Under a bright Easter Sunday sun at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center, Miami Men’s Tennis delivered exactly the kind of response teams search for but don’t always find.
Just two days removed from a gut-wrenching 4-3 loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels men’s tennis — a match that slipped away in the final moments — Miami returned to its home courts with a different edge, channeling that frustration into a composed, convincing 4-1 win over the Duke Blue Devils.
The timing couldn’t have been more fitting. With the buzz of the Miami Open still lingering in the city and a calm, sun-soaked afternoon blanketing Coral Gables, the setting felt almost too peaceful for the kind of battle that unfolded.
But beneath that warmth was urgency. Miami entered the match knowing exactly how thin the margin had been on Friday — and how important it was to flip the script.
The Hurricanes took control early. In doubles, Antonio Prat and Rafael Segado set the tone with a steady 6-3 win on the top court, playing with both confidence and rhythm. Moments later, the No. 43-ranked pair of Mehdi Sadaoui and Jakub Kroslak backed it up, grinding through a competitive 6-4 victory to clinch the doubles point.
It wasn’t just a point on the scoreboard, it was a shift in energy — a sign that Miami had come out sharper, more intentional and unwilling to let another match slip.
That momentum carried directly into singles, where Jules Garot extended the lead with a composed 6-3, 6-2 win, controlling the pace from start to finish. Sadaoui followed with a 6-3, 6-4 victory of his own to push Miami comfortably ahead to 3-0. The Hurricanes weren’t just winning.
They were dictating.
Still, Duke pushed back. Alexander Visser put the Blue Devils on the board with a straight-set win over Segado, and suddenly the remaining courts tightened. The top three matches became drawn-out battles filled with full momentum swings, each point carrying a little more weight than the last. It felt familiar — uncomfortably so — for a Miami team that just two days earlier, had experienced how quickly a match can turn.
But this time, the ending belonged to the Hurricanes.
With the pressure building, it was Nacho Serra Sanchez who stepped into the moment. Facing Duke’s No. 47 Cooper Williams, Serra Sanchez stumbled out of the gate, dropping the first set 0-6. For a moment, it looked like Duke might claw its way fully back into the match. Instead, Serra Sanchez recalibrated. He slowed things down, found his rhythm and began to chip away, taking the second set 7-5 before closing out the third 6-3.
His comeback not only secured the fourth and deciding point for Miami, but also marked the highest-ranked win of his career — a perfectly timed potentially career-defining performance.
In many ways, it was the perfect encapsulation of the afternoon. What began as a calm, almost serene Easter day evolved into a test of resilience, composure and response. And unlike its Friday matchup, Miami didn’t let the moment get away from them.
The 4-1 victory pushes the Hurricanes forward with renewed confidence as they prepare for their regular-season finale against the Florida State Seminoles. More importantly, it reinforces something deeper about this group: they don’t shy away from pressure — they rise to it.
On a day synonymous with light and renewal, Miami didn’t just bounce back.
They answered.
The Hurricanes will take on the Seminoles Saturday April 11.