DURHAM – Members of the Duke men’s tennis team will get their first taste of competition for the fall season when the program hosts its annual Duke James Bonk Invitational in Cary, N.C.
The event kicks off Friday morning and continues through Sunday at the Cary Tennis Park.
Four Blue Devils are set to take part in the three-day tournament, named for Dr. James Bonk, a former Duke chemistry professor and assistant tennis coach who passed away in 2013. The event has typically been held annually since 2015 in honor of Dr. Bonk’s impact on the Duke tennis program but was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Duke has two players seeded in singles action with senior Andrew Zhang the No. 2 overall seed in the A draw and sophomore Jake Krug the No. 3 seed in the B draw. Also set to represent Duke during singles action is junior Andrew Dale, who joins Zhang in the A draw.
All three will compete in doubles play as will junior Faris Khan. Both Blue Devil duos will play in the A draw with Zhang and Dale teaming up and Khan and Krug battling together.
Singles
Friday, Sept. 16
1:30 p.m. – Andrew Dale (Duke) vs. Michael Andre (Indiana)
1:30 p.m. – #3 Jake Krug (Duke) vs. Nicholas Campbell (Elon)
1:30 p.m. – #2 Andrew Zhang (Duke) vs. Manuel Goncalves (Virginia Tech)
Doubles
Friday, Sept. 16
10 a.m. – #1 Andrew Dale/Andrew Zhang (Duke) vs. Patrick Fletchall/Ilya Tirasposkly (Indiana)
10 a.m. – Faris Khan/Jake Krug (Duke) vs. Theo Dean/Vignesh Gogineni (Yale)
MILWAUKEE CLASSIC
Junior Niroop Vallabhaneni will also be representing Duke this weekend at the Milwaukee Classic at the Western Racquet Club in Milwaukee, Wisc. The event will feature a 32 singles draw and is an ITA Gold Level event, which means the men’s singles champion will receive a wild card into the 2022 ITA Fall National Championship on Nov. 2-6 at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, Calif.
Vallabhaneni will be the No. 8 seed in the tournament and face off against Stef Dragovic of Marquette on Friday at 10 a.m. (9 a.m. CT).
FALL SCHEDULE
This weekend’s events are just the start of Duke’s fall slate. The Blue Devils are also set to compete at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., from Oct. 1-9, ITA Regional Championships in Cary, N.C., from Oct. 21-24, ITA National Fall Championship (if they…
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