Carleton and Cunha Win ITA Regional Doubles Title

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Duke's Reid Carleton and Henrique Cunha claimed the doubles championship of the Wilson/ITA Carolina Regionals on Monday with an 8-4 win over Iain Atkinson and Steve Forman of Wake Forest at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill.

"It is a big win for us," said Cunha. "We had a great semifinal match yesterday against a good doubles team and today was a very intense, high level match. I am very happy to be playing in National Indoors."

With the win, the two Duke players earn a spot in the doubles draw at the ITA National Indoor Championships. The Championships will be held Nov. 5-8 at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

"It is a huge win for us," said Carleton. "National Indoors is a really big tournament so I am really excited to get there."

Carleton and Cunha have now won eight consecutive doubles matches and are 14-2 overall on the season with three wins over ranked opponents. The only two losses have come against the No. 1 and No. 6 doubles teams in the nation. The Duke pair lost in a tiebreaker against No. 1 John-Patrick Smith and Davey Sandgren of Tennessee in the finals of the UVA Ranked Plus One Invite. The results have been pretty good for a doubles team who never stepped on the court with each other prior to the first match they played in together.

"It has worked out for us," said Carleton. "They put us together the first tournament of the year and we had never even hit a ball with each other. We struggled through our first match of the year but won and from then on we have just been cruising."

The duo added to their trophy case with Monday's ITA Regional Championship. In the previous tournament, Carleton and Cunha suffered a first round loss to No. 6 Moritz Baumann/Marek Michalicka of Wisconsin at the ITA All-American Championships but battled back to win the backdraw title.

"Both of us are returning so well, both in today's match and yesterday's match," said Carleton. "It is hard for teams to get in any kind of rhythm with their serves because they don't know what to do against us. We have them on their heels from the beginning."

The two players have played extremely well together with three 8-3 wins, seven 8-4 victories and three 8-5 wins on the year. During their eight-match winning streak, only one match has been decided by less than three games, an 8-6 win over Tulsa's Ashley Watling and Philip Stephens in the consolation semifinals of ITA All-Americans.

"We are playing very well in our baseline game," said Cunha. "We are serving good and have been good in our volleys. The way we have been playing has helped our confidence as we have won eight matches in a row now."

The way Carleton and Cunha have played together this fall, they will be looking at a high national ranking when the next individual rankings come out in January. But first they will try to win another championship in three weeks at the ITA Indoor National Championships.

2009 Wilson/ITA Carolina Regionals
October 19, 2009

Doubles - Finals
Reid Carleton/Henrique Cunha (Duke) def. Iain Atkinson/Steve Forman (Wake Forest) 8-4