Blue Devils Advance With 4-0 Win Over
Radford
DURHAM, N.C. – For the 18th straight
season the Duke men’s tennis team won
its first round match in the NCAA
Tournament, defeating No. 51 Radford,
4-0, on Friday at the University of
Tennessee Varsity Tennis Courts in
Knoxville, Tenn.
Heavy rains in the morning delayed the
match for one hour and forced the NCAA
to move the match to the University of
Tennessee’s four indoor courts.
“I think we played great. It was a close
match,” said head coach Ramsey Smith.
“We played very well. Doubles could have
gone either way and that set the tone.
We were fortunate to sneak out doubles
with a win. That could have changed
things. We were able to get two matches
done quickly. No. 1 was a battle. We
knew it would be going in.”
The 23rd-ranked Blue Devils came away
with a tightly contested doubles point
to start things off on a good note. Reid
Carleton and Torsten Wietoska gave Duke
a quick advantage by cruising to an 8-2
win at the No. 3 doubles spot. The duo
played together for just the third time
this season and is now 2-1. Radford’s
54th-ranked No. 1 doubles team of Martin
Sayer and Zach Watson evened things up
with an 8-3 win.
The No. 2 doubles match was close
throughout and the Blue Devils’ pair of
Dylan Arnould and David Holland trailed
8-7 before earning the point to force a
tiebreaker. The tiebreaker was all Duke
as Arnould and Holland defeated Ivan
Salec and Mehdi Benhammou 7-2 to give
the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead in the match.
Arnould and Holland improved to 4-3 as a
team with the win. Radford came into the
match winning the doubles point in 18 of
its last 20 contests.
The middle of the singles lineup gave
Duke a boost. Jared Pinsky fell down big
early at No. 4 but rallied to win the
first set 6-4 over Benhammou. Pinsky won
the second set easily, 6-1, for the
first singles point of the day. He
improved to 22-14 on the season and is
12-7 when playing at the No. 4 spot.
Arnould also won in straight sets,
defeating Stefan Bojic 6-4, 6-2 at the
No. 3 spot. Arnould set a career high
for singles wins with his 22nd victory
of the year.
Duke’s only senior, No. 56 Kiril
Dimitrov, gave Duke the victory in the
match. Dimitrov faced Ivan Salec in the
No. 2 singles match. Dimitrov won the
first set 6-2 only to see Salec flip the
score in the second set with a 6-2
victory of his own. In the third set,
Dimitrov pulled away at the end for a
6-3 win, his first match clincher of the
year. He has a team-best 27-12 record on
the season, including a 14-4 mark at the
No. 2 spot.
“I’ve been in this situation many times
this year. I felt very confident in
finishing strong,” said Dimitrov. “It’s
something I’ve been working on. I was
confident I could pull it out.”
Duke improves to 16-8 overall on the
year and will advance to the second
round where they will play the winner of
the match between No. 5 Tennessee and
No. 61 East Tennessee State. The second
round match will take place at 3 p.m. on
Saturday. Radford ends their season with
a 20-4 overall record.
Tennis Match Results
Radford vs Duke
May 8, 2009 at Knoxville, Tenn.
#23 Duke 4, #51 Radford 0
Doubles
1. #54 Martin Sayer/Zach Watson (RAD)
def. #71 Kiril Dimitrov/Alain Michel
(DU) 8-3
2. #90 Dylan Arnould/David Holland (DU)
def. Ivan Salec/Mehdi Benhammou (RAD)
9-8 (2)
3. Reid Carleton/Torsten Wietoska (DU)
def. Igor Ogrizek/Stefan Bojic (RAD) 8-2
Singles
1. #102 Martin Sayer (RAD) vs. #42 Reid
Carleton (DU) DNF, 7-6 (2), 1-6, 0-3
2. #56 Kiril Dimitrov (DU) def. Ivan
Salec (RAD) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
3. Dylan Arnould (DU) def. Stefan Bojic
(RAD) 6-4, 6-2
4. Jared Pinsky (DU) def. Mehdi
Benhammou (RAD) 6-4, 6-1
5. Igor Ogrizek (RAD) vs. Alain Michel
(DU) DNF, 1-1
6. Zach Watson (RAD) vs. Torsten
Wietoska (DU) DNF, 2-2
Match Notes:
Radford 20-3; National ranking #51
Duke 15-8; National ranking #23
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2);
Singles (4,3,2)
Match Moved Indoors Due to Heavy Rains
