The men's tennis team received a strong performance from its 11th-ranked doubles team of sophomore Doug Root and junior Jordan Wile but lost early in singles at the T. Rowe Price National Clay Court Championships in Baltimore this past week.
The team of Root and Wile advanced to the semifinals of the tournament before being defeated in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, by the top-seeded and second-ranked team of Tim Crichton and Tom Hamilton from Arkansas. Men's assistant coach Dave Hagymas, who was on hand for all the matches, was very pleased with the doubles performance.
"They got to the semis, which is great," he said. "They beat a number of very good teams."
Root and Wile, who compiled a 35-8 record last year en route to All-America honors, reached the semis with wins over unranked Tennessee, 19th-ranked Mississippi State and 14th-ranked Notre Dame before losing to the defending National Clay Court doubles champions from Arkansas. The doubles team was up a break in the third set before Arkansas was able to take control of the match.
"It was one of those roller coaster matches where the momentum switches back and forth," Hagymas said.
Root and Wile ended the tournament, which is the first leg of the collegiate Grand Slam and the only clay court tournament of the season, with a 3-1 record.
The men's tennis team, which is ranked eighth nationally, did not fare as well in the singles draw. Duke's top player, Alberto Brause, was forced to retire in the first set of his first round match.
"He was going for a ball and hit a wet spot and twisted his ankle," Hagymas said.
The injury was not serious, and Brause will be ready to play in Duke's next match. Root, ranked 30th in singles, easily won his first-round match over Chris Lopez of Alabama before being upset by Robert Samuelsson of Tulane in straight sets.
Wile breezed through the qualifying rounds of singles with two straight-set wins to reach the 64-person main draw. He upset 36th-ranked Eddie Coates of Vanderbilt in the first round of the main draw but lost in the second to Pavel Kudrnac from Oklahoma State in straight sets. Hagymas was happy with the way the team played overall. Clay is not the usual surface of collegiate tennis and Hagymas and the men's team can take this into account.
"It's difficult for some of these guys who haven't grown up on [clay]," Hagymas said.
The Blue Devils will next be in action at the N.C. State Invitational and North Carolina Invitational, which will be held Oct. 3-5 in Raleigh and Chapel Hill.
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