Blue Devils Calm Hurricanes, 4-0, Advance to ACC Quarterfinals

Thursday, April 16

Cary, N.C.

10 a.m.

Duke University

Miami

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Calm Hurricanes, 4-0, Advance to ACC Quarterfinals

4/16/2026 12:52:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

CARY, N.C. – The Duke men's tennis team marched on to the quarterfinals of the ACC Championship with a hard fought 4-0 victory against No. 43 Miami in the second round Thursday morning at the Cary Tennis Park.

The Blue Devils played some of their best doubles of the season, dropping just four games in the two matches won, and earned three straight-set victories in singles.

No. 45 Duke is now 15-12 and will take on No. 7 Wake Forest in the quarterfinals at 10 a.m. Friday.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke earned a resounding doubles point with 6-1 and 6-3 triumphs to take the early 1-0 lead.
On court three, Alexander Visser and Gerard Planelles Ripoll flew past Jules Garot and Nacho Serra Sanchez, 6-1. The Duke duo is 3-0 in dual matches.
The top court saw the No. 13 pair of Cooper Williams and Pedro Rodenas ease past No. 36 Jakub Kroslak and Mehdi Sadaoui, 6-3. Williams and Rodenas turned a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 lead with a break and hold. Miami's pair got to within 3-2 and 4-3, but Williams and Rodenas ended with a hold and break for the match. Williams and Rodenas are now 16-2 in doubles play and have won 11 straight matches.
Duke quickly made it 2-0 as No. 49 Williams picked up a 6-1, 6-3 victory in the second slot against No. 73 Serra Sanchez. After breezing through the first set, Williams was broken by Serra Sanchez to trail 2-1 in the second, but he went on a four-game run to take control before capturing the match. Williams improved to 16-5 in dual matches and 13-1 on court two.
Planelles Ripoll picked up his second win of the morning with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Kroslak on court three and extended the Blue Devil lead to 3-0. In the opening set, neither side was able to register a break until Planelles Ripoll snapped a 5-5 tie with a break and hold to take the set. In the second, Planelles Ripoll didn't wait nearly as long and broke to turn a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 advantage with a break and hold. Kroslak could get no closer than a game the rest of the way. Planelles Ripoll improved to 12-7 in dual competition.
Clinching for Duke for the second time in as many ACC Championship matches was Saahith Jayaraman, who topped Garot, 7-6 (3), 6-4, on court six. Garot turned a 1-1 tie in the first set into a 3-1 lead with a break and hold. Jayaraman returned the favor with a hold and break to retie the set at 3-3. With Garot leading 5-3, Jayaraman held and broke to even the action at 5-5. It headed to the tiebreaker, which was knotted at 2-2 and 3-3 before Jayaraman pushed through the last four points for the set. After a Garot break to take a 3-1 lead in the second set, Jayaraman won the next two to even the set at 3-3. Tied at 4-4, Jayaraman broke and held for the match, upping his dual match mark to 9-8.

UP NEXT

Duke faces No. 7 Wake Forest at 10 a.m. Friday in the quarterfinals of the ACC Championship.

QUOTES
"It feels amazing. It has been a tough year for me so I've just tried to take everything day by day and putting in the hours every chance I get. I think my game has always kind of been there. It has been a matter of getting my mentality -- point in, point out and day in, day out. I have been kind of training myself to be like that. I've tried to stay focused and play every point the best I can. I had that confidence in myself where I was getting good looks, and I knew I was going to convert on those looks. I think at the beginning of the season, I was just putting a lot of pressure on results. My coaches have helped me a lot. Full credit to Ramsey and TJ and my teammates. They have been there every step of the way, helping me and coaching me through. Eventually, I started believing in myself. We've [TJ Pur and I] made it a focus to kind of keep me relaxed. He's telling me stuff away from him and to smile. I want to have fun when I'm playing. I don't want to stress. He has kept me light. Cooper got me today and was doing a great job." - Duke's Saahith Jayaraman

"It feels amazing. I'm so happy for the guys. That was a really tough loss for us about two weeks ago. It was such a complete team effort, our most complete team effort across the board. All six guys in doubles stepped up. We played a really, really good doubles point. Two, who has been struggling and had a tough match yesterday, got a 5-0 lead and set the tone. We got up 5-0 on three. One just, obviously, does what they do. That all set the tone."

"That was a 4-0 final, but that was a very physical, very tough match. We had a lot of tiebreakers in the first sets. We competed extremely well up and down the line in so many spots. Pedro could have gone down. Dylan could have gone down. We really came together. That's a heck of a team win against a really good team. We put a lot of time into how we wanted to be today. It was cool to see the guys execute in the biggest pressure moment. If we lose this match, probably the season is over. We should have been feeling the most pressure, but I felt like it was actually the lightest that we've looked. We played with joy and went after it.

"Gerard is playing the best tennis, by far, since he's been here. That was really, really high level. He's been doing it consistently. I'm so proud of Cooper. He doesn't lose much, but when he does, he uses it as motivation. He knew he was going to play the same guy and this was his comeback. He's such an important part of our team. He's such a great competitor. He loves these big moments. He stepped up against UNC. He stepped up here. He's such a key key player for us.

"Saahith put a lot of pressure on himself. He moves so well. He plays defense. He plays offense. I couldn't be more proud with how he's done these last few weeks. He's only gonna keep getting better. This is a big couple days for him, but his upside is massive." - Duke head coach Ramsey Smith

RESULTS
Doubles (3,1)
1. #13 Pedro Rodenas/Cooper Williams (DU) def. #36 Jakub Kroslak/Mehdi Sadaoui (MIA) 6-3
2. Dylan Long/Teddy Truwit (DU) vs. Antonio Prat/Rafael Segado Esteve (MIA) 5-3 unfinished
3. Gerard Planelles Ripoll/Alexander Visser (DU) def. Jules Garot/Nacho Serra Sanchez (MIA) 6-1

Singles (2,3,6)
1. #36 Pedro Rodenas (DU) vs. #115 Antonio Prat (MIA) 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 1-1 unfinished
2. #49 Cooper Williams (DU) def. #73 Nacho Serra Sanchez (MIA) 6-1, 6-3
3. Gerard Planelles Ripoll (DU) vs. Jakub Kroslak (MIA) 7-5, 6-4
4. Rafael Segado Esteve (MIA) vs. Alexander Visser (DU) 7-6 (7-3), 4-3 unfinished
5. Dylan Long (DU) vs. Mehdi Sadaoui (MIA) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 unfinished
6. Saahith Jayaraman (DU) def. Jules Garot (MIA) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4

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

#GoDuke