Ludovic Walter could not match last year’s semifinal appearance at the ITA National Indoor Championships, despite a win over top-seeded Catalin Gard of Mississippi.
Head coach Jay Lapidus said the win will likely move the 16th-ranked Walter into the top-10 ranked singles players in the country.
Walter said he played exactly to his game plan as he earned his easiest victory of the tournament, 7-5, 6-1.
“He’s a very good all around player,” Walter said of Gard. “I knew playing indoors I would have to play aggressive, hit the ball hard and impose my game on him.”
Walter and Gard battled back and forth in the first set. When Walter took a 6-5 lead, Gard lost his composure and threw his racket. The chair umpire awarded Walter a point for the Rebel’s unsportsmanlike conduct, and the junior went on to close out the set. From then on, the match’s tempo changed, and Walter won the second set handily to advance to the quarterfinals.
“In the second set I had a lot of confidence, he was pretty upset,” Walter said. “I knew that if I had a good start to the second set then I would break him.”
Walter, 9-2 in fall singles play, had never faced Gard before, but he knew a little bit about the Mississippi senior’s style of play from when he watched the Rebels’ play at a tournament freshman year.
Walter also had seen his quarterfinal opponent in last year’s doubles championship. Walter knew what to expect from Izak van der Merwe of Old Dominion—a huge serve. At 6-foot-5, Walter also possesses a dangerous serve of his own and on the fast indoor courts the match was a battle of big hitters.
“I knew he would play serve and volley most of the time, but it didn’t really help,” Walter said.
Walter pushed the first set to a tiebreaker but could not hold on to gain the early advantage. The Blue Devil gained back the momentum with a 6-3 second-set win. Walter could not ride the momentum out, however, and van der Merwe eliminated Walter from the tournament in the third set 6-3.
“We both served really well, so it came down to a few points. We both had break points but we couldn’t make them,” Walter said. “It just comes down to the little things.”
Before the junior’s match against Gard, Walter defeated Stanford’s K.C. Corkery in a closely contested battle in Thursday’s opening round. The two fought through tiebreakers, but Walter prevailed in each.
“Three tiebreaks in a row is kind of unusual,” Lapidus said. “It was one of those matches where it came down to one shot.”
Also at the prestigious championships, Walter and Jason Zimmermann, the nation’s No. 2 doubles team, failed to defend their 2003 crown.
Zimmermann and Walter faced No. 6 Brian Hung and Ryan Heller of Michigan. The Duke duo played at about “70 percent” effort, Lapidus said, and could not overcome the momentum of the Michigan pair on its home court, losing in a tiebreaker.
“We didn’t return serve as well as in the past,” Lapidus said. “We had a lot of chances and just couldn’t convert on the opportunities.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.