No. 9 Duke Falls 6-1 in Top-10 Battle with No. 3 Illinois Friday Night

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Friday, February 3

Durham, N.C.

6 p.m.

Duke University

Illinois

Top-Seeded Duke Opens ACC Tournament Play Friday Morning Against Virginia Tech

No. 9 Duke Falls 6-1 in Top-10 Battle with No. 3 Illinois Friday Night

2/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

Durham, N.C. - No. 9 Duke squared off in a top-10 showdown against No. 3 Illinois on Friday night in front of 932 fans at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center and suffered a 6-1 loss.

The win improves the Fighting Illini to 3-0 on the season while the Blue Devils even their record at 1-1 overall.

Illinois showed why they are one of the top teams in the country with four ranked singles players. Ryler DeHeart, ranked sixth in the FILA Collegiate Tennis Rankings, played in the No. 3 singles spot and won in straight sets against Joey Atas 6-2, 6-0. No. 99 Ryan Rowe also won in straight sets with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Christopher Brown in the No. 5 singles match. In a battle of two ranked players, No. 38 Kevin Anderson (Illinois) came away with a close win in three sets over No. 20 Jonathan Stokke (Duke). Anderson won the first set, 6-3, but Stokke faught back to take the second set, 6-4. The third set came down to a tiebreaker with Anderson winning 7-6 (5). The fourth ranked player for Illinois, No. 59 Ruben Gonzales, suffered a loss at the No. 4 singles as Duke's Peter Rodrigues came away with a three-set victory, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

The Blue Devils' other ranked player, No. 9 Ludovic Walter, lost the first set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (2) but came back to force a third set with a 6-3 victory. However, GD Jones was able to finish the final set ahead 6-4 for the win. Also winning in singles action for the Fighting Illini was Pramod Dabir at the No. 6 spot as he battled back from a 6-4 loss to Kiril Dimitrov in the opening set to take the final two 7-5, 6-2.

Illinois took the early lead in the match, 1-0, with two wins in doubles. Anderson and Rowe won the No. 1 match against Stokke and Stephen Amritraj, 8-4. DeHeart and Gonzales handed Duke's Atas and Walter an 8-2 loss at the No. 2 spot. The Blue Devils' duo of Rodrigues and Ned Samuelson won their match at No. 3 doubles with an 8-4 win against Jones and Marc Spicijaric.