DURHAM, N.C. - No. 8 Duke rolled to a 7-0 sweep of No. 24 Wake Forest in both teams' ACC opener on Friday at Ambler Tennis Stadium in Durham, N.C.
The Blue Devils (13-3, 1-0 ACC) jumped on the Demon Deacons (11-5, 0-1 ACC) early in doubles and picked up three quick singles points to seal the victory.
Duke's two top-10 doubles teams earned early breaks at the top two positions and held onto them to take the doubles point. No. 9 Michael Redlicki and Jason Tahir beat Danny Kreyman and Adam Lee 8-3 at No. 2, and No. 1 Henrique Cunha/Raphael Hemmeler clinched the point with an 8-4 win over No. 70 David Hopkins and Amogh Prabhakar at No. 1
Sam Bloom and Jon Ho looked primed to pull the upset of No. 25 Fred Saba and Chris Mengel, leading 6-3 in the tiebreak in a match that featured no breaks of serve. But the Duke duo rallied to win the next five points, taking the match 8-7 (6) to give the Blue Devils the doubles sweep.
No. 55 Hemmeler put the Blue Devils in front 2-0 with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Morgan Mays at No. 5 singles, and #26 Redlicki took down Kreyman 6-4, 6-1 at No. 3 to push the Duke advantage to 3-0.
Jason Tahir clinched the win for Duke at the No. 6 singles position, fighting off a second-set comeback by Jon Ho to defeat the Wake Forest freshman 6-2, 6-4. Hopkins took 10th-ranked Cunha to the wire in the first set, dropping it in a tiebreak, but rank out of steam against the Blue Devil veteran in the second, falling 7-6 (5), 6-1.
#56 Prabhakar forced a 10-point tiebreak for a third set against Duke's #27 Saba at No. 2, but was unable to pull out the win as Saba rallied in the tiebreak for a 6-3, 6-7 (2), 1-0 (6) victory. No. 89 Mengel completed the sweep at No. 4, beating Lee 6-3, 7-5 to hand the New Zealand native only his second loss of the dual match season.
Wake Forest will remain in the Triangle for its second ACC match of the season as it takes on NC State on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Raleigh, N.C.
#8 Duke 7, #24 Wake Forest 0
Singles
1. #10 Henrique Cunha (DU) def. David Hopkins (WF) 7-6 (7-5), 6-1
2. #27 Fred Saba (DU) def. #56 Amogh Prabhakar (WF) 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 1-0 (10-6)
3. #26 Michael Redlicki (DU) def. Danny Kreyman (WF) 6-4, 6-1
4. #89 Chris Mengel (DU) def. Adam Lee (WF) 6-3, 7-5
5. #55 Raphael Hemmeler (DU) def. Morgan Mays (WF) 6-3, 6-1
6. Jason Tahir (DU) def. Jon Ho (WF) 6-2, 6-4
Doubles
1. #1 Henrique Cunha/Raphael Hemmeler (DU) def. #70 David Hopkins/Amogh Prabhakar (WF) 8-4
2. #9 Michael Redlicki/Jason Tahir (DU) def. Danny Kreyman/Adam Lee (WF) 8-3
3. #25 Fred Saba/Chris Mengel (DU) def. Sam Bloom/Jon Ho (WF) 8-7 (8-6)
Match Notes:
Wake Forest 12-4; National ranking #24
Duke 13-3; National ranking #8
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (5,3,6,1,2,4)
T-3:26 A-177
