Duke Defeats Louisville 4-2; Advances to ACC Championship Quarterfinals

Thursday, April 22

Rome, Ga. / Rome Tennis Center

6 p.m.

Duke University

Louisville

Duke Defeats Louisville 4-2; Advances to ACC Championship Quarterfinals

4/22/2021 11:46:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

ROME, Ga. – No. 37 Duke recorded a 4-2 decision over No. 49 Louisville on Thursday night to advance to Friday's quarterfinal match of the ACC Championship.

The seven-seeded Blue Devils improve to 12-9 on the year, while the No. 10-seeded Cardinals fall to 9-12.

Duke claimed the doubles point after victories by Luca Keist and Andrew Dale on court three and No. 20 Garrett Johns and Sean Sculley on court one. Keist and Dale kicked off the night by defeating Kyle Tang and Alex Wesbrooks 6-3. Johns and Sculley then followed suit with a thrilling 7-6 (4) tiebreak win over No. 45 Fabien Salle and Matthew Fung on the main court. Michael Heller and Andrew Zhang were knotted at 6-6 with Sergio Hernandez and Tin Chen on court two but that match went unfinished.

No. 69 Johns continued his strong showing beating Chen on the top court in singles action 6-3, 6-3 to hand Duke the early 2-0 edge.

Louisville responded with its first win after No. 57 Salle bested Sculley 7-6 (4), 6-3 on the second court.

Keist's match against Josh Howard-Tripp on court four was the next to finish. The Rothrist, Switzerland, native registered a 6-3 victory in set one before going on to record a 7-6 (3) tiebreak win in the second.

The Cardinals would not go away as David Mizrahi beat Heller on court six 7-5, 7-6 (3) to pull Louisville within 3-2.

Fortunately, Dale secured the overall match for the Blue Devils when he bested Fung on court five. The Leesburg, Va., product outlasted his opponent 7-6 (5) in the opening set before registering a gutsy 7-5 victory in the second to claim the win.

Zhang and No. 81 Hernandez each won a set during their match on court three. Zhang was victorious in the opening frame 6-4 but Hernandez posted a 7-6 (4) tiebreak win in the second to force a third set. Zhang was leading 3-0 in that frame when their match was halted.

The Blue Devils next turn their attention to No. 2 seed and ninth-ranked Wake Forest (27-5, 11-1 ACC) in the quarterfinal round on Friday at 5 p.m.

RESULTS
Singles (1,2,4,6,5*)
1. #69 Garrett Johns (DU) def. Tin Chen (LOU) 6-3, 6-3
2. #57 Fabien Salle (LOU) def. Sean Sculley (DU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
3. Andrew Zhang (DU) vs. #81 Sergio Hernandez (LOU) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 3-0, unfinished
4. #120 Luca Keist (DU) def. Josh Howard-Tripp (LOU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
5. Andrew Dale (DU) def. Matthew Fung (LOU) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5
6. David Mizrahi (LOU) def. Michael Heller (DU) 7-5, 7-6 (7-3)

Doubles (3,1*)
1. #20 Garrett Johns/Sean Sculley (DU) def. #45 Fabien Salle/Matthew Fung (LOU) 7-6 (7-4)
2. Sergio Hernandez/Tin Chen (LOU) vs. Michael Heller/Andrew Zhang (DU) 6-6, unfinished
3. Luca Keist/Andrew Dale (DU) def. Kyle Tang/Alex Wesbrooks (LOU) 6-3

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