Duke Sweeps Weekend After 5-2 Win Over No. 52 Notre Dame

Sunday, March 31

Durham, N.C.

12 p.m.

Duke University

Notre Dame

Duke Sweeps Weekend After 5-2 Win Over No. 52 Notre Dame

3/31/2024 6:33:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

DURHAM – No. 14 Duke men's tennis concluded the weekend 2-0 after a 5-2 victory over No. 52 Notre Dame on Sunday at Ambler Tennis Stadium.

The Blue Devils also beat No. 38 Louisville on Friday night and improve to 15-7 overall and 7-2 in ACC play. Notre Dame dips to 10-12 and 1-7, respectively.

Redshirt senior Garrett Johns clinched Sunday's match for Duke after defeating his second ranked opponent on the weekend in No. 29 Sebastian Dominko on the top court.

How It Happened

No. 6 Johns and Pedro Rodenas recorded their sixth consecutive doubles win on Sunday after they defeated their second-straight top-15 opponent in No. 13 Dominko and Jean-Marc Malkowski, 6-3, on court one. No. 25 Michael Heller and Andrew Zhang then clinched the doubles point for the Blue Devils following their 6-3 victory over Nil Giraldez and Chase Thompson on court two. The match between Faris Khan and Teddy Truwit against Evan Lee and Yu Zhang on court three went unfinished with Duke leading 5-4.
Despite trailing 1-0 early in singles play, Notre Dame recorded consecutive wins on court five and six to jump in front, 2-1.
The Blue Devils refocused and quickly knotted the score at 2-2 after Connor Krug bested Jameson Corsillo on court four 6-2, 7-5.
No. 52 Rodenas put the Blue Devils back on top, 3-2, following his come-from behind victory over Giraldez on court two. The Madrid, Spain, native dropped his opening set 6-2 but rebounded for 6-1, 6-1 wins in the final two frames to record his 12th dual singles victory of the year.
Johns then secured the win for the home side when he bested No. 29 Dominko in comeback fashion on the main court. After falling 6-3 in his first frame, Johns earned 6-1, 6-4 victories in the second and third to clinch Duke's seventh conference win.
A few seconds later, Zhang tallied a straight set win over Thompson on court three to conclude the overall match. The Bloomfield Hills, Mich., native posted a thrilling 7-6 (5) tiebreak win in his opening set before recording a 6-1 victory in the second to improve to 11-4 in dual action on court three.

Notes

With his match-clinching victory on Sunday, Johns ties Zhang with a team-leading five on the year.
The Atlanta, Ga., native now has 15 career match-clinching wins.
Johns improves to 11-3 on court one and 8-3 against nationally ranked opponents.
Rodenas and Zhang are both riding four-match winning streaks in singles play and have 12 victories each this dual season.
Duke's top doubles duo of Johns and Rodenas earned their team-leading 14th win of the year and improve to 8-2 against nationally ranked foes.
The pairing is currently riding a six-match winning streak.

Quotes
"I'm pleased with the team win. I loved the way we finished. I thought we really dug in and our physicality came through. I was also really happy with doubles. My frustration today was how we started singles. We didn't have that urgency and we opened the door for them. They were close to winning five first sets. [Andrew] Zhang was down 4-2 in the breaker and if he had lost that first set, we would have been in a big hole. That was the frustration that we didn't put our foot on the gas after the doubles point but really proud of how we finished." – Duke head coach Ramsey Smith on his thoughts from the match

"Connor [Krug] has lost some tough matches. He lost a really tough one where he had match point on Friday against Louisville and just really proud of how he responded to that today. He came out yesterday and had a great practice. He worked on a couple things and came out with a fresh mindset. He competed well and I'm just really proud of him for getting over the line." – Duke head coach Ramsey Smith on Connor Krug's performance

"A lot of little things. We've got to keep fine-tuning doubles. That point is obviously really important and sets the tone for the dual matches. Overall, we always talk about playing our best tennis at the end of the season and it's nice that we're getting on a bit of a role here and building some confidence. We have some really big and fun matches here coming up." – Duke head coach Ramsey Smith on any adjustments he'd like to see from his team as the regular season finale approaches

"In the first set, he's a big server and I was standing really close to the baseline so in the second and third set I moved back and had some more time to return. I also tried to make the points longer and it more of a physical match. He was pretty tough but it worked out in the end." – Duke redshirt senior Garrett Johns on his adjustments after dropping his opening set

"We had some tough losses early in the year, but we have tried to really focus on being tougher and mentally prepared and I think it's paid off in some of these closer matches like Florida State and today." – Duke redshirt senior Garrett Johns on his opinion as to what's been the team's success so far this season

Next Match
The Blue Devils close out their regular season home slate hosting North Carolina on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Ambler Tennis Stadium. Duke will honor five Blue Devils prior to the match for Senior Day.

Results
Doubles (1,2*)
1. #6 Garrett Johns/Pedro Rodenas (DU) def. #13 Sebastian Dominko/Jean-Marc Malkowski (ND) 6-3
2. #25 Michael Heller/Andrew Zhang (DU) def. Nil Giraldez/Chase Thompson (ND) 6-3
3. Faris Khan/Teddy Truwit (DU) vs. Evan Lee/Yu Zhang (ND) 5-4, unfinished

Singles (5,6,4,2,1*,3)
1. #30 Garrett Johns (DU) def. #29 Sebastian Dominko (ND) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
2. #52 Pedro Rodenas (DU) def. Nil Giraldez (ND) 2-6, 6-1, 6-1
3. Andrew Zhang (DU) def. Chase Thompson (ND) 7-6 (7-5), 6-1
4. Connor Krug (DU) def. Jameson Corsillo (ND) 6-2, 7-5
5. Kyran Magimay (ND) def. Alexander Visser (DU) 6-3, 6-2
6. Yu Zhang (ND) def. Jake Krug (DU) 6-2, 6-3

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's tennis, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMTEN".

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