Duke Extends Winning Streak to Five

Friday, January 31

Durham, N.C.

5:00 PM

Duke University

Illinois

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Extends Winning Streak to Five

1/31/2025 8:35:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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DURHAM, N.C. – The No. 7 Duke men's tennis team extended its season-opening winning streak to five matches Friday evening at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center with a 4-1 triumph against Illinois.

The Blue Devils have allowed just two points in their last four matches as they remained unbeaten at home. Illinois dropped to 1-2.

Duke took the doubles point with court one taking the third and final decision. The Blue Devils have captured their last four doubles points. Graduate Andreja Petrovic earned the clinch in singles with a straight-set victory on court three.

How It Happened

All three doubles matches finished with 6-4 scores and ended nearly simultaneously.
Duke captured the first doubles decision with court two as sophomore Cooper Williams and Petrovic topped Kenta Miyoshi and Mathis Debru. The sides were even at 2-2 before Duke broke and held for a 4-2 lead. Illinois could not retie the set. Williams and Petrovic are now 3-1 in dual match action.
Seconds later, court three finished with Jeremy Zhang and William Mroz downing senior Connor Krug and graduate Remy Dugardin. The Fighting Illini pair took a 3-0 lead before Duke rallied and evened the set at 4-4. Illinois, however, held and broke the finish the set. The setback was the first for Dugardin and Krug in dual matches.
Court one held the final decision with graduate Theo Winegar and junior Pedro Rodenas finishing the point by defeating No. 52 Tyler Bowers and Zach Viiala. Duke jumped ahead 2-0 with an immediate break and hold. The Blue Devils got another break to lead 4-1, but Illinois answered with a break and hold to make it a 4-3 set. Illinois was never able to tie, however, as both sides held serve to end the set. The Duke duo is now 2-2 this winter.
Illinois evened the match at 1-1 with a 6-2, 6-4 Bowers victory against junior Sam Landau on court four. Bowers held 5-1 leads in both sets as No. 37 Landau was playing his first dual match of the season.
The Fighting Illini advantage did not last long, however, as Krug topped Viiala 6-4, 6-4 in the fifth position. The first set was even throughout until Krug broke at 4-4 and held for the win. Krug kept the momentum going in the second set by taking the first four games. Viiala responded with mini runs thanks to breaks to make it 4-2 and 5-4, but Krug served out for the match. Krug improved to 4-0 in dual matches and won his eighth consecutive match overall.
Rodenas stretched the Duke advantage to 3-1 with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 30 Mroz on court two. Breaks were frequent in the opening set with Rodenas, ranked No. 38, getting the final one with the set even at 4-4. He held to capture the first set. In the second, a break and hold opened the set for a 2-0 Rodenas advantage. Mroz could never tie, despite narrowing the deficit at 2-1, 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4. The triumph moved Rodenas to 2-1 in dual competition.
Petrovic provided the clinch from court three, where he topped Zhang 6-2, 7-6 (5). Petrovic broke twice in the first four games in the opening set to go ahead 4-1. He broke again to end the set. Petrovic seemed in control in the second set with a 4-1 advantage, but Zhang ripped off four consecutive games to go up 5-4. Petrovic returned the favor with a break to tie the set at 5-5. Even at 6-6, the set went to the tiebreaker. Neither side led by more than one until Petrovic ran off the last two points for the set and match. Petrovic remains unbeaten in dual matches at 3-0.

Quotes
"We've been playing Illinois since I was a player here, every single year home or away. It's our longest standing non-conference match. It's always a Friday night. It's always competitive. I thought we came out with really good energy in the doubles, particularly at one and two. One had been struggling a little bit, but they played great today. We just have so much depth in singles. Ultimately, our guys are competing so well. Not everyone's playing his best, but guys are just competing so hard and so well. It was a dog fight.

"Courts one and six were really important first sets. We won two tiebreakers. They were both, obviously, really close. If we lose both those, all of a sudden we would have lost almost half the singles first sets. I think those tiebreakers really kept the momentum going. We could have easily lost both of those. Illinois dug in and these other spots. ?Connor [Krug] was unbelievable again today, start to finish. He has had such a good senior spring." - Head coach Ramsey Smith

Results
Doubles (2,3,1)
1. Theo Winegar/Pedro Rodenas (DU) def. #52 Tyler Bowers/Zach Viiala (ILLINI) 6-4
2. Cooper Williams/Andreja Petrovic (DU) def. Kenta Miyoshi/Mathis Debru (ILLINI) 6-4
3. Jeremy Zhang/William Mroz (ILLINI) def. Connor Krug/Remy Dugardin (DU) 6-4

Singles (4,5,2,3)
1. #47 Cooper Williams (DU) vs. #14 Kenta Miyoshi (ILLINI) 7-6 (9-7), 5-5, unfinished
2. #38 Pedro Rodenas (DU) def. #30 William Mroz (ILLINI) 6-4, 6-4
3. Andreja Petrovic (DU) def. Jeremy Zhang (ILLINI) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
4. Tyler Bowers (ILLINI) def. #37 Sam Landau (DU) 6-2, 6-4
5. Connor Krug (DU) def. Zach Viiala (ILLINI) 6-4, 6-4
6. Remy Dugardin (DU) vs. Mathis Debru (ILLINI) 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, unfinished

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