Duke Captures ITA Kickoff Weekend Championship

Sunday, January 26

Durham, N.C.

1:30 PM

Duke University

Vanderbilt

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Captures ITA Kickoff Weekend Championship

1/26/2025 5:24:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

DURHAM, N.C. – Make it consecutive years to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship for the Duke men's tennis team as the No. 11 Blue Devils downed Vanderbilt 4-0 in the ITA Kickoff Weekend championship Sunday at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

Duke will make its 25th appearance at national indoors February 14-18 in Dallas and Waco, Texas, at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex and Jim and Nell Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center, respectively.

The Blue Devils earned a hard-fought doubles point with wins on courts two and three after dropping a decision on the top court. Senior Connor Krug tallied his second match-clinching point of the campaign while improving to 3-0 in dual singles action.

How It Happened

Vanderbilt earned the first doubles win on the top court as Nathan Cox and Michael Ross picked up a 6-4 victory against graduate Theo Winegar and junior Pedro Rodenas. With the set tied 3-3, the Commodores broke and held and Duke was unable to force a tie.
Seconds later, Duke broke on courts two and three to take late leads and pave the way to the doubles point.
On court three, graduate Remy Dugardin and Krug defeated Henry Ruger and Giuseppe Cerasuolo, 6-4. With both sides holding serve until a 4-4 set, Duke broke and held to earn the win.
With the decision coming down to court two, sophomore Cooper Williams and graduate Andreja Petrovic downed Pablo Martinez Gomez and Danil Panarin, 6-4. Duke broke at 3-3 to take a 4-3 lead and held for a 5-3 advantage. Vandy got a game back on its serve, but Duke held on for the victory.
The Duke pairs of Dugardin and Krug and Williams and Petrovic went a combined 4-0 during the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
Dugardin raced off court six with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Callum Markowitz. Dugardin jumped out to a 5-0 advantage in the opening set and a 4-1 edge in the second to take control. Dugardin improved to 3-0 in dual competition this winter.
On court one, No. 47 Williams was not far behind to make it a 3-0 Duke advantage with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over No. 100 Cox. Williams took a 4-0 lead in the opening set to take control. His second set featured a break in game one to go ahead 2-0. Cox never got closer than a game behind at 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 before Williams served and broke for the win. The triumph was Williams' first as a Blue Devil in a dual match.
Krug sealed the trip to the national event on court five with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Ruger. The opening set had Krug break at 1-1 to go ahead 2-1 and Ruger was never able to retie the set. Krug broke in game one of the second set and took a 2-0 lead. Ruger answered with a break to knot the set at 3-3. Both sides held to make it 4-4 before Krug returned the favor with a break of his own to go up 5-4. He served out for the win and ITA Kickoff Weekend championship.

Quotes
"It was just a great overall team effort. Obviously, the momentum by grabbing the doubles point really helped. It was about a 50-minute doubles point, which is extremely long. We lost on one and had to come back and win on the last two courts. We had simultaneous deuce points that we won to go up breaks at two and three. Then we were able to close it out. That gave us a lot of momentum. To begin singles, we had a couple of guys come out firing. Remy has just been unbelievable. He gets better every single match. He got a quick one off the court so we just needed two more. We competed great across the board. I'm happy for the team and happy to be advancing without dropping a point.

"We have a lot of transfers, but every situation is different and unique. Remy is technically a transfer, but he's never been a part of college tennis. He had never been in the United States of America until day one of class in the summer. Remy is the nicest kid on the planet. I can see him getting more and more comfortable. He seems to really thrive in the team environment. He just loves winning for the team, which is good for us.

"It [winning this weekend] means a lot. It's really hard to do. The first half is hosting, which gives you a big advantage. Hosting is due to your play the previous year. But then you have to come out here and do it. I thought there were three really good teams that came here. These were both very, very tough matches, especially this one today. [ITA Indoors] is really the second-biggest event of the season with NCAAs outdoor and this Indoor ITA. Now, we're going to get a shot against the best players in the country. This team is going to keep getting better. That's the exciting part of it. Each match, we've shown that we've gotten better." – Duke head coach Ramsey Smith

Results
Doubles (1,3,2)
1. Nathan Cox/Michael Ross (VANDY) def. Pedro Rodenas/Theo Winegar (DU) 6-4
2. Cooper Williams/Andreja Petrovic (DU) def. Pablo Martinez Gomez/Danil Panarin (VANDY) 6-4
3. Remy Dugardin/Connor Krug (DU) def. Henry Ruger/Giuseppe Cerasuolo (VANDY) 6-4

Singles (6,1,5)
1. #47 Cooper Williams (DU) def. #100 Nathan Cox (VANDY) 6-2, 6-3
2. #83 Pedro Rodenas (DU) vs. Danil Panarin (VANDY) 6-4, 0-6, 1-1, unfinished
3. Andreja Petrovic (DU) vs. Michael Ross (VANDY) 6-7 (5-7), 3-1, unfinished
4. Gerard Planelles Ripoll (DU) vs. Pablo Martinez Gomez (VANDY) 3-6, 1-4, unfinished
5. Connor Krug (DU) def. Henry Ruger (VANDY) 6-4, 6-4
6. Remy Dugardin (DU) def. Callum Markowitz (VANDY) 6-1, 6-2

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's tennis, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMTEN".

#GoDuke