Duke Advances to ACC Semifinals Following 4-0 Victory over North Carolina

DURHAM – No. 12 Duke men’s tennis defeated No. 28 North Carolina, 4-0, at Cary Tennis Park on Friday to advance to the ACC Championship Semifinals.
 
The fourth-seeded Blue Devils, who will be making their second consecutive appearance in the conference semifinals, will next face No. 2 and top-seeded Virginia on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.
 
Sophomore Pedro Rodenas earned his second match-clinching victory of the year to help Duke improve to 18-8. North Carolina falls to 14-9.
 
How It Happened

• The Blue Devils made quick work of the Tar Heels in doubles action earning wins on court two and one, respectively, to earn the point. No. 70 Michael Heller and Andrew Zhang posted a 6-3 victory over Patrick Schoen and Peter Murphy on court two before No. 1 Garrett Johns and Rodenas tallied a 6-4 win over No. 31 Benjamin Kittay and Phillip Jordan on the top court. The match between Faris Khan and Teddy Truwit against Karl Poling and Will Peters went unfinished with North Carolina leading 6-5 when the doubles point was clinched.
• No. 22 Johns extended the Blue Devils’ edge to 2-0 in singles action when he bested Kittay by default on court one. The Atlanta, Ga., native won the first set 6-4 and was leading the second frame 4-3 when the match was called.
• Rookie Alexander Visser then gave Duke its third point of the match on court five after his 6-4, 6-3 victory over Peters.
• A short time later, No. 43 Rodenas secured the overall win for Duke by defeating Jordan on court two 7-6 (2), 7-5.
• The matches on court three, four and six all went unfinished with two of the…