Duke men's tennis begins play at ITA All-American Championships

The main draw of the biggest tournament in all of college tennis is set to begin, with four Blue Devils looking to show they can compete with the best.

The main draw of the ITA All-American Championships features the top 64 singles players and top 32 doubles teams in the nation and began Thursday at the Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.

Sophomore Michael Redlicki, junior Raphael Hemmeler and senior Fred Saba are competing in singles, and the tandem of Hemmeler and sophomore Bruno Semenzato will represent Duke in doubles. The fields have finally been determined after five days of rigorous qualifying rounds.

"There's been the pre-qualifying and the qualifying, and it's all to get in the main draw," head coach Ramsey Smith said. "Our guys are really excited.... This is the best of the best. It's that one tournament that all the top players play. Every match is a great opportunity."

In the opening day of competition, Hemmeler fell 6-1, 6-2 in his first round match against Columbia's Winston Lin. Redlicki battled Virginia's Mac Styslinger, the tournament's No. 16 seed, and lost 6-4, 7-5. After winning his opening-round match in three sets against SMU's Arturs Kazijevs, Saba fell to the tournament's 14th seed, Jared Hiltzik of Illinois, 6-2, 6-3.

Hemmeler and Semenzato made the big splash of the day on the doubles court, taking down the tournament's second-seeded tandem of Hernus Pieters and Ben Wagland. Duke's duo defeated the pair from Georgia 8-4 to advance.

"It's a team that we know pretty well," Smith said. "It's a team that's very, very good. I think it's a great opportunity. It's the first time that Rafa [Hemmeler] and Bruno have played together in a tournament. They complement each other really well, are an extremely good returning team and have very good energy."

Having already qualified for the main draw in doubles before the official ITA qualifying rounds, Hemmeler and Semenzato attempted to qualify in singles by winning three matches in the qualifying rounds.

Hemmeler came within a set of achieving his goal and lost a match in the third set on the final day of qualifying to Axel Alvarez of Oklahoma, 6-3, 0-6, 6-4. Because of two withdrawals however, Hemmeler—as one of the highest seeded players in the final round of the qualifiers—was still able to find his way into the main draw as a "lucky loser."

"[Hemmeler] lost a tough first set, won a great second set and had an extremely competitive third set," Smith said. "He fell just short. The draw came out right before his match started, so he actually knew he was going to be in either way. Unfortunately, he didn't get the win, but the main goal is to qualify for the main draw."

Semenzato also lost a tough three-set match in the final round of qualifying, falling 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 to Benjamin Lock of Florida State. It was his first loss of the season in singles or doubles.

"Bruno has had a phenomenal fall so far," Smith said. "He had two really good wins in the first two rounds [of qualifying] to make it to the last round. He played a great first set, but his opponent really stepped it up and played incredible the last two sets. Bruno was down in the third, fought back, and gave himself a chance, but [Lock] was just a little too tough at the end."

Because the tournament's main draw uses a back draw, each singles player is guaranteed two matches on the first day. Smith said that win or lose, the experience that players could gain playing in the back draw of the weekend's tournament could be a significant difference maker for the spring season.

"The back draw of the tournament is probably the third-hardest tournament in the fall," Smith said. "Everyone is so good. It's nice that they play it out, it's a whole separate tournament. I'm just looking for the guys to go out there and compete and give it their best shot. I'm looking forward to watching them compete against the best players in the country."