Duke Posts 3-0 Start at ITA National Indoors

DURHAM, N.C. - Duke's Reid Carleton and Henrique Cunha both earned quick wins in singles and teamed up for a come-from-behind victory in doubles on the first day of the 2010 USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships.

The duo, ranked No. 1 in the nation in doubles and the top seed in the tournament, started the day with a doubles match against No. 45 Austen Childs and Viktor Maksimcuk of Louisville. The two Cardinals held a 6-4 lead in the match and had a chance to close it out up 8-7 but the Blue Devils kept fighting and ended up forcing a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker it was all Duke as Carleton and Cunha rolled to a 7-1 win to advance to the quarterfinals in the 16-team field.

The doubles win helped the Duke pair improve to 12-1 on the season and 3-1 against ranked teams. Next up they will take on a fellow ACC duo in Kevin King and Juan Spir of Georgia Tech, who are ranked No. 43 and upset the No. 8 team in the nation on Thursday.

Cunha was awarded the No. 3 seed in singles and showed why with his 6-2, 6-1 victory over No. 33 Ionut Beleleu of Oklahoma in the round of 32. He is now 7-0 against ranked opponents and 13-1 overall this fall. On Friday he will have a top 10 matchup with Childs who he faced in doubles today.

Carleton also cruised in straight sets, defeating Kirill Sinitsyn of Fresno Pacific, 6-1, 6-1. Sinitsyn was the small college representative after winning the NAIA Championships and defeating the Junior College champion and the NCAA Division II champion. Carleton continued his excellent fall, improving to 13-1 in singles. He draws No. 21 Rhyne Williams of Tennessee in the round of 16 as Williams took down the top seed in the tournament, Virginia's Alex Domijan, in two tiebreakers on Friday.

All matches are taking place at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

-d-u-k-e-