Blue Devils Take ACC Opener with 4-2 Win

Friday, February 27

Durham, N.C.

3 p.m.

Duke University

California

Duke men's tennis' Pedro Rodenas, wearing a blue shirt and black shorts, fist pumps in celebration during a practice.

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Take ACC Opener with 4-2 Win

2/27/2026 6:03:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

DURHAM, N.C. – The No. 50 Duke men's tennis team turned the page to the ACC season but stayed in the win column Friday afternoon with a 4-2 victory against No. 48 California inside the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

The Blue Devils improved to 5-0 at home this season and to 6-5 overall. After dropping the doubles point, Duke claimed the first three singles decisions to take command.

Pedro Rodenas tallied the clinching point for the Blue Devils on court one. Rodenas and Cooper Williams also picked up a doubles victory on court one. With the wins against the Bears, Rodenas now owns 26 ACC singles victories, just two short of a tie for ninth most in program history, and 23 league doubles wins, one short of the Duke career top-10 chart.

HOW IT HAPPENED

In doubles, Duke's No. 1 pair of Cooper Williams and Pedro Rodenas, ranked No. 32, earned a break in game one and never looked back, leading 4-0 before Cal's pair of Tiago Silva and Lenn Luemkemann got on the board. Both sides remained on serve through the remainder of the set with Rodenas serving out a deuce point for the 6-2 win. Williams and Rodenas are now 7-2 in dual matches this spring.
The third court had California's Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski and Paris Pouatcha earn a 6-3 triumph against Teddy Truwit and Alexander Visser to knot the doubles action. With the set even at 1-1 and 2-2, the Bear duo held, broke and held to take a 5-2 lead. Duke got a game back, but California served out for the victory.
With the point coming down to court two, Gerard Planelles Ripoll and Dylan Long fell 6-3 to the Bears' Timofey Stepanov and Alex Aney. The California pair turned a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 lead with a hold and break, but Duke broke right back and knotted the set at 3-3. Cal answered with another hold-break-hold run to end the set.
Duke quickly evened the score at 1-1 overall with Long downing Luemkemann 6-1, 6-3 on court five. Long, who earned his first career ACC victory, led 3-0 and never looked back in the first set. Long took a 3-1 lead in the second set before Luemkemann closed the gap to 3-2 and 4-3. Long held and broke for the end. He is now 4-1 in dual competition.
No. 68 Williams gave Duke its first lead at 2-1 thanks to a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Stepanov on court two. After ties at 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3 in the opening set, Williams broke and held to go up 5-3. Stepanov held his serve, but Williams did as well in ending the opening set. Williams turned a 2-2 tie in the second set into the end of the match thanks to a break-hold-break-hold run.
Seconds later, Planelles Ripoll made it a 3-1 Duke lead after a 6-4, 6-4 court three triumph against No. 125 Silva. No. 118 Planelles Ripoll led 3-0 and 4-1 in the opening set before Silva stormed back with the next three to even the set at 4-4. Planelles Ripoll answered with a hold and break to end it. In the second set, Planelles Ripoll and Silva were even throughout until Planelles Ripoll ended the match with a hold and break on a deuce point.
California made it a 3-2 match with Bernardo Munk Mesa topping Visser 6-4, 6-2 on court four. Munk Mesa took leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in the opening set before Visser fought back and evened the set at 3-3 and 4-4. Munk Mesa ended the opening set with a break and hold. He won the first four in the second set before Visser registered a game.
On court one, Duke clinched with Rodenas' 7-5, 7-5 victory against Lechno-Wasiutynski. After 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3 ties in the opening set, Lechno-Wasiutynski held and broke to gain a 5-3 advantage. Rodenas stormed back with the last four games for the set. In the second, Rodenas trailed 2-0 before breaking and holding to even the set at 2-2. The two were even the rest of the way until Rodenas broke and held to end the match. Rodenas is now 7-0 in singles dual matches.

UP NEXT

Duke welcomes No. 12 Stanford to Durham on Sunday for a 12 p.m. match.

QUOTES
Head coach Ramsey Smith on the match and bouncing back from losing the doubles point:
"I'm really happy for the guys. We've had a lot of tough matches recently. It was very good to play at home. We put in a really good 2.5 weeks of training after the South Carolina match. We knew we had to get better. I'm so proud of how we competed. Obviously, dropping the doubles point is not ideal, but we bounced right back. I thought we played pretty aggressively, which is what we've been stressing. Cal did the same. We lost a couple of big points, but high-level doubles like this just comes down to a shot here and there. I think we'll continue to build."

On Dylan Long's performance:
"It's a lot of hard work and slow, steady progress. He just keeps getting better - week to week and month to month. He's very, very meticulous. He's doing more extra work than anybody. He's been working on getting the right emotional level to where he's still able to be free flowing [regardless of the score]. This was definitely his best match start to finish. It was a very high-level tennis against a big hitter. Dylan had his whole team up in the stands, including his coach from back home. He had a lot of people watching. It's so important to get that first point. If you get someone to kind of win convincingly and pretty quick after losing double this point, it sends belief down the line."

On Duke's approach:
"We've talked a lot about the mental side and kind of that emotional level we need to be in, resilient and handling when things go wrong. This match was very well managed up and down the line on each court. It's amazing how momentum is real. Pedro flipped it and then Gerard got going. Cooper broke through to go up a break after almost getting broken a couple times. I felt like we managed when we were down really well. We reset between points, which is something we've been working really hard on. Win or lose, we have to be fresh for that next one and playing free and aggressive."

Pedro Rodenas on Duke's victory and his clinching the match:
"It feels good, of course, getting the first ACC win after a couple of tough matches on the road. That team is a very good team, too. We've put a lot of work in these couple of weeks to get into a good mindset, a good tennis level. I think it showed. Even though we didn't take the doubles point, we all came back with the good energy, positive energy to play the match. Personally, I'm playing pretty high-level tennis most of the time, especially mentally. I've been in a very good place in matches.

"I like the tough moments. I like pressure situations. I was thinking - this is a good momentum ride. I had a good couple of points when I came into the net to get the break. Then I just kept going after it. Trust what you've been doing practice and keep exploiting things that I have done right in the match."

RESULTS
Doubles (1,3,2)
1. #32 Pedro Rodenas/Cooper Williams (DU) def. Tiago Silva/Lenn Luemkemann (CAL) 6-2
2. Timofey Stepanov/Alex Aney (CAL) def. Dylan Long/Gerard Planelles Ripoll (DU) 6-3
3. Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski/Paris Pouatcha (CAL) def. Teddy Truwit/Alexander Visser (DU) 6-3

Singles (5,2,3,4,1)
1. #95 Pedro Rodenas (DU) vs. Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski (CAL) 7-5, 7-5
2. #68 Cooper Williams (DU) def. Timofey Stepanov (CAL) 6-4, 6-2
3. #118 Gerard Planelles Ripoll (DU) def. #125 Tiago Silva (CAL) 6-4, 6-4
4. Bernardo Munk Mesa (CAL) def. Alexander Visser (DU) 6-4, 6-2
5. Dylan Long (DU) def. Lenn Luemkemann (CAL) 6-1, 6-3
6. Saahith Jayaraman (DU) vs. Paris Pouatcha (CAL) 5-7, 4-4

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