EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon men’s tennis team opened its 2024 season with a 4-3 victory over Purdue Friday evening at the Student Tennis Center. With the match tied at 3-all, sophomore Vlad Breazu clinched the final point with a three-set victory on court five.
Oregon returns to its home courts Sunday for matches against Pacific and Seattle U at 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., respectively.
The home-standing Ducks took the early 1-0 match lead, securing the doubles point with a pair of 6-2 wins at the No. 2 and 3 spots. Grad transfer David Cierny teamed with Ray Lo to clinch the match-opening point when a Purdue groundstroke landed wide.
The match at No. 1 doubles featuring Quinn Vandecasteele and Matthew Burton was tied 4-all when the doubles points was decided.
Vandecasteele, taking over the top spot in the UO lineup, was the first Duck off court with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Aleksa Krivokapic. The straight-set decision gave Oregon a 2-0 lead on the match scoreboard.
However, in a rush of finishes within five minutes of one another, Purdue jumped to a 3-2 lead with consecutive wins on courts two, three and four.
Freshman Lenn Luemkemann put a stop to the Boilermakers’ run with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Mujtaba Ali-Khan in the No. 6 spot. The match was tied 3-3 and all eyes turned to court five where Vlad Breazu had won the first set but trailed 6-5 in the second.
Purdue’s Alexander Ekstrand went on break Breazu’s serve to force a decisive third set.
Breazu sprinted out to a 3-0 advantage in the third…
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