After struggling in doubles play early, the Blue Devils will turn their attention to a final singles seeds in ITA All-American Championships.
Duke completed five days of match play in the ITA All-American Qualifying Rounds at the University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla., Wednesday. Two Blue Devils—freshman Nicolas Alvarez and junior Bruno Semenzato—were able to qualify for the event's main draw after three qualifying matches. The duo joined senior Jason Tahir—who had automatically qualified for the main draw based on his ranking.
Thursday's play resulted in Tahir's loss to to Virginia Tech’s Andreas Bjerrehus 6-3, 7-6 (5) to place the senior Blue Devil in the consolation bracket. Semenzato lost 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 to Louisville’s Sebastian Stiefelmeyer as well, making Alvarez—who defeated California’s Andre Goransson 6-0, 6-3, 6-2—Duke's sole player to advance in the main draw.
In the consolation bracket, Semenzato will face Memphis' Connor Glennon and Tahir will face Tennessee's Mikelis Libietis around 10 a.m. Friday.
Although Semenzato's qualification was not that surprising given his experience, Alvarez's impressive 3-0 record—including a 6-2, 7-5 win against Wichita State's Tin Ostoijc after major deficits in each set—was a pleasant surprise for head coach Ramsey Smith.
“[The Qualifying Rounds were] filled with ups and downs,” Smith said. “But [Alvarez] was definitely one of the up’s. It’s safe to say that [Alvarez] was the highlight of the week.”
Although Alvarez made the draw on merit alone, Semenzano required a little luck. The 5-foot-9 Brazilian moved on to the main draw as one of the tournament’s lucky losers after losing in the third round to Miami’s Piotr Lomacki 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (5-7). Semenzato, despite winning the first set against Lomacki, surrendered a 3-1 lead in the second, and eventually lost in a third set tiebreak.
“Watching [Semenzato] go down was tough,” Smith said. “But, in the end, he was able to sneak into the Main Draw, and we’re incredibly happy about that.”
Two other Blue Devils—senior Raphael Hemmeler and redshirt senior Chris Mengel—traveled to Oklahoma to compete in the qualifying rounds in singles, but did not advance to the main draw.
Hemmeler topped Michigan’s best-ranked singles player, Alex Petrone, in the first round, but then fell to Georgia’s Nick Wood 6-2, 6-2 in the second round. Mengel, recovering from a shoulder injury that required surgery earlier in 2014, was defeated in the first round by Illinois’ Aleks Vukic in three sets.
“Sadly, Hemmeler and Mengel didn’t advance,” Smith said. “But their play was encouraging. Hemmeler got a great win over Michigan’s best guy out there, and Mengel lost a close one, even while dealing with his labrum injury. Mengel’s going to be a huge part of the team this year; he just needs to get a few wins under his belt, first.”
Redshirt senior Cale Hammond and junior Daniel McCall also played for the Blue Devils in Tulsa, but did not make it past pre-qualifying rounds. Hammond, a Tulsa native, had to retire from the tournament in his second match after a win against Florida’s Josh Wardell. McCall was eliminated by Georgia’s Paul Oosterbaan in the first round.
In doubles, two Duke teams competed, and both lost in the first round of qualifying. Mengel and Tahir fell 6-2, 6-4 to Mississippi State’s Cash and Florian Lakat. Hammond and Hemmeler were defeated by Mississippi's Stefan Lindmark and Gustav Hansson.
“We need to improve everything, and that improvement will only come with more practice," Smith said about his team's poor doubles performance. "Clearly, we need to stress doubles in the coming weeks.”
Although his team fell short in doubles, the opportunity for three Blue Devils to compete in a stacked 64-player singles draw is one Smith will cherish in the coming days.
The main draw is slated to finish with the Championship Match Sunday with early rounds being played all day Thursday and Friday.
“We haven’t had three [Duke singles players] in the Main Draw in quite some time, so needless to say, this is a big achievement for us," Smith said. “[Alvarez, Semenzato, and Tahir] are going to get the opportunity to play against the best. We’ll just have to wait and see how they fare.”
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Jacob Weiss is a Trinity senior. His column, "not jumping to any conclusions," runs on alternate Fridays.