No. 13 Duke Opens Season with 6-1 Win Against Elon

Friday, January 15

Durham, N.C.

6:00 PM

Duke University

Elon

No. 13 Duke Opens Season with 6-1 Win Against Elon

1/15/2016 8:44:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – The 13th-ranked Duke men's tennis team opened the 2016 dual match season with a 6-1 triumph against Elon on Friday evening at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. Freshman Ryan Dickerson and sophomore Nicolas Alvarez led the way for the Blue Devils.

A young Duke lineup featuring three freshmen and a sophomore swept the doubles action and took the first six singles matches to secure the victory. The Blue Devils have won their last 13 indoor home matches and 29 of their last 32 at Sheffield. Since head coach Ramsey Smith took over the program in 2008-09, Duke has gone 7-1 in home openers.

“Overall I'm very happy,” Smith said. “I thought it was a very good first match for us. I feel like we implemented a lot of things we were talking about this past week. We started off strong in doubles and really focused on what we could control. I'm pleased to start with the win. I'm happy with how we looked overall.”

Duke captured the doubles point in convincing fashion Friday, winning 6-1 on courts one and three. On court one, Alvarez and freshman Vincent Lin played together for the first time and cruised to the victory against Petar Tomic and Chris Humphreys. The Blue Devil duo jumped out to a 4-0 lead with breaks in games one and three. Elon got a game back, but Duke won the final two games for the set win.

On court three, junior TJ Pura and freshman Catalin Mateas paired for the first time and earned the Blue Devils' second 6-1 win, against Robert Lindgren and Mario Paccini. Out to a 1-0 lead following their service game, Pura and Mateas broke the Phoenix pair for a 2-0 lead. With Duke leading 3-1, Pura and Mateas captured the final three games of the match.

Duke finished a doubles sweep with a 6-3 win on court two from senior Josh Levine and Dickerson against Neal Port and Salvador Mijares. The two teams held serve through the first six games and were tied 3-3 before Levine and Dickerson earned a break for a 4-3 lead. The duo held serve and then broke again to end the match. Levine and Dickerson improved to 2-2 overall this year.

“I'm really happy with the freshmen,” Smith said. “It's never easy with that first dual match. You get some extra nerves. Each doubles court had one of the freshmen with one of the upperclassmen. The freshmen held their own. I think that helped get them through some early nerves. In singles, I'm really happy with how they looked. They didn't really look like freshmen. I'm extremely happy with them.”

In singles, Alvarez and Dickerson opened up the lead for the Blue Devils and put Duke in control of the match with a 3-0 advantage.

On court one, No. 12 Alvarez tallied a 6-3, 6-1 win against Felipe Sarrasague. The two were tied at 1-1 in the opening set before Alvarez earned a break to take a 3-1 and then 4-1 advantage. Sarrasague got it down to a 5-3 deficit, but Alvarez held his serve to close out the set. In the second set, the two were again even at 1-1, but Alvarez ripped off five straight games to end the match. Alvarez improved to 5-4 overall on the season.

A few minutes later, Dickerson made it a 3-0 advantage on court six with a 6-0, 6-2 victory versus Felipe Osses-Konig. After the opening set blanking, Dickerson and Osses-Konig were even at 2-2 in the second set before Dickerson earned two breaks and picked up the win. Dickerson upped his overall record to 3-5.

Duke clinched the match on court three as Lin went on a second-set roll and defeated Tomic 7-5, 6-2. The two fought through the first set and were even at 2-2 before Lin was broken and went down 3-2. He answered immediately with a break of his own to retie the set at 3-3. The two were even at 4-4 and 5-5 before Lin took the final two games. The second set had Lin jump out to 3-0 and 4-2 leads and hold on for the win. Lin leads the Blue Devils with nine singles wins this year and is 9-6 overall.

“We really brought the energy this match,” Lin said. “I've never really experienced anything like it, but it was really enjoyable. We got the win, so it was pretty exciting.”

The Blue Devils pushed the advantage to 5-0 as the third freshman of the evening won his singles match with Mateas downing Lindgren 6-3, 7-5 on court four. Mateas took an early 3-0 lead in the initial set, but Lindgren fought back and cut his deficit to 4-2. Mateas made it 5-2 and Lindgren got one more game before Mateas held serve in the final game. Lindgren had the upper hand to start the second set, going ahead 2-0. Mateas took two straight to even the score and the two were tied at 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5 before Mateas broke and held to end the match. The match was Mateas' first career singles action.

Duke earned its final point from court five as Levine worked through three sets to capture a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win versus Mijares. Levine lost the opening game and then took three straight for a 3-1 lead. Mijares responded with a win to make it 3-2, but Levine won the last three games. In the second set, the two alternated breaks and were even at 3-3. This time it was Mijares who took the last three games of the set to win it. Levine came back strong in the third set, going ahead 3-1 and 5-1. Mijares did not give in and broke Levine to make it a 5-2 deficit, but Levine returned the break and won the match. Levine is now 8-4 this season.

Elon got its lone point on court two with Paccini topping Pura, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Paccini led 4-1 in the first set and closed out for the win while Pura jumped ahead 4-0 in the second set. The two were tied at 2-2 in the third set before Paccini held, broke and held to make it a 5-2 lead. Pura held his serve to cut the deficit to 5-3, but Paccini also held and earned the win.

Duke continues opening weekend action Sunday with a 1 p.m. home match against Kentucky.

#13 Duke 6, Elon 1
Jan. 15, 2016 at Durham, N.C. (Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center)

Doubles competition
1. Nicolas Alvarez/Vincent Lin (DU) def. Petar Tomic/Chris Humphreys (ELON) 6-1
2. Josh Levine/Ryan Dickerson (DU) def. Neal Port/Salvador Mijares (ELON) 6-3
3. TJ Pura/Catalin Mateas (DU) def. Robert Lindgren/Mario Paccini (ELON) 6-1

Singles competition
1. #12 Nicolas Alvarez (DU) def. Felipe Sarrasague (ELON) 6-3, 6-1
2. Mario Paccini (ELON) def. #102 TJ Pura (DU) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
3. Vincent Lin (DU) def. Petar Tomic (ELON) 7-5, 6-2
4. Catalin Mateas (DU) def. Robert Lindgren (ELON) 6-3, 7-5
5. Josh Levine (DU) def. Salvador Mijares (ELON) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
6. Ryan Dickerson (DU) def. Felipe Osses-Konig (ELON) 6-0, 6-2