April 10, 2009
ATLANTA –
Alain Michel held off a late challenge from Ryan Smith at No. 5 singles, defeating the Georgia Tech sophomore, 7-5, 7-5, and capture a 4-3 victory for 30th-ranked Duke over the No. 47 Yellow Jackets Friday afternoon at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.
Tech (9-10, 4-6 in the ACC) remained in seventh place in the ACC standings with No. 36 North Carolina left to play at 1 p.m. Sunday. Duke (13-7, 6-4 ACC) stayed in sixth place and will visit Clemson Sunday. The ACC Championship begins Thursday in Cary, N.C.
Smith lost his first set to Michel and dropped behind, 5-3, in the second before surging back to tie the set at 5-5. Michel held serve to take a 6-5 lead, then broke Smith to capture the match for the Blue Devils.
“He played to win. He happened to be the last match going, but he didn’t lose the match for us,” said Tech coach Kenny Thorne. “When you have two evenly matched teams, the doubles point is so important, and it was again today. I give credit to them in playing better in critical points in the doubles matches. We each had three guys come out and play very well in singles, but they outplayed us in doubles.”
Duke captured the doubles point at No. 2 when Arnould and Michel rallied from a 4-1 deficit and broke King and Doug Kenny in the final game to prevail 8-5. Dimitrov and Carleton kept Tech’s Muguruza and Ryan Smith at bay at No. 1, also breaking serve in the final game to win, 8-5. The No. 3 match between Tech’s Roebuck and Guillermo Gomez against the Blue Devils’ Reid Carleton and Pinsky was called with the score tied, 7-7.
In singles play, Duke extended its lead to 2-0 when No. 55 Kiril Dimitrov downed Tech’s Miguel Muguruza, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 2 singles. But within minutes, Tech’s Eliot Potvin and Kevin King closed out their matches to knot the overall match at 2-2. Potvin defeated Dylan Arnould, 6-4, 6-2, and King took down Jared Pinsky, 6-2, 6-1.
Luke Marchese quickly gave Duke back the lead, 3-2, by defeating Austin Roebuck, 6-1, 7-5. But Tech’s Guillermo Gomez, the 16th-ranked player in the nation, just as quickly knotted the match for the Jackets by finishing off No. 38 Reid Carleton, 6-1, 6-4, leaving Smith to try and rally Tech to win.
Tennis Match ResultsDuke vs Georgia TechApr 10, 2009 at Atlanta, Ga.
#30 Duke 4, #47 Georgia Tech 3
Singles competition 1. #16 Guillermo Gomez (GT) def. #38 Reid Carlton (DU) 6-1, 6-4 2. #55 Kiril Dimitrov (DU) def. Miguel Muguruza (GT) 6-4, 6-2 3. Eliot Potvin (GT) def. Dylan Arnould (DU) 6-4, 6-2 4. Kevin King (GT) def. Jared Pinksy (DU) 6-2, 6-1 5. Alain Michel (DU) def. Ryan Smith (GT) 7-5, 7-5 6. Luke Marchese (DU) def. Austin Roebuck (GT) 6-1, 7-5
Doubles competition 1. Kiril Dimitrov/Alain Michel (DU) def. Miguel Muguruza/Ryan Smith (GT) 8-5 2. Dylan Arnould/David Holland (DU) def. Kevin King/Doug Kenny (GT) 8-5 3. Reid Carlton/Jared Pinksy (DU) vs. Austin Roebuck/Guillermo Gomez (GT) no result
Match Notes: Duke 13-7, 6-4 ACC; National ranking #30 Georgia Tech 9-10, 4-6 ACC; National ranking #47 Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (2,3,4,6,1,5)
