The eighth-seeded University of Miami men’s tennis team fell to the ninth-seeded Duke Blue Devils 4-0 in the second round of the ACC Tournament on Thursday at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.
From the jump, the Hurricanes struggled to gain any sort of momentum in doubles.
On court one, Duke’s Alexander Visser and Gerard Planelles Ripoll overpowered Jules Garot and Nacho Serra Sanchez 6-1. The Blue Devils clinched the doubles point shortly after as No. 3 Pedro Rodenas and Cooper Williams took down Jakub Kroslak and Mehdi Sadoaui 6-3.
Singles started off looking more promising for UM. No. 1 Antonio Prat, No. 4 Rafael Segado, and No. 5 Mehdi Sadaoui all put up strong first set performances.
No. 3 Kroslak and No. 6 Garot both lost their first sets in hard fought battles.
The Blue Devils only needed three singles victories, and that is what they got. Williams put up a dominant performance on court two, beating Serra Sanchez 6-1, 6-3.
Kroslak and Garot were not able to recover. Kroslak fell 7-5, 6-4 to Ripoll. Garot lost 7-6(3), 6-4 to Saahith Jayaraman of Duke to clinch the match and advance the Devils to the next round.
This was a disappointing opening round performance from the Hurricanes(14-11, 5-7 ACC), who will await their postseason fate at the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, April 27 in head coach Alex Santos’ last season in Coral Gables.