A rivalry that is usually reserved for the hardwood created an instant classic on a different court.
Battling late into the night, ninth-seeded Duke and eighth-seeded Kentucky gave tennis fans at Kahn Outdoor Tennis Center in Champaign, Ill. a reason to stay awake. The match’s momentum swung back-and-forth throughout, but a three-set victory by Raphael Hemmeler clinched a 4-2 victory for the Blue Devils (25-5), sending the team through to the NCAA quarterfinals for just the eighth time in program history.
“The goal for this match was to have no regrets,” assistant coach Jonathan Stokke said. “We told each other that if we could look at each other after the match and legitimately say that we gave everything we had, we didn’t care what the result was.”
No. 74 Hemmeler defeated the Wildcats’ Grant Roberts 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 to close out the match for Duke.
“He felt like he had to win for our team to win, and he stepped up,” Stokke said. “He played aggressive tennis, he played loose and positive. At that point it was more of a mental thing, and he aced that test. It was awesome to see.”
The Blue Devils opened the contest by competing in a doubles point that lasted a grueling 90 minutes. Fred Saba and Bruno Semenzato fell 9-7 to Kentucky’s Anthony Rossi and Juan Pablo Murra to give the Wildcats (22-12) the doubles point. It was the first point Duke had surrendered in NCAA Tournament play.
Stokke—who was filling in at the helm for head coach Ramsey Smith after the unexpected birth of his daughter earlier this week—said that instead of discouraging his team, losing the marathon doubles point gave Duke a renewed focus and energy heading into singles play.
“That was rare,” Stokke said. “It was an hour and a half doubles point normally that’s pretty devastating to lose. But I looked around at the guys and knew that they were ready to put forth a good effort in singles.”
Playing at the sixth singles spot, Jason Tahir was the first to respond for the Blue Devils, taking a swift 6-3, 6-2 victory against Kentucky’s Beck Pennington.
After No. 43 Fred Saba fell to No. 23 Tom Jomby to give the Wildcats a 2-1 advantage, senior Henrique Cunha, the ninth-ranked singles player in the country, took on No. 5 Rossi at the top singles position. With the match tied at 4-4 in the first set, Cunha remained firmly in control thanks to his groundstroke play from the baseline.
After taking the first set 7-5, Rossi put up a fight in the second set, but Cunha notched a 6-4 victory to keep his perfect season in singles play alive.
“He doesn’t want his career to end,” Stokke said. “He’s just going to dig in. He’s going to take that one extra step, put a little extra spin on the ball—he’s got that look in his eye that he’s going to find a way to get it done.”
Chris Mengel notched a 6-2, 7-5 victory against the Wildcats’ Kevin Lai at the fourth singles position. Duke held a 3-2 advantage with two matches entering their third sets. Both Hemmeler and freshman Michael Redlicki had won their first sets but allowed their opponents to take the second. But as Redlicki fell behind in the decisive set, Hemmeler responded by taking control.
“I got a little bit tired in the second set because I knew that we needed my match—we needed my point,” Hemmeler said.
With the third set tied at 2-2, Hemmeler’s creativity and shot-making ability was on display as he posted back-to-back breaks to take a 5-2 advantage and give Duke an opportunity to serve for the match.
“It was a huge, huge moment in the match,” Hemmeler said. “I knew that if I broke him right then, it was going to be the end.... Getting the break was the best feeling and I was very confident in my ability to serve it out.”
Hemmeler took the final game and set the Blue Devils up for a showdown with No. 1 seed UCLA Saturday at 5 p.m. Smith is planning to rejoin the team for Saturday’s contest.
Although the Bruins’ lineup features three singles players ranked in the top 30 in the nation, Duke’s ability to win at the bottom of the ladder has it feeling confident heading into its quarterfinal match.
“UCLA is the No. 1 team. They earned that ranking,” Stokke said. “But we’re in a position that only eight teams in Duke history have been in, and we’re trying to go somewhere that no other team has been. So no better way to do it than trying to take down the top team in the country."
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