In its last competition of the fall season, the men's tennis team headed to Michigan for 2003 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships. After yesterday's first round, sophomore Ludovic Walter and the doubles team of Walter and junior Jason Zimmerman were both still alive in the action.
Representing Duke as the Mideast Champ, Walter kicked off the tournament with a win against Pedro Rico of Pepperdine in a 7-6, 6-3 decision. Walter felt his performance was a good start to the tournament.
"It was my first match on this course and their guy was pretty good. It's always good to win the first match," Walter said. Duke head coach Jay Lapidus echoed Walter's sentiments.
"Ludovic played well. It wasn't his best tennis, but he always finds a way to win," Lapidus said. "He played well enough to get through the match."
In today's second round, Walter will face eighth-seeded Hamid Mirzadeh of Florida. According to Lapidus, this match will not be as easy as yesterday's.
"This will be a tough match... very challenging," Lapidus said. Walter has not faced Mirzadeh before, so is not very familiar with his play.
"I know he has a pretty good serve, but I don't really know him," Walter said about his competition. "We'll see how it goes because he is top ten."
At last year's ITA National Indoor Championship, Walter fell in the quarterfinals to Roger Anderson of Georgia Tech, who was the No. 1 seed.
In doubles action, Walter and Zimmerman clinched a victory with a 8-3 decision over Jose Luchuga and Nima Roshan of BYU.
"They're playing very well together. I'm pleased with how much progress they made. They've only lost one match, [and even that was] to the number one [pair] in the country," Lapidus said, referring to their October 10th ITA All-American Championships quarterfinal loss to Lester Cook and Ante Matijevic of Texas A&M. The Texas A&M duo won their first round in yesterday's competition and moved on to the quarterfinals along with Walter and Zimmerman.
The Duke doubles team faces Clemson's Jarmaine Jenkins and Nathan Thompson in the quarterfinals, to be held this afternoon. The Duke duo beat Clemson's top two at the ITA Region II Championships on October 25 in Chapel Hill with an 8-5 victory.
Having played against the duo before, Walter and Zimmerman have some familiarity with their games.
"They cover the net really well, but last time we played well against those guys," Walter said.
Lapidus stressed the importance of this match in determining the overall strength of the Walter and Zimmerman tandem.
"[The October 25th match] was very close. If they win [today], they'll establish themselves as one of the best teams in the nation," Lapidus said.
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