Duke and Kentucky are two storied blue-blood programs, and when they square off on the basketball court, it is always primed to be electric. However, the Blue Devils and Wildcats had a thriller on a different court Sunday.
Both men’s tennis teams are suited for a great season, and the two teams competed hard in a grueling match. The second-ranked Wildcats bested the Blue Devils 4-3 in Lexington, Ky., behind an excellent singles performance by some of Kentucky’s top players.
Duke snatched the momentum early, receiving the doubles point behind great play from all three doubles pairings. It was the Blue Devils’ top tandem of seniors Michael Heller and Andrew Zhang that clinched the victory, after senior Garret Johns and freshman Pedro Rodenas were victorious 6-3.
“It was clearly our most complete doubles point of the season,” said head coach Ramsey Smith. “We played really well on all three courts, all six guys played phenomenal from start to finish.”
However, this early lead evaporated in the singles rounds, as Kentucky’s top four singles players all emerged victorious. These players are all ranked in the ITA top-125 singles rankings, so it was extremely difficult competition for the Blue Devils (6-4).
The first victory of the day belonged to Kentucky’s 16th-ranked junior Joshua Lapadat, who defeated No. 88 Rodenas 6-1, 6-2, handing the freshman his first singles loss of the dual-match season.
Following this, No. 45 senior Liam Draxl defeated Zhang (7-5, 6-1), No. 66 Alafia Ayeni bested Johns (7-5, 6-3), and No. 115 Taha Baadi edged out Blue Devil sophomore Connor Krug (6-4, 7-6) to secure the victory for the Wildcats (10-0).
“The top of their lineup is their strength, and we had some tight first sets that could have gone either way,” said Smith. “They really got momentum and played really well in some of the second sets.”
Nevertheless, the fifth and sixth lines of singles competed very well for the Blue Devils, as junior Andrew Dale and Heller both won in tight three-set matches.
“Dale got his first ranked win of the year, and [Dale and Heller] both won in three sets so it was a nice way to finish,” said Smith.
Earlier in the week, the Blue Devils took care of East Tennessee State at home Friday, winning 7-0.
“We did a good job of jumping out to big leads, and did a good job of taking care of business,” said Smith.
In the doubles rounds, Krug and freshman Teddy Truwit won 6-2, and Johns and Rodenas clinched the doubles point by winning 6-3. This was Truwit’s first dual-match competition of the season, as the Darien, Conn., native was recovering from a back injury.
“[Truwit] worked really hard and got to the point where he was playing some great tennis,” said Smith. “He was doing so well that we decided to insert him into doubles and it certainly paid off.”
In singles competition, Duke did not drop a set during this whole match. Johns, Rodenas and Krug participated in both doubles and singles. Dale, Heller and Zhang were victorious as well for the Blue Devils.
After playing for four consecutive weeks against tough nonconference opponents, the Blue Devils will have some much-needed rest this week before starting ACC play against Boston College Feb. 24.
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Ranjan Jindal is a Trinity sophomore and an assistant Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle's 119th volume.