Blue Devils Fall to MTSU in ITA Kickoff Opening Match

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – No. 19 Duke dropped a 5-2 decision to Middle Tennessee State on Friday afternoon in the first match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center.
 
The Blue Devils dip to 3-2 on the year, while the Blue Raiders improve to 3-1.
 
How It Happened

• Middle Tennessee started strong out of the gate, earning wins on court one and three to claim the doubles point.
• No. 26 Francisco Rocha and Oskar Brostrom Poulsen bested No. 49 Michael Heller and Andrew Zhang on the top court, 6-3, before Ondrej Horak and Marcel Kamrowski defeated Faris Khan and Niroop Vallabhaneni, 6-4, on court three to secure the overall point.
• The third doubles match between Stijn Slump and Pavel Motl against Garrett Johns and Pedro Rodenas went finished with the Blue Raiders leading 5-3.
• Johns evened the match for Duke when he beat Slump 6-3, 6-3 on court one to begin singles play.
• The Blue Raiders responded with consecutive victories on court four and six to pull back in front 3-1. Horak earned 6-4, 6-4 wins over Connor Krug, while Motl bested Jake Krug 7-6 (4), 6-3.
• Rookie No. 84 Rodenas kept the Blue Devils in the match after he recorded a 7-6 (8) tiebreak win in the first set and a 7-5 victory in the second over No. 60 Brostrom Poulsen to give Duke its second point of the match.
• Unfortunately, Kamrowski secured the win for the Blue Raiders when he defeated Khan 7-5, 7-6 (7) on court five.
• The match between No. 101 Zhang and No. 109 Rocha went unfinished on court two. Zhang won the opening set 7-6 (8) but was trailing in the second,…