Men’s Tennis Drops Match at Clemson, 4-2

Sunday, March 16

Clemson, S.C.

12:00 PM

Duke University

Clemson

Duke kicked off the outdoor season, and ACC play, with a win versus No. 5 Virginia.

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Men’s Tennis Drops Match at Clemson, 4-2

3/16/2025 6:14:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CLEMSON, S.C. - No. 11 Duke men's tennis dropped its first ACC match, falling 4-2 to No. 23 Clemson at the Duckworth Tennis Facility on Sunday afternoon. The Blue Devils are now 12-4 overall and 5-1 in ACC play.

The Tigers took an early 1-0 lead after securing wins at the top two doubles positions. In singles play, No. 35 junior Pedro Rodenas earned a straight-set victory at the No. 1 singles spot (6-3, 6-1). Sophomore Cooper Williams followed suit with a two-set win on court two (6-4, 6-1); however, Clemson clinched the match with victories on courts three, four and six.

How It Happened

Clemson earned the doubles point with wins at the top positions, taking an early 1-0 lead. On court one, No. 56 Noa Vukadin and Max Smith posted a 6-3 win over No. 30 Rodenas and graduate student Theo Winegar. The doubles point was decided with a 7-6(5) victory by Max Damm and Viktor Markov over Duke's No. 71 duo of Williams and graduate student Andreja Petrovic. Graduate student Remy Dugardin and junior Gerard Planelles Ripoll's match on court three remained unfinished.
Rodenas tied the match at 1-1 for the Blue Devils, clinching his singles match in straight sets at the top position over No. 84 Wissam Abderrahman. In the first set, Rodenas took a 4-1 lead before Abderrahman won two straight games. Rodenas then closed out the set with two consecutive games to win 6-3. In the second set, he dominated with a 6-1 victory to secure the point for Duke.
No. 66 Williams extended Duke's lead to 2-1 with a two-set triumph on court two over No. 58 Vukadin. In the first set, Williams pulled away from a 4-4 tie, winning two straight games to claim the set 6-4. He dropped just one game in the second set and posted a 6-1 win.
Clemson's Smith evened the match at 2-2 with a straight set win over freshman Saahith Jayaraman at the sixth position. Jayaraman was behind 5-2 before he won three consecutive games to tie up the first set at 5-5, but Smith responded by winning the next two to take the set 7-5. In set two, Jayaraman only claimed three games, as Smith secured the point with a 6-3 win.
Clemson took a 3-2 lead with a victory by Marko Mesarovic on court four over senior Connor Krug. Krug went on a five-game run in the first set to take a 5-1 lead before Mesarovic responded by winning two games. Krug closed out the set 6-3, but Mesarovic rallied back, taking the next two sets 6-4, 6-3.
The Tigers clinched the match with a victory on court three over Petrovic. Petrovic won his first set 6-4. He led 2-0 in the second set before Markov won six of the last eight games to take the set 6-4. In the final set, Markov posted a 6-3 win to seal the victory for Clemson.
Dugardin's match remained unfinished on court five.

Quotes
"That was a hard-fought match with a lot of momentum shifts. Unfortunately, we ended up on the wrong side in the end. Full credit to Clemson—they are a great team and did a heck of a job, especially playing aggressively at the end. I'm proud of how we competed. We did some good things to put ourselves in a position to win. We'll learn from this match, get better, and certainly find ourselves in this type of environment again. We've been on a challenging ACC road trip and picked up three wins in four matches. I'm looking forward to getting back on our courts next weekend." – Head Coach Ramsey Smith

Up Next

The Blue Devils host SMU March 21 at 2 p.m. and Boston College on March 23 at 11 a.m. at Ambler Tennis Stadium.

Results
Doubles (1,2)
1. #56 Noa Vukadin/Max Smith (CLEM) def. #30 Pedro Rodenas/Theo Winegar (DU) 6-3
2. Max Damm/Viktor Markov (CLEM) def. #71 Cooper Williams/Andreja Petrovic (DU) 7-6(5)
3. Remy Dugardin/Gerard Planelles Ripoll (DU) vs. Romain Gales/Wissam Abderrahman (CLEM) 6-6, UF

Singles (1,2,6,4,3)
1. #35 Pedro Rodenas (DU) def. # 84 Wissam Abderrahman (CLEM) 6-3, 6-1
2. #66 Cooper Williams (DU) def. #58 Noa Vukadin (CLEM) 6-4, 6-1
3. Viktor Markov (CLEM) def. Andreja Petrovic (DU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
4. Marko Mesarovic (CLEM) def. Connor Krug (DU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
5. Remy Dugardin (DU) vs. Romain Gales (CLEM) 3-6, 6-3, 5-5, UF
6. Max Smith (CLEM) def. Saahith Jayaraman (DU) 7-5, 6-3

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