Duke Edged by No. 19 Kentucky, 4-3

Sunday, February 7

Lexington, Ky. / Boone Tennis Center

12 p.m.

Duke University

Kentucky

Sean Sculley makes a play during his doubles match with UNCW

Duke Edged by No. 19 Kentucky, 4-3

2/7/2021 6:25:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Duke fell in a hard-fought battle to No. 19 Kentucky on Sunday afternoon, 4-3, at Boone Tennis Center.

The Blue Devils nearly pulled off the comeback in singles action after dropping the doubles point earlier in the day. Andrew Zhang, Sean Sculley, and Faris Khan all registered wins but it wasn't enough to lift Duke past its nationally ranked foe.

The Wildcats saw Gabriel Diallo and Cesar Bourgois defeated No. 55 Sculley and Garrett Johns, 6-1, in the court one doubles match. Luca Keist and Khan responded for the Blue Devils on court three after the duo took down Yasha Zemel and Ying-Ze Chen, 6-1, to set up an exciting finish to the doubles-clinching match on court two. Unfortunately, Alexandre Leblanc and Liam Draxl outlasted Edu Güell and Zhang, 6-4, to clinch the doubles match for the home side.

Kentucky took its 1-0 edge and increased it to 3-0 in singles action after Diallo and No. 45 ranked Draxl earned wins on court two and one, respectively. Diallo defeated Güell 6-2, 7-5 before Draxl earned the 7-6 (0), 6-2 victory over Johns.

Duke would not go away however as it battled back to pull within 3-2 after wins by Zhang and Sculley. Both matches went to an exciting three sets. After dropping his opening set to Bourgois 6-4, Zhang answered with 6-3, 6-4 victories to hand the Blue Devils their first point of the afternoon. Sculley then followed that up with a thrilling third-set tiebreak 7-6 (5) win over No. 123 Joshua Lapadat to cut the overall match deficit down to one. Like Zhang, Sculley fell in his first set 6-4, but rebounded for a 6-4 win in the second set before his exciting victory in the final frame.

Fortunately for the home side, Yasha Zemel secured the match on court five a few minutes later after he defeated Andrew Dale 6-3, 6-4.

Khan closed out the day handing Duke one final victory following his comeback win on court six. After dropping a 6-3 set one to No. 114 Leblanc, Khan responded with a 6-3, 6-4 victory to keep him undefeated in singles action this season.

Duke returns to action Sunday when it hosts Furman at 11 a.m. in Sheffield Indoor Center. All matches this weekend will be closed to the public per Duke Athletics COVID-19 protocol.

RESULTS
Doubles (1,3,2*)
1. Gabriel Diallo/Cesar Bourgois (UK) def. #55 Sean Sculley/Garrett Johns (DU) 6-1
2. Alexandre Leblanc/Liam Draxl (UK) def. Edu Güell/Andrew Zhang (DU) 6-4
3. Luca Keist/Faris Khan (DU) def. Yasha Zemel/Ying-Ze Chen (UK) 6-1

Singles (2,1,4,3,5*,6)
1. #45 Liam Draxl (UK) def. Garrett Johns (DU) 7-6 (7-0), 6-2
2. Gabriel Diallo (UK) def. Edu Güell (DU) 6-2, 7-5
3. Sean Sculley (DU) def. #123 Joshua Lapadat (UK) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
4. Andrew Zhang (DU) def. Cesar Bourgois (UK) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
5. Yasha Zemel (UK) def. Andrew Dale (DU) 6-3, 6-4
6. Faris Khan (DU) def. #114 Alexandre Leblanc (UK) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

#GoDuke