No. 7 Duke Falls in Back-and-Forth Match to No. 9 San Diego

Friday, February 14

Waco, Texas

4:30 PM

Duke University

San Diego

Duke defeated Vanderbilt 4-0 to earn a trip to the ITA Team Indoor Nationals.

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 7 Duke Falls in Back-and-Forth Match to No. 9 San Diego

2/14/2025 9:52:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

WACO, Texas – The No. 7 Duke men's tennis team fell in a back-and-forth battle against No. 9 San Diego in their opening match of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Waco, Texas Friday afternoon.

San Diego held a 3-2 lead with two matches still in progress when senior Connor Krug staged a three-set comeback to tie the match at 3-3. Junior Gerard Planelles Ripoll fought for over three hours on court five, dropping the first set before forcing a tiebreak in the second, where he won seven straight points. However, San Diego secured the match with a hard-fought 7-5 victory in the third set.

How It Happened

In doubles play, sophomore Cooper Williams and graduate student Andreja Petrovic were in a tight battle before pulling away from a 3-3 tie to post a 6-3 win. On court one, San Diego's Stian Klasseen and Oliver Travet secured a 6-1 win, and on court three, the Toreros clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 victory posted by Nikhil Niranjan and Adrien Berrut.
San Diego's Iiro Vasa made it 2-0 after claiming the first singles point with a straight-set win on court three. Petrovic battled in the opening set, tying the score at 2-2 before Vasa went on a 4-0 run to take the set. In the second set, Petrovic led 2-0 before San Diego regained the control and posted a 6-3 win to clinch the match.
On court six, graduate student Remy Dugardin gave the Blue Devils their first point with a commanding 6-2, 6-0 victory over Neo Niedner, not dropping a single game in the second set.
Junior Pedro Rodenas tied the match 2-2 and followed suit with a straight set win of his own over Savriyan Danilov. After pulling away from a 2-2 tie in the first set to win 6-2, he maintained control in the second set with another 6-2 victory.
Oliver Tarvet gave San Diego the 3-2 lead by clinching a point in two-sets on court one over Williams (6-2, 6-4).
On court four, Connor Krug tied the match at 3-3, as he came back from a one-set deficit to force a deciding third set. He took a 2-0 lead before falling behind to Stian Klaassen 2-5 but rallied with five consecutive games to win the set 7-5 and his match (2-1).
Planelles Ripoll fell in his first set 7-5 and found himself in a battle in the second. Adrien Berrut led 5-3 before Planelles Ripoll mounted a comeback, winning four straight games to force a tiebreak. In the breaker, he overcame a 0-5 deficit by winning seven consecutive points, securing a 7-5 victory to push the match to a deciding third set. In a back and forth third set, where the Planelles Ripoll and Berrut kept regaining and losing the lead, the match was decided when the Berrut pulled away from a 5-5 tie and claimed the match with a 7-5 win.

Up Next
Duke continues play at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships tomorrow in a consolation match at 7:30 p.m. (EST), opponent TBD.

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