The twelfth-ranked men's tennis team split a pair of weekend home matches against Florida schools, notching a key Atlantic Coast Conference win against No. 32 Florida State on Saturday, 5-2, before falling to No. 33 Florida on Sunday by a score of 4-3.
Against the Seminoles (10-6, 0-2 in the ACC), Duke (10-6, 3-0) took started slowly. Junior Alberto Brause teamed with sophomore Sebastien Gobbi to win at third doubles, 8-4, but the second doubles tandem of senior Adam Gusky and freshman Porter Jones fell, 8-5.
That left the doubles point up to the fourth-ranked combination of freshman Doug Root and sophomore Jordan Wile. The duo played inconsistently, and the match went into a tiebreaker. With the score in the tiebreaker 5-4, Wile nailed a winner. An unforced Seminole error on the next point sealed the doubles victory, and gave Duke an early lead in the team match.
"Getting the doubles point was very important," Duke coach Jay Lapidus said. "Doug and Jordan came through again."
The tiebreaker was one of many which Wile and Root have played in recently. The team played in three such situations over spring break, and had lost two.
"We weren't really as energized in those tiebreakers," Root said. "Today we stepped it up and got a little more focused. We didn't let it slip away."
In the singles competition, tempers flared as accusations of cheating were made on both sides. Line judges routinely had to overrule calls which the players made. The situation was highlighted in the first singles match, where 30th-ranked Root was facing Florida State's Antonio Prieto, ranked 55th in the country. With the score tied at 3-3 in the first set, Prieto, whose line calls had been overruled several times in his doubles match, once again made a questionable call on one of Root's shots. Root appealed, and the line judge gave him the point.
Prieto then began animatedly complaining to the judge, drawing a point penalty for misconduct. At that juncture, he sat down, calling assistant coach John Vinson over to assist his arguments. The umpire declared, "Let's play," indicating that Prieto had to begin serving or face further sanctions. When he refused to continue, the line judge awarded Root a game, making the score 4-3. When Prieto still attempted to argue, the judge defaulted Prieto, giving Root the victory, and putting Duke up 2-0.
"I thought he was too quick to forfeit Antonio," Vinson said. "That set the tone for the whole match."
Prieto disagreed with the judge's decision.
"I was being polite," Prieto said. "I never said anything to him. We were having a normal conversation."
There was also disagreement as to the initial reasons for the penalty. Prieto said that originally, the judge told him that he was being penalized for misconduct. Later, when Vinson came over, the judge changed the reason to a time penalty. Players are allowed only 25 seconds between serves, and Prieto apparently took too long in making his arguments.
The line judge refused to comment on the situation.
The rest of the match proved to be a dogfight, as four of the singles matches went into third sets. Gusky was the only player to take care of his opponent in two sets, as he beat Alex Golub at third singles, 6-4, 7-5. Jones fell at fifth singles, 6-2, 0-6, 6-1.
Tempers then flared again on the fourth singles court, where Wile was battling Yvo Niks. The first two sets were split, with Wile winning the first and Niks taking the second, both by 6-3 scores.
As the match entered the final set, the crowd became very rowdy, as each point brought cheers from one side or the other. The crowd had to be warned twice not to make noise while play was going on. Wile fought hard and prevailed 6-2 in the final set, sealing the win for the Blue Devils.
"The crowd really helped," Wile said. "When you feel like you're going to lose, you can make shots you otherwise wouldn't be able to make, because the crowd is there for you."
With the team match decided, Florida State second singles player Ty Braswell walked off the court, refusing to finish his match with Brause. The match was tied at one set apiece, with Brause leading 3-0 in the third, when Braswell felt that Brause made a questionable call. A line judge upheld Brause's decision, and a frustrated Braswell decided to call it quits for the afternoon.
"He just didn't feel like playing anymore," said Brause, who is currently ranked No. 50 in the country.
Gobbi lost at sixth singles, 0-6, 6-2, 7-5, in another hotly contested match. In the middle of the second set, the Gobbi complained that Florida State players and coaches were moving back and forth behind Gobbi's opponent in an effort to distract him.
The claim brought a heated exchange between Lapidus and FSU coach David Barron.
"Sebastien was saying that he was moving," Lapidus said. "I have to respect what my player says."
Sunday's match didn't turn out as well for the Blue Devils. Though Root and Wile quickly disposed of their first doubles opponent, 8-3, the other two Duke teams fell, costing the Blue Devils the doubles point.
Second doubles was particularly disheartening, as Gusky and Jones jumped out to a 5-0 lead before letting the match slip away. Down 7-6, Jones was given a point penalty for slamming his racket into the net post. The sanction proved critical, as the final game went to many deuces before Florida State pulled it out.
"I thought we should have won second doubles," said Duke assistant coach Dave Hagymas, who was filling in for Lapidus, who was at the hospital attending the birth of his child. "That's one you have to win."
Gusky's third singles match also proved to be an adventure. Still reeling from the doubles loss, the Duke co-captain dropped the first ten games of the match, falling behind 6-0, 4-0.
"I'm a slow starter, but not that slow," Gusky said. "I just tried to get my rhythm."
Gusky then ripped off eight straight games, taking the second set and jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the third. The match went back and forth from that point, and Gusky needed seven match points before he finally knocked off his opponent.
"Adam's one of our on and off the court leaders," Hagymas said. "Most people would have folded. But he showed heart and guts. We expect that from him."
Root had problems in his match with No. 32 Justin O'Neal. He dropped the first set, 6-4, and the second set went into a tiebreaker. Root whipped off the first four points, and seemed poised to send the match into a third set. But O'Neal fought back, taking the tie-breaker 8-6, and securing another point for the Gators.
"I was flat on the big points," Root said. "I didn't step up on the return games."
The rest of the singles matches were split between the two teams. Wile dismantled his fourth singles opponent, 6-3, 6-0, and Brause fought hard in taking second singles, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). But Florida won at sixth singles, as Dylan Mann defeated Jones 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. The contest came down to a final, deciding match at fifth singles, where Florida's Amr El Sawaf and Gobbi had split the first two sets. With everyone looking on, El Sawaf took the final set, 6-3, to secure the match for the Gators.
"Florida's a tough team," Gusky said. "They play with a lot of heart. Its tough to have to sit and watch that last match. But we win as a team, and we lose as a team. That's the way it goes."
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