No. 3 Duke Advances to ACC Tournament Semifinals With 4-1 Win Over Virginia Tech

Friday, April 21

Cary, N.C.

9 a.m.

Duke University

Virginia Tech - Quarterfinals

No. 3 Duke Advances to ACC Tournament Semifinals With 4-1 Win Over Virginia Tech

4/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

Cary, N.C. - No. 3 Duke, the top seed in the ACC Tournament, advanced to the semifinal round with a 4-1 victory over ninth-seeded Virginia Tech Friday morning at the Cary Tennis Center in Cary, N.C.

The Blue Devils won the doubles point for the 12th straight match and 18th time in 24 contests this season. Ned Samuelson and Ludovic Walter finished first at the No. 3 position and never trailed in their match. They improved to 13-7 on the season and 12-6 when playing at the third spot with an 8-5 victory over Nicolas Delgado and Albert Larregola. Stephen Amritraj and Peter Rodrigues continued their success in the ACC, clinching the doubles point with an 8-5 win against Arvid Puranen and Alexei Sergeev. Amritraj and Rodrigues jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and never looked back. The two were 10-1 against ACC opponents in the regular season and have now improved to 14-5 at the No. 2 spot. The No. 1 match between Duke's Joey Atas and Jonathan Stokke and Virginia Tech's Christian Guevara and Wilkins was not finished.

Virginia Tech was able to gain some momentum, winning the first set in three of the six singles matches. However, the top three Duke players came away on top in their first set to put the pressure on. The three Blue Devils would go on to win in straight sets to help Duke advance in the tournament. No. 58 Jonathan Stokke broke a 1-1 tie in the match when he defeated Alex Sergeev in the No. 2 match 6-2, 6-4. Stokke came out strong in the match, taking a 5-1 lead in the first set before finishing it out. He then broke a 3-3 tie in the second set with two straight points before winning 6-4. With the win Stokke improves to 12-10 in dual matches and 27-17 overall.

No. 81 Peter Rodrigues put Duke on top 3-1 in the match, winning handily at the third position 6-2, 6-2, over Albert Larregola. Rodrigues improved to 21-2 in dual matches this season and 27-8 overall. No. 6 Ludovic Walter followed with a victory in the No. 1 match to clinch the victory for the Blue Devils. He defeated his 16th ranked opponent with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) win over Arvid Puranen. Walter is now 17-6 at the top spot and 27-11 overall.

“It was a very competitive match, which was what we were expecting,” said Head Coach Jay Lapidus. “We knew that Virginia Tech was dangerous as they have had a lot of close matches. We were fortunate to get this one. Our top three played well. For us to come out and the get the first set on all three courts helped out a lot. It really set the tone of the match.”

The lone point on the day for the Hokies came in the sixth slot. Christian Guevara edged out Ned Samuelson in a first-set tiebreaker 7-6 (5) and then was able to close out the match with a 6-3 win in the second set. The fourth and fifth matches were not finished.

Duke will await the winner of the quarterfinal match between fourth-seeded North Carolina and fifth-seeded Florida State. The semifinal match will be played on Saturday at 10 a.m.

ACC Tournament
No. 3 Duke 4, No. 56 Virginia Tech 1

April 21, 2006 ? Cary, N.C.

Singles
1. No. 6 Ludovic Walter (Duke) def. No. 40 Arvid Puranen (VT), 6-2, 7-6 (3)
2. No. 58 Jonathan Stokke (Duke) def. Alexei Sergeev (VT), 6-2, 6-4
3. No. 81 Peter Rodrigues (Duke) def. Albert Larregola (VT), 6-2, 6-2
4. Joey Atas (Duke) vs. David Rosenfeld (VT), DNF
5. Kiril Dimitrov (Duke) vs. Nicolas Delgado (VT), DNF
6. Christian Guevara (VT) def. Ned Samuelson (Duke), 7-6 (5), 6-3

Doubles

1. No. 22 Atas & Stokke (Duke) vs. Wilkins & Guevara (VT), DNF
2. Amritraj & Rodrigues (Duke) def. Puranen & Sergeev (VT), 8-5
3. Samuelson & Walter (Duke) def. Larregola & Delgado (VT), 8-5