Duke Opens Season with Thrilling 4-3 Victory Over VCU

Saturday, January 20

Durham, N.C.

12 p.m.

Duke University

VCU

Jake Krug clinches the match for Duke against VCU

Duke Opens Season with Thrilling 4-3 Victory Over VCU

1/20/2024 7:57:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

DURHAM – No. 8 Duke men's tennis kicked off the 2024 spring season with a thrilling 4-3 victory over VCU on Saturday afternoon in its home opener at Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

The Blue Devils (1-0) handed the Rams (0-1) their first loss of the season and secured their 10th-straight home victory. In addition, with the win, the Blue Devils registered their third consecutive home-opening victory.

Junior Jake Krug clinched the victory for Duke after recording his second career match-securing win on court six.

How It Happened

The Blue Devils jumped out to a quick 1-0 edge after earning the doubles point thanks to wins on court one and three.
Connor Krug and Faris Khan registered Duke's first doubles win of the year when they bested Mathis Bondaz and Hamza El Amine on court three, 6-4. Garrett Johns and Pedro Rodenas then followed that up with a 6-4 win over Matisse Bobichon and Romain Gales on the top court to secure the point. The match between No. 14 Michael Heller and Andrew Zhang against Oscar Pinto Sansano and German Samofalov on court two went unfinished with the Rams leading, 5-4.
VCU knotted the score at 1-1 early in singles action when Pinto Sansano defeated Connor Krug 6-3, 6-1 on court four.
The Blue Devils then posted back-to-back victories on court one and three, respectively, to jump in front, 3-1. Johns tallied 6-3, 6-4 wins over No. 57 Bobichon on the main court before Zhang notched a 6-2, 6-4 victory over El Amine on court three.
The result on court two was the next to finish after Bondaz bested No. 18 Rodenas 5-7, 7-6 (7), 4-0 due to retirement. Rodenas was forced to bow out after suffering an injury.
The Rams knotted the overall score at 3-3 when Gales registered a 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Andrew Dale on court five.
With the match coming down to the result on court six, Jake Krug secured the win for Duke after a thrilling come-from-behind victory. The Lakewood Ranch, Fla., native dropped the first set 6-0 but rebounded for 7-5, 7-5 victories in the next two frames to earn the win.

Notes

Duke shifts to 14-2 in home openers under the direction of head coach Ramsey Smith.
The Blue Devils recorded their 10th consecutive victory at home and are 13-2 in their last 15 home matches.

Quotes
"It was great to get a team win. It wasn't a traditional first match of the year, as I really wanted to challenge the team from the start. Just being in those pressure situations early on will only help us. We have a lot of respect for VCU, their players and coaching staff, they just compete really well. They pushed us in a lot of areas and ultimately was great to see Jake [Krug] finish things off. That was a big win for him." – Duke head coach Ramsey Smith on his thoughts from the match

"First is just the recovery piece. We're scheduling quite a few back-to-back matches this year on purpose because in the big tournaments you have to play back-to-back or back-to-back-to-back. Kickoff weekend next weekend we'll have to play back-to-back so we're playing three matches in two days which is unusual, but our guys are in great shape and they've worked really hard and the goal is to get everyone matches this weekend. We didn't play our best across the board today. There were some first-match nerves for sure so each guy will have something specific to work on. Overall doubles I thought was pretty good, especially the second half of the doubles, once we got things going but each court will have a few adjustments to make and we'll start working on that right now." – Duke head coach Ramsey Smith on what he learned from his team today in preparation for tomorrow's doubleheader

"The first match of the year is always tough. Their guy came out and played really well, especially with some huge serves, but I think I just stayed the course. I made a few adjustments and tried to stay a little more steady with my backhand across court and then took the chance on the obvious ball and it paid dividends in the end. These are the moments we work for. We've worked hard all offseason and today we just kept battling. My teammates were there to support me and cheer me on, so I didn't want to let them down. – Duke junior Jake Krug on clinching the win for Duke

Next Match
Duke welcomes Princeton and North Carolina Central on Sunday for a doubleheader at noon and 5 p.m., respectively, in Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's tennis, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMTEN".

Results
Doubles (3,1*)
1. Garrett Johns/Pedro Rodenas (DU) def. Matisse Bobichon/Romain Gales (VCU) 6-4
2. #14 Michael Heller/Andrew Zhang (DU) vs. Oscar Pinto Sansano/German Samofalov (VCU) 4-5, unfinished
3. Connor Krug/Faris Khan (DU) def. Mathis Bondaz/Hamza El Amine (VCU) 6-4

Singles (4,1,3,2,5,6*)
1. Garrett Johns (DU) def. #57 Matisse Bobichon (VCU) 6-3, 6-4
2. Mathis Bondaz (VCU) def. #18 Pedro Rodenas (DU) 5-7, 7-6 (9-7), 4-0, retired
3. Andrew Zhang (DU) def. Hamza El Amine (VCU) 6-2, 6-4
4. Oscar Pinto Sansano (VCU) def. Connor Krug (DU) 6-3, 6-1
5. Romain Gales (VCU) def. Andrew Dale (DU) 5-7, 6-2, 7-5
6. Jake Krug (DU) def. German Samofalov (VCU) 0-6, 7-5, 7-5

#GoDuke