Tahir said. “I'm pretty happy to be one of the 15 players in Duke men's tennis history to get it. Hopefully it's more than 100 and I can get a lot more wins and we can keep getting a lot more team wins. Being the third one this year to reach 100 means we've been a really productive senior class. We've had a really productive four years and hopefully the best is still to come this year.”

Hemmeler and redshirt senior Chris Mengel both reached 100 career singles wins earlier this year.

With the victory, Duke improved to 18-3 overall and 5-2 in ACC matches. The 18-3 mark is tied for the best through 21 matches in program history. The Blue Devils also extended their winning streak against Notre Dame to six and remain perfect at home this year at 12-0.

“Today was a really good day,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “It was a tough win in tough conditions against a tough team. I thought we were just a little bit tougher. I take a lot of pride in that. It was more about toughness, competing and finding a way today. I thought we were really scrappy and did a good job hanging in there. It was a great match between two really good teams. I'm happy we came out with a win.”

Duke switched up its doubles teams and took the point for the first time in four matches Friday afternoon. Playing together for the first time since the fall, junior Josh Levine and Hemmeler earned an 8-2 win on court two against the 22nd-ranked team of Josh Hagar and Eddy Covalschi. The Duke duo broke the Fighting Irish pair in all five service games to help record the victory. With the set tied 2-2, the Blue Devils ripped off six consecutive games to end the match. Levine and Hemmeler improved to 4-0 this year and earned their first ACC victory. The ACC doubles victory was also the 27th of Hemmeler's career, tied for the third most in program history. Current Duke assistant coach Jonathan Stokke (2003-06) is second on the Blue Devils' all-time chart with 28 career ACC doubles victories.

On court one, Notre Dame (12-8, 4-4 ACC) answered as the No. 9 team of Alex Lawson and Billy Pecor defeated Tahir and freshman Nicolas Alvarez, 8-4. With the set tied 4-4, Notre Dame won the final four games of the match to earn the win. The Fighting Irish pair broke the Duke duo twice to close the set. Tahir and Alvarez were playing together for the first time in their careers.

With doubles determined on court three, Duke sophomore TJ Pura and junior Bruno Semenzato secured the point with an 8-6 triumph against Quentin Monaghan and Kenneth Sabacinski. The set was tied 3-3 when the Blue Devils earned a break that provided the margin of victory needed. Duke took a 4-3 lead and then held its serve to go up 5-3. Both pairs held serve throughout the remainder of the set. Pura and Semenzato improved to 2-2 this year and are 1-1 in ACC matches.

In singles, Notre Dame evened the match at 1-1 overall with a 6-4, 6-3 victory on court five by Sabacinski against Levine. Trailing 3-2 in the opening set, Sabacinski broke Levine to even the set and then won the next two games to go up 5-3. Levine got one back, but it was not enough as Sabacinski held on for the set win. In the second set, Sabacinski led 4-3 and then broke Levine to take a 5-3 advantage. He held his serve to end the match. Levine falls to 15-13 overall and 9-8 in dual matches.

Duke regained the lead on court two with Tahir's 6-3, 6-2 victory against Hagar. Tahir, ranked No. 34 this week, turned a 2-1 lead in the opening set into a 4-1 advantage with a break and service hold. Hagar cut the deficit to 5-3 but Tahir served out for the win. With the second set tied 2-2, Tahir took control and ended the set with four consecutive victories. Tahir improved to 20-15 this season and has won at least 20 singles matches in every year of his career. Tahir is now 3-4 in league contests this year and earned the 28th ACC singles win of his career, tied for the fifth most in program history.

“It was really nice to see Jason get his 100th career win," Smith said. “As a captain, he really stepped up today.”

“It was tricky today,” Tahir said. “It's always good to find a way to win. We showed we're pretty tough. We responded well in the spots we needed to.”

The Blue Devils extended the lead to 3-1 with a victory on court six from Pura, who topped Lawson 7-6 (5), 6-4. With the first set tied 3-3, Pura broke to go up 4-3 and extended the advantage to 5-3. Lawson fought back with consecutive wins to even the set at 5-5. Both players held serve to send the match into the tiebreaker. Once in the tiebreaker, Pura took a 4-2 lead before Lawson won consecutive points to even it at 4-4. Pura took two of the next three points to go up 6-5. Lawson was serving and hit Pura's return wide, ending the set. In the next set, the two were tied 4-4 and Pura won his service game to take a 5-4 advantage. Pura broke Lawson in the final game to seal the match. Pura upped his overall record to 15-8 and improved to 5-2 in league contests.

“TJ was a shot of adrenaline today,” Smith said. “In doubles he brought a lot of energy and played extremely well. On court six he did his thing and picked up a nice win there.”

On court three, Duke clinched the match and went ahead 4-1 with Hemmeler's 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 triumph against Covalschi. No. 101 Hemmeler took a 3-0 lead in the opening set, but Covalschi answered and evened it at 4-4. Hemmeler won the final two games to end the set. The second set had Covalschi get out to the big lead as he went up 4-1 and held off Hemmeler. The third set was all Hemmeler as the senior took a 3-1 lead and did not look back. Hemmeler is now a team-best 30-7 overall and 6-1 in ACC matches. He has won a squad-high six consecutive matches. Hemmeler's 30 wins are the second most in his career, behind the 35 he had as a sophomore in 2012-13.

“[Hemmeler] sensed he'd have the opportunity to close it out,” Smith added. “Like he's done so many times before, he came through in a tight situation for us.”

Notre Dame made it a 4-2 deficit as No. 17 Monaghan defeated No. 11 Alvarez 7-5, 5-7, 1-0 (6) on court one. Monaghan took a 4-2 lead in the opening set after breaking Alvarez, but Alvarez bounced back to even the set at 4-4 and 5-5. Monaghan ended the set with a break of Alvarez in the final game. The second set had Alvarez seemingly in control at 4-1, but Monaghan responded and tied the set at 4-4 and again at 5-5. Alvarez earned a break and held in his final game to send the match to the third-set best-to-10 tiebreaker with the overall match already determined. In the tiebreaker, neither held a lead of more than a point until Monaghan went up 6-4. Alvarez evened it at 6-6, but Monaghan won the final four points to earn the victory. Alvarez dipped to 27-7 overall and 2-3 in ACC matches with the setback.

Duke earned its last point on court four for the 5-2 final as Semenzato held off Pecor 7-5, 6-7 (4), 1-0 (10). Semenzato jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening set but Pecor won three-straight games to tie it at 3-3. Semenzato regained the lead and went up 5-3, but Pecor again answered and evened it at 5-5. Semenzato then won the final two games. In the second set, neither player led by more than a game and Pecor took the tiebreaker, capturing the final three points after a 4-4 tie. In the first-to-10 tiebreaker of a third set, Pecor jumped out to a 3-0 lead and was ahead 5-3 before Semenzato mounted the comeback. He evened the tiebreaker at 6-6 and took his first lead at 7-6. The two were tied at 7-7, 8-8, 9-9 and 10-10 before Semenzato broke through with consecutive points to end the match and pick up the victory. Semenzato is now 24-10 overall, 4-3 in league contests and 7-3 when playing on court four this year. His 27 victories are five shy of his single-season high of 32, set last year.

Duke ends the weekend at 3 p.m. ET Saturday against Boston College.

#5 Duke 5, #35 Notre Dame 2
April 3, 2015 at Durham, N.C. (Ambler Tennis Stadium)

Singles competition
1. #17 Quentin Monaghan (ND) def. #11 Nicolas Alvarez (DU) 7-5, 5-7, 1-0 (6)
2. #34 Jason Tahir (DU) def. Josh Hagar (ND) 6-3, 6-2
3. #101 Raphael Hemmeler (DU) def. Eddy Covalschi (ND) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
4. Bruno Semenzato (DU) def. Billy Pecor (ND) 7-5, 6-7 (4), 1-0 (10)
5. Kenneth Sabacinski (ND) def. Josh Levine (DU) 6-4, 6-3
6. TJ Pura (DU) def. Alex Lawson (ND) 7-6 (5), 6-4

Doubles competition
1. #9 Alex Lawson/Billy Pecor (ND) def. Nicolas Alvarez/Jason Tahir (DU) 8-4
2. Raphael Hemmeler/Josh Levine (DU) def. #22 Josh Hagar/Eddy Covalschi (ND) 8-2
3. Bruno Semenzato/TJ Pura (DU) def. Quentin Monaghan/Kenneth Sabacinski (ND) 8-6

Match Notes
Notre Dame 12-7, 4-3 ACC; National ranking #35
Duke 17-3, 4-2 ACC; National ranking #5
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (5,2,6,3,1,4)
T-3:50 A-260

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