Duke Claims Singles and Doubles Titles at ITA Carolina Regional

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The Duke men's tennis team swept the singles and doubles championships of the ITA Carolina Regional on Monday at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Sophomore Henrique Cunha captured his third career tournament title by defeating No. 30 Jose Hernandez in the singles final. Cunha became the fourth Duke player since 2003 to win the ITA Regional singles crown, joining Ludovic Walter (2003 and 2004) and current Duke assistant coach Jonathan Stokke (2005). Cunha has now won three career tournament singles titles.

The championship match went three sets with Cunha winning the final two after falling in a close first set tiebreaker. The two players battled throughout the first set trading breaks to start out and then holding serve up until the tiebreaker. Hernandez jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker and then led 6-3 with a chance to close it out but Cunha fought off four set points before Hernandez closed it out for the 10-8 win.

The final two sets were all Cunha as the No. 2 player in the ITA preseason rankings proved his ranking by taking over for the win. He broke serve early in the second set to claim the first three games and wound up breaking again for the set at 6-2. The third set was similar as he led 3-0 out of the gate and went on to win 6-3. Cunha ended the match with a service ace to earn the automatic bid to the ITA National Indoor Championships in Flushing, N.Y. Nov. 4-7.

Watch Cunha's Final Game in Win Over Hernandez

Earlier in the day Cunha rolled through his semifinal match against No. 64 Stefan Hardy of North Carolina. Cunha won in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. He faced players from North Carolina on their home court in each of the final three rounds of the tournament and came away with victories.

Cunha improved to 12-1 on the season with the two wins on Saturday, tying him for the team lead in wins with Reid Carleton. Both players will be competing in the National Indoor Championships as Carleton automatically qualified by reaching the semifinals at the ITA All-American Championships.

Carleton and Cunha finished the day with an easy 8-1 victory in the doubles finals over North Carolina's Hernandez and Joey Burkhardt to give them back-to-back ITA Carolina Regional doubles titles. The duo also won it last year and ended up winning the consolation finals after falling in the first round at National Indoors. The Duke pair improved to 11-1 on the season with the victory.

Watch Carleton and Cunha's Final Game In Doubles Title Match

Overall Cunha played 11 matches in the five days of the tournament, including nine in the last three days. He is the first Duke player since 2003 to win both the singles and doubles titles in an ITA Regional.

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Duke Claims Singles and Doubles Titles at ITA Carolina Regional

Players Mentioned

Reid Carleton

Henrique Cunha

Duke information

Duke Claims Singles and Doubles Titles at ITA Carolina Regional

Players Mentioned

Reid Carleton

Henrique Cunha

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Duke information