After two dominating 7-0 victories over No. 34 Notre Dame and N.C. Central early this month, No. 21 Duke again came out firing against No. 47 Virginia Commonwealth (6-4) Sunday. Continuing their hot play of late, the Blue Devils (5-2) convincingly defeated the Rams 6-1 in a match played at Thalhimer Tennis Center in Richmond, Va.
The match was highlighted by the gutsy play of Henrique Cunha, the reigning ACC Player of the Week. In his No. 1 singles match against the Rams’ highly talented senior Thibaut Charron, Cunha showed extreme focus and competitiveness to win the match after being down in the second set. The freshman phenom was able to recover and extend the decisive second set to a tiebreaker, where he dispatched Charron 7-4.
“He competed like a professional and won the match playing a very talented guy from France,” assistant coach Josh Goffi said. “That has been the story all season. He has just been out-competing people.”
Goffi, whose connections to Brazilian tennis were instrumental in recruiting Cunha, cannot speak highly enough of the freshman who currently is the No. 9 singles player in the nation and shares the No. 4 doubles ranking with his partner, junior Reid Carleton.
“He’s obviously a great player but he’s one of the best competitors I’ve ever seen—pro or in college,” Goffi said. “That’s probably quite a big thing to say considering there are so many great competitors out there making a lot of money, but he’s definitely top-shelf.”
Cunha’s competitive play seemed to rub off on his teammates, especially Carleton. The junior dropped the first set of his match, but battled back to win the next two. And after Tim Johannsen picked up a 6-3, 7-5 victory for the Rams at the No. 3 spot, the bottom half of the Duke lineup finished off a dominant day in singles. The Blue Devils went 5-1 on the day individually, capping off a comprehensive win.
“Up and down the line our guys didn’t play our best tennis, but they competed the best I’ve seen all season,” Goffi said.
As the Blue Devils look to continue their success against No. 4 Texas this Friday at Ambler Tennis Stadium, they continue to use early-season defeats to No. 25 Alabama and No. 12 Illinois as sources of motivation. Goffi noted that Duke’s response to those defeats, especially the loss to a beatable Alabama team, could be the reference point of the season.
In response, Duke has refocused and is now putting a lot of pressure on itself to win. The newfound focus and commitment to winning has translated to the court.
“[After Illinois], the guys came out firing on all cylinders and we haven’t looked back since then. The guys are just playing really good ball right now,” Goffi said.
Sunday’s handling of Virginia Commonwealth represents another step in the right direction for Duke. Led by its freshmen sensation, the Blue Devils will continue to move beyond their early-season defeats and seem well-prepared for an upset bid against Texas.
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