April 7, 2013
THE FLATS – Juan Spir and Nathan Rakitt captured straight-set wins for Georgia Tech at two of the top three singles positions, but 9th-ranked Duke dominated in the lower half of the lineup and captured the doubles point to defeat the Yellow Jackets, 5-2, Sunday afternoon at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex.
Spir and fellow senior Juan Melian played their final home matches for the Yellow Jackets, who fell to 8-12 overall and 1-6 in ACC play with three road matches left in the regular season. The Blue Devils improved to 17-4 overall and 5-1 in the ACC.
Spir (Medellin, Colombia), ranked 79th in the latest ITA rankings, easily defeated Duke’s Fred Saba, ranked No. 25, Sunday to give the Yellow Jackets one of their two points and drawing his team within 2-1 after the Blue Devils had captured the doubles point and won on court 5 in singles.
Rakitt, a freshman from Marietta who moved up to No. 3 Sunday, drew Tech within 3-2 with a 7-5, 7-6 win over Chris Mengel for his team-leading 21st singles win this year. He also tops the Jackets with a 12-5 dual match slate.
Tech could not follow up that win, however, as 56th-ranked Michael Redlicki bounced back from a first-set loss to defeat Melian at No. 2, 0-6, 7-5, 6-1 to clinch the match. No. 73 Raphael Hemmeler finished off the match for the Blue Devils with a straight-set win over Eduardo Segura at No. 4.
The Jackets travel to Virginia Tech and Virginia next weekend.
#9 Duke 5, Georgia Tech 2Apr 07, 2013 at Atlanta, Ga. (Ken Byers Tennis Complex)
Singles competition 1. #79 Juan Spir (GT) def. #25 Fred Saba (DU) 6-1, 6-4 2. #56 Michael Redlicki (DU) def. Juan Melian (GT) 0-6, 7-5, 6-1 3. Nathan Rakitt (GT) def. Chris Mengel (DU) 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) 4. #73 Raphael Hemmeler (DU) def. Eduardo Segura (GT) 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-0 5. Jason Tahir (DU) def. Anish Sharma (GT) 6-2, 6-1 6. Josh Levine (DU) def. Colin Edwards (GT) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles competition 1. #1 Henrique Cunha/Raphael Hemmeler (DU) def. #51 Juan Spir/Eduardo Segura (GT) 8-2 2. Juan Melian/Nathan Rakitt (GT) vs. #14 Jason Tahir/Michael Redlicki (DU) 4-7, unfinished 3. #44 Fred Saba/Chris Mengel (DU) def. Garrett Gordon/Colin Edwards (GT) 8-1
Match Notes: Duke 17-4, 5-1 ACC; National ranking #9 Georgia Tech 8-12, 1-6 ACC Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (5,1,6,3,2,4) T-3:15
