Unbeaten met unbeaten in Atlantic Coast Conference tennis Wednesday, and neither side blinked.
Thanks to a dramatic finish by junior Alberto Brause, Duke edged North Carolina 4-3 in a marathon match at Chapel Hill and took sole possession of first place in the ACC.
Brause came from behind twice to topple Robert Tedesco 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, and help No. 12 Duke (14-6, 6-0 in the ACC) extend its ACC winning streak to 12 matches. Brause and Tedesco battled for over three hours at No. 2 singles before Brause took the final set-and the match-for Duke.
With the team score tied 3-3, Brause delivered the winning point for the second straight match, rallying from a 3-0 deficit in the final set and winning his sixth straight ACC match. Brause's victory gave Duke a split in singles matches after having won the doubles point handily.
"Down 3-0 in the third, I knew I just had to stay calm," Brause said. "I felt he was getting tired... and I thought he would start making mistakes."
It was Tedesco's first conference loss of the year.
With the win, Duke remains the only unbeaten team in the conference and appears the odds-on favorite to capture its fifth straight conference championship on April 18-20 in Atlanta, Ga.
The Blue Devils also avenged their last conference loss, a 4-3 home defeat at the hands of UNC last season.
"They kind of rubbed it in our face last year, so we were pretty fired up to go out there [and win] at their place," sophomore Jordan Wile said.
The loss snapped a three-match winning streak for the No. 29 Tar Heels, who dropped to 13-5 on the season, 5-1 in the ACC.
In another matchup of unbeatens, Wile knocked off David Britt 6-4, 6-2 at No. 5 singles. Like Brause, Wile improved to 6-0 in conference play, while Britt fell to 5-1.
The Blue Devils, winners of four in a row and eight of their last nine, jumped on UNC early in the match. Duke quickly clinched the doubles point with victories at No. 1 and No. 2, before a sore arm forced Sebastien Gobbi and partner Dmitry Muzyka to retire at No. 3 with the score tied 7-7.
After Wile defeated Britt, freshman Porter Jones gave Duke a 3-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Eric Saunders at No. 6 singles. UNC then reeled off three straight victories, tying the score and setting the stage for Brause's heroics.
In a similar situation on Sunday, Brause had defeated Daniel Anderson of Virginia Commonwealth to give the Blue Devils a 4-3 win over No. 14 VCU.
"If you told me before the match I would be the last one [on the court], I would probably say no [thanks]," Brause said. "There's a lot of pressure... but once I get over that, I just focus on my match and the situation."
Despite the support of a boisterous home crowd at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center, Tedesco could not hold on to his lead in a third set that lasted well over an hour.
"The first set was really close, so I didn't think I needed to change [anything]," Brause said. "I just felt like I had to play the big points better."
Brause improved to 27-8 overall, matching his win total from last year at Michigan State. He transferred to Duke this summer after one year with the Spartans.
"[Alberto's] been unbelievable," Duke coach Jay Lapidus said. "Every match seems to come down to Alberto, and he always comes through. He's kind of our 'Mr. Clutch.'"
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