Duke Closes Weekend with Two Additional Wins

Sunday, January 21

Durham, N.C.

12 p.m.

Duke University

Princeton

Duke Closes Weekend with Two Additional Wins

1/21/2024 10:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

DURHAM – Duke men's tennis recorded wins over Princeton and North Carolina Central on Sunday afternoon to remain undefeated on the season.

The Blue Devils (3-0) defeated the Tigers (1-2) inside Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center, 4-3, before earning a 7-0 victory over the Eagles (0-3) in the nightcap.

Graduate students Andrew Zhang and Michael Heller both secured wins for Duke with Zhang clinching the victory against Princeton and Heller earning the win against NC Central. In addition, rookie Alexander Visser registered his first collegiate dual match win against the Tigers.

Match One vs. Princeton
Duke kicked off the match claiming the doubles point following wins on court one and two. Garrett Johns and Pedro Rodenas posted a 6-3 victory over Paul Inchauspe and Sebastian Sec on the top court before No. 14 Heller and Zhang tallied a 6-3 win of their own over Ellis Short and Filippo Astreinidis on court two. The match between Connor Krug and Faris Khan against Fnu Nidunjianzan and Alan Kam on court three went unfinished with the teams knotted at 4-4.

Johns extended the Blue Devils edge to 2-0 early in singles play after a 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Nidunjianzan on the main court. Visser followed suit with his 6-4, 6-4 straight set win over Aleksandar Mitrio on court six before Zhang claimed a 6-4, 7-6 (1) tiebreak victory over Sec on court three to clinch the win.

The Tigers finished strong, registering wins on the last three courts to cut the final score down to 4-3.

Results
Doubles (1,2*)
1. Garrett Johns/Pedro Rodenas, Pedro (DU) def. Paul Inchauspe/Sebastian Sec (PRINCE) 6-3
2. #14 Michael Heller/Andrew Zhang (DU) def. Ellis Short/Filippo Astreinidis (PRINCE) 6-3
3. Connor Krug/Faris Khan (DU) vs. Fnu Nidunjianzan/Alan Kam (PRINCE) 4-4, unfinished

Singles (1,6,3*,2,4,5)
1. Garrett Johns (DU) def. Fnu Nidunjianzan (PRINCE) 6-0, 3-6, 6-1
2. Paul Inchauspe (PRINCE) def. #21 Pedro Rodenas (DU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
3. Andrew Zhang (DU) def. Sebastian Sec (PRINCE) 6-4, 7-6 (7-1)
4. #87 Ellis Short (PRINCE) def. Connor Krug (DU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
5. Landon Ardila (PRINCE) def. Andrew Dale (DU) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
6. Alexander Visser (DU) def. Aleksandar Mitrio (PRINCE) 6-4, 6-4

Match Two vs. NC Central
The Blue Devils continued their momentum in the nightcap posting two quick doubles wins to claim the doubles point. Teddy Truwit and Visser beat Naresh Bharathy and Shaka Cristellotti on court three, 6-1, to begin doubles play. Johns then teamed up with Jake Krug to defeat Oliver Saarinen and Leo Fortier, 6-1, on court two to record the point. The match on the top court between No. 14 Heller and Zhang against Hugo Hidalgo and Kareem Abdul Hakim went unfinished with Duke holding the slim 4-3 edge.

Truwit and No. 21 Rodenas made it 3-0 for the Blue Devils after the first two matches of singles play went final. Truwit posted 6-0, 6-0 victories over Lucas Artigas on court six before Rodenas recorded 6-1, 6-2 wins over Hidalgo on the main court. Heller then clinched the win for Duke when he tallied 6-1, 6-2 victories over Bharathy on court four.

Jake Krug, Connor Krug and Khan also added wins for the Blue Devils on courts three, two and five, respectively.

All of Duke's matches in the nightcap were in straight sets.

Results
Doubles (3,2*)
1. Michael Heller/Andrew Zhang (DU) vs. Hugo Hidalgo/Kareem Abdul Hakim (NCCU-MT) 4-3, unfinished
2. Garrett Johns/Jake Krug (DU) def. Oliver Saarinen/Leo Fortier (NCCU-MT) 6-1
3. Teddy Truwit/Alexander Visser (DU) def. Naresh Bharathy/Shaka Cristellotti (NCCU-MT) 6-1

Singles (6,1,4*,3,2,5)
1. #21 Pedro Rodenas (DU) def. Hugo Hidalgo (NCCU-MT) 6-1, 6-2
2. Connor Krug (DU) def. Kareem Abdul Hakim (NCCU-MT) 6-3, 6-3
3. Jake Krug (DU) def. Leo Fortier (NCCU-MT) 6-0, 6-2
4. Michael Heller (DU) def. Naresh Bharathy (NCCU-MT) 6-1, 6-2
5. Faris Khan (DU) def. Oliver Saarinen (NCCU-MT) 6-3, 6-2
6. Teddy Truwit (DU) def. Lucas Artigas (NCCU-MT) 6-0, 6-0

Quotes
"It feels great. It was a very tough, physical weekend. I just told the team that I've never scheduled three matches in two days before, especially two opening matches of this caliber opponent but we really wanted to challenge this group. We didn't play our best tennis, but we were pushed and competed well, and I think those matches are really going to help us moving forward." – Duke head coach Ramsey Smith on his team starting the year 3-0

"Extremely impressed with Visser. We decided ahead of time that Jake [Krug] was going to play on six the first match and Visser the second match no matter what, obviously Jake clinched and won the match for us against VCU so it looked a little weird pulling him, but both of those guys have been phenomenal for us. With Visser, you never know how people are going to handle the nerves of their first dual match. It's just very different than anything else you do in tennis, but he seemed completely fine. He played extremely well today, had a nice crowd supporting him which was awesome, but that doesn't surprise me at all because he's been playing consistently well." – Duke head coach Ramsey Smith on Alexander Visser winning his first career match

"We're excited to be back hosting [ITA] Kickoff. It's been a couple years. I feel like that's where the program belongs, in the top 15. We've earned that. We have a very tough region with a very tough first match against NC State. Now that we have three matches under our belt, I feel like we have a much clearer vision of what each guy needs to work on and a couple things we can collectively do a little bit better. But overall, very pleased with how we looked. We definitely need to fine-tune some things and we'll be ready for a very tough Wolfpack team on Saturday." – Duke head coach Ramsey Smith on his upcoming schedule

"It was an amazing feeling. I came out a little nervous but was able to settle in. Princeton is an unbelievable team and to have them so early on I knew that every match was going to count. To know that my match contributed to our team's overall win was a great feeling. It's a great start to the year." – Duke freshman Alexander Visser on earning his first collegiate dual win

Next Match
Duke is back in action next weekend when it hosts California, Middle Tennessee, and NC State for the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Blue Devils will face off against NC State on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. before meeting up with either California or Middle Tennessee on Sunday. Timing for Sunday's match has yet to be determined.

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

#GoDuke