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Duke women's tennis continues first-set dominance, advances to first Final Four since 2012

<p>Meible Chi's three-set victory on her birthday clinched Duke's first final four appearance since 2012.&nbsp;</p>

Meible Chi's three-set victory on her birthday clinched Duke's first final four appearance since 2012. 

For the second match in a row, Duke was forced to play indoors due to rain. But the Blue Devils did not let that change of scenery affect their play with a trip to the NCAA semifinals on the line Saturday morning. 

No. 3 seed Duke defeated eleventh-seeded Texas Tech 4-1 in the NCAA quarterfinals at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., Saturday. The semifinal appearance is the first since 2012 and the ninth in program history.

The victory marked the second win in three days for the Blue Devils (27-3), however, the second one did not come as easy as the round of 16 sweep of Northwestern.

Duke’s No. 9 pairing of juniors Kaitlyn McCarthy and Ellyse Hamlin did not get off to a strong start on Court 1. After splitting the opening two games of the match with Texas Tech’s No. 28 duo of Sarah Dvorak and Sabrina Federici, the Red Raider pair took control of the set to earn a 6-3 win.

On Court 3, Meible Chi and Hannah Zhao earned the doubles knotting victory 6-4 against Alex Valenstein and Lana Rush. Chi and Zhao took the opening two games, but lost the next three before taking four of the final five games in the set.

Neither second doubles team could take the advantage as the set was tied 5-5. But Texas Tech’s Felicity Maltby and Gabriela Talaba took the final two games from No. 6 tandem Samantha Harris and Kelly Chen. On match point, Chen missed an overhead into the net as the Red Raiders walked into the five-minute period before singles in the lead.

“It was a battle right from the start with the doubles. We seemed a little bit tight and nervous in the doubles and didn’t get that point,” Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “I told them after the doubles that there are still six points still out there and we need to go get six points. That should be our goal. We did a great job of overcoming the momentum that they had in doubles.”

But that Texas Tech lead did not last long as the Blue Devils’ deficit quickly turned around. Duke won five of the six first-sets and took firm control with a trip to the final four on the line.

The second set victories began to trickle in soon after starting with Zhao. The freshman sped through a 6-2 first set win to set up a match point up 5-4. After a few rallies from the baseline, Texas Tech’s Katelyn Jackson used a heavy topspin crosscourt forehand to take Zhao off the court beyond the baseline. Zhao caught up to the ball and hit a perfect backhand to the feet of the approaching Red Raider, leaving Jackson unable to pick the ball up as she hit the half volley into the net.

“We got a quick first set on six and a quick first set on three and you could feel us starting to get the momentum changing a little bit,” Ashworth said. “Our girls became more relaxed and were more positive on the courts.”

In the third singles position, McCarthy took a 3-1 lead in the first set and eventually won 6-2. In the second set, the junior and Valenstein split the opening four games, but the Cary, N.C., native took the last four games of the set. The win left Duke only two matches away from the dual match victory.

The next Blue Devil to etch her name into the scorebook was No. 28 Chen. The ACC Freshman of the Year took the opening set 6-3 to position herself to thrive in the second frame. The Cerritos, Calif., native did just that. Chen kept her foot on the pedal as she set up a break and match point of her own. On match point, Chen and Federici rallied from behind the baseline until the senior sent a backhand long for Texas Tech (23-7).

“I think Kelly came out feeling sorry for herself with how she played in the doubles because she didn’t play great doubles,” Ashworth said. “I told her two games into the singles if you are going to sit here and sulk about the doubles, then get off the court. You have to be tougher than that.... She responded very well. You have to know your players and Kelly is someone who can handle something like that.”

With the straight-set win, Chen continued her singles winning streak as the freshman earned her 20th win in a row. The only other Blue Devil freshman to win more consecutive matches was Rachel Kahan, who finished her freshman campaign undefeated 30-0 in 2011.

Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, the elusive fourth singles win would not come as quickly as they might have hoped it would.

Before Zhao took the match evening second set victory, No. 55 Chi evened her match up at one set apiece. The Weston, Fla., native was the lone Duke player to drop the opening set, but she bounced back in a big way. Chi was broken on her first service game in the second set and went down 0-2 after falling 3-6 in the first, but from then on, the sophomore was not ready to suffer a defeat playing on her birthday. Chi went on to win ten out of the next eleven games en route to a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 match-clinching victory.

“It is a definitely a great way to celebrate a birthday. I didn’t know I was the clinch because I couldn’t see the other side [Courts 5 and 6],” Chi said. “I knew that we close and how important every point was. I was just playing to put my point on the board. I saw my teammates out there and going wild after every point and that really helped me get through.”

Following the victory, Duke will meet No. 15 seed Stanford in the final four Monday at noon at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Cardinal defeated North Carolina and Georgia this weekend to set up the semifinal matchup.

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