No. 9 Duke Advances to National Team Indoor Quarterfinals with 4-3 Victory

Friday, February 17

Seattle, Wash.

2 p.m.

Duke University

Baylor

Kiril Dimitrov Named ACC Men?s Tennis Performer of the Week

No. 9 Duke Advances to National Team Indoor Quarterfinals with 4-3 Victory

2/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

Seattle, Wash. - No. 9 Duke received a clutch performance from freshman Kiril Dimitrov to clinch the opening round match of the USTA-ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships against the defending champion No. 8 Baylor, 4-3.

Dimitrov, a freshman from Sofia, Bulgaria, helped the Blue Devils advance to the quarterfinals for the 11th straight time in the tournament with a victory in three sets over No. 94 Vladimir Portnov at the No. 5 position. Portnov won the first set handily, 6-1, but Dimitrov faught back to win a close second set 7-5. With the two teams tied at 3-3, the match came down to the final set between the two and Dimitrov came away with a 6-4 win to propel Duke on to the next round.

The Blue Devils took the early lead, taking the doubles point with victories in the No. 2 and 3 slots. Ned Samuelson and Ludovic Walter won at No. 3 with an 8-4 decision over Lars Poerschke and Jon Reckewey. Stephen Amritraj and Peter Rodrigues gave Duke the doubles point with an 8-4 win over Michal Kokta and Will Ward at the No. 2 spot. The No. 1 doubles was not played out since the Blue Devils had already clinched the point.

Baylor came out strong in singles, winning the first set in four of the six matches. Ward and Reckewey both won their matches in straight sets to put the Bears in the lead, 2-1. Ward won the No. 4 singles match 6-0, 7-5 against Joey Atas. Reckewey took a 6-1, 7-6 (1) decision over Christopher Brown in the No. 6 spot.

Duke answered with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Rodrigues continued his hot play at No. 3 with a win in three sets against No. 31 Michal Kokta, 6-7, 6-3, 6-1. Rodrigues stayed perfect in dual match play, improving to 6-0 with his third victory of the season against a ranked opponent. Walter, the ninth-ranked player in the country, won in straight sets at No. 1 with a 6-1, 7-6 (5) win over Matija Zgaga. The win moved Walter into a tie with Marc Flur, Duke's only men's tennis player in the school hall of fame, for fourth on the all-time list with 110 career singles wins. Walter is one win away from tying Marko Cerenko for third on the list.

The Bears tied the match at 3-3 when No. 1 Lars Poerschke wrapped up his match with No. 20 Jonathan Stokke in the No. 2 singles slot. Stokke took the first set, 6-4, but Poerschke came back to win the final two sets 7-6, 6-4 to take the set.

The Blue Devils will move on to the quarterfinals where they will face No. 1 Florida at 2 p.m. EST in the Nordstrom Tennis Center. The Gators advanced pass Pennsylvania, the 16th seed, 4-1 on Friday. The Quakers won the doubles point but Florida cruised to four straight singles wins for the match. The Gators are now 6-0 on the sesaon. Duke has advanced to the semifinal round three times in their 17 previous appearances, the last coming in 2001.

#8 Baylor vs. #9 Duke
Feb. 17, 2006 - Seattle Tennis Club
11:00 a.m.
Seattle, Wash.

	#8 Baylor	3
	#9 Duke	4

Singles
1.		1	2	3
Baylor	Matija Zgaga	1	6 (5)	-
Duke	(9) Ludovic Walter	6	7	-
2.		1	2	3
Baylor	(1) Lars Poerschke	4	7	6
Duke	(20) Jonathan Stokke	6	6	4
3.		1	2	3
Baylor	(31) Michal Kokta	7	3	1
Duke	Peter Rodrigues	6	6	6
4.		1	2	3
Baylor	Will Ward	6	7	-
Duke	Joey Atas	0	5	-
5.		1	2	3
Baylor	(94) Vladimir Portnov	6	5	4
Duke	Kiril Dimitrov	1	7	6
6.		1	2	3
Baylor	Jon Reckewey	6	7	-
Duke	Christopher Brown	1	6 (1)	-

Doubles
1.		1	2	3
Baylor	Zgaga/David Galic	3	DNF	-
Duke	Stokke/Atas	6	DNF	-
2.		1	2	3
Baylor	Kokta/Ward	4	-	-
Duke	Rodrigues/Stephen Armitraj	8	-	-
3.		1	2	3
Baylor	Poerschke/Reckewey	4	-	-
Duke	Walter/Ned Samuelson	8	-	-