CARY, N.C. – Fall action officially got underway for the Blue Devils on Friday with the opening day of play at the Duke James Bonk Invitational.
Members of the Duke squad combined for five victories – three in doubles and two in singles – to kick off the three-day tournament in strong fashion.
The Blue Devils began the day in doubles action, with Andrew Dale and Andrew Zhang rolling into the finals of the A draw following wins over Patrick Fletchall and Ilya Tiraoplsky of Indiana 6-1 and Martin Katz and Martin Vergara of Miami 6-3. The duo faces Miami’s Dan Martin and Juan Jalif on Sunday at 9 a.m. in the A draw title match.
Duke’s doubles pair of Faris Khan and Jake Krug dropped their opening match in the A draw to Theo Dean and Vignesh Gogineni of Yale 6-3 but rebounded for a 6-4 win over Coy Simon and Ivan Dreycopp of Charlotte in their second contest. Khan and Krug are scheduled to play Elon’s Daniel Martin and Nicholas Campbell on Sunday at 9 a.m. in the consolation finals.
In the first round of singles play, Zhang and Krug each registered wins. Zhang, who is the No. 2 seed in the A draw, dropped his first set 6-3 to Virginia Tech’s Manuel Goncalves but answered with back-to-back victories 6-2, 6-3 to claim the win and advance to the quarterfinals. He faces off against VCU’s Joaquim Almeida at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
Krug earned a 7-5, 6-4 win over Elon’s Campbell in his opening match of the B draw. He will battle Davide Innocenti of UNC Wilmington on Saturday at 9 a.m. in the quarterfinals.
Also in the A draw was Dale, who fell to Indiana’s Michael Andre 6-3, 6-3 in his first match. Dale will face Bek Rasamatov of UNC Wilmington on Saturday in the consolation quarterfinals.
SINGLES RESULTS
Round of 16 (A Draw)
No. 2 Andrew Zhang (Duke) def. Manuel Goncalves (VT) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
Michael Andre (Indiana) def. Andrew Dale (Duke) 6-3, 6-3
Round of 16 (B Draw)
No. 3 Jake Krug (Duke) def. Nicholas Campbell (Elon) 7-5, 6-4
DOUBLES RESULTS
Quarterfinals (A Draw)
Andrew Dale/Andrew Zhang (Duke) def. Patrick Fletchall/Ilya Tiraspolsky (Indiana) 6-1
Theo Dean/Vignesh Gogineni (Yale) def. Faris Khan/Jake Krug (Duke) 6-3
Semifinals (A Draw)
Andrew Dale/Andrew Zhang (Duke) def. Martin…
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