Duke Doubles Team Upsets No. 3 Duo In Country at ITA National Indoors

WEST HAVEN, Conn. - Duke's Reid Carleton and Henrique Cunha upset the No. 3 doubles team in the country in the quarterfinals of the ITA National Indoor Championships on Friday.

"I am really excited," said Carleton. "This is a huge tournament and to get to the semifinals is great. We are not going to settle and are hoping to continue our success."

Going up against the third-ranked Robert Farah and Steve Johnson of Southern California, Carleton and Cunha fell behind early in the match. Farah and Johnson broke Duke's first serve to take a 2-0 lead. The two Blue Devils came right back to get a break and trailed 3-2 midway through the match before going on a 5-0 run to take a 7-3 lead. They would later close out the match with an 8-4 victory to move on to the semifinals.

"We knew it was going to be a tough match and we didn't get off to a very good start, getting broken with two double faults," said Carleton. "We weren't feeling too good after we lost that game but Cunha got us started with a great return and volley and then I hit a nice return and we were able to get the momentum back."

The win gives Carleton and Cunha 10 straight victories as they are now 16-2 on the season. They also picked up their fourth victory over a ranked doubles team, their second over a top 10 duo.

"We have been returning really well," said Carleton. "Both guys today had very good serves, but our returns have been awesome lately."

Carleton and Cunha will face Jeff Dadamo and Austin Krajicek of Texas A&M in the semifinals tomorrow at 9 a.m.

The championship match will take place on Sunday at 10 a.m. The tournament is being hosted by Yale University at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center.