After a legnthy rain delay, Nicolas Alvarez was unable to get back into a rhythm and advance.
Alvarez was eliminated from the ITA All-American Main Draw Friday afternoon by Illinois’ Aron Hiltzik. The sophomore was able to advance to the second round before falling to Hiltzik in a tight 7-5, 7-5 decision.
Alvarez was the only Duke player who made the trip to Tulsa, Okla., and entered the 64-man draw as the No. 2 seed.
Although Alvarez was highly seeded, his draw was still difficult as the tournament invites only the nation's highest-ranked players for competion. The Lima, Peru, native’s first match was against Virginia Tech’s Joao Monteiro, who won his draw in the ITA Qualifying bracket with ease.
Alvarez secured a three-set victory against Monteiro by a score of 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. In the first set, Alvarez went down 4-3 but broke Monteiro and came back to win the next three games. Monteiro tied Alvarez 4-4 in the second set, but then won the next two games to even the set total at one apiece. In the third set, knotted at three games each, Alvarez took control to close out the match and come out on top with a 6-3 final set score.
“It was a tough, tough matchup for [Alvarez],” Duke assistant coach John Stokke said. “He had to win every single point because [Monteiro] does not give you anything… [Alvarez] played pretty well, he was a little nervous at first because [Monteiro] had been dominant in the qualifiers. [Monteiro] was hot and it was a very good win [for Alvarez].”
Alvarez returned to the University of Tulsa’s Case Tennis Center the very next day to play his second-round matchup against Hiltzik, the brother of Illinois teammate Jared Hiltzik who bested Alvarez in a head-to-head matchup last season. However, Aron was able to do something that his brother Jared could not, and beat Alvarez in straight sets. The final score was 7-5, 7-5.
“[The match] came down to a few points,” Stokke said. “[Alvarez] had triple set point in the second and a couple of game points at 5-5 in the first set. If a couple points go [Alvarez’s] way, he might win 7-5, 7-5 instead. [Hiltzik and Alvarez] are very similar, [Hiltzik] is a good athlete who made a lot of balls, and, as is the case when two good players play each other, it just comes down to one or two points.”
Alvarez will return to action for the Blue Devils either at the ITA Regional Qualifier next weekend or the Wake Forest Invite. According to Stokke, Alvarez may not compete in the North Carolina ITA Regional Qualifier—where Duke head coach Ramsey Smith is the tournament director—so that he may rest. Alvarez has already competed in two tournaments this fall, the Oracle/ITA Masters and the ITA All-American Main Draw.
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Jacob Weiss is a Trinity senior. His column, "not jumping to any conclusions," runs on alternate Fridays.