George Washington University
Duquesne
GW Men's Tennis Advances to A-10 Semifinal
4/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The second-seeded George Washington men's tennis team defeated seventh-seeded Duquesne, 4-0, on Friday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic 10 Championship at the indoor Boar's Head Sports Club.
The Colonials (12-8, 4-0 A-10) began the match with a hard-fought doubles point. Sophomore Chris Fletcher and junior Fernando Sala opened the day with a dominating, 6-1, victory in third-flight play before the Dukes (8-13, 3-5 A-10) leveled the slate with a 6-3 win at the top spot, handing junior Julius Tverijonas and senior Danil Zelenkov their first defeat of the spring.
After being down 5-3 at No. 2, sophomore Chris Reynolds and senior Cahit Kapukiran staged a comeback to win the next four games and grab a gritty, 7-5, triumph to clinch the doubles point for the Colonials.
"That doubles point was key," said interim head coach Torrie Browning. "After Duquesne had to reconfigure its doubles lineup and then pull a player from singles before the match, the doubles point would have been huge for them. For us to get that doubles win was a huge momentum swing and a mental boost for us, so that doubles point meant a lot."
GW came out strong in singles play as sophomore Christos Hadjigeorgiou took a straight-set 6-3, 6-1 victory at No. 6 to put the Colonials ahead, 2-0.
Kapukiran followed with a 6-2, 6-0 win in fifth-flight action before Zelenkov clinched the match at No. 2 with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph to give GW a 4-0 victory.
"These indoor courts are about medium pace, so we're used to playing on courts like this, but being outdoors then being inside and facing Duquesne, which plays mostly indoors, we knew it could be a tough match for us," said Browning. "I'm really happy with the way we pulled through. Like I was telling the guys, tomorrow is going to be even tougher so we've got to be able to raise our level."
The Colonials will face third-seeded Richmond (14-10, 6-3 A-10) on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in semifinal action. GW faced the then top-seeded Spiders in last year's semifinal and grabbed a 4-1 victory behind wins by Fletcher, Kapukiran and Tverijonas.
Reigning A-10 Co-Player of the Week Alexandre Felisa enters Saturday with an eight-match singles win streak for Richmond after claiming a straight-set win at No. 2 in Friday's quarterfinal.
George Washington 4, Duquesne 0
Doubles
1. Blasinsky/Kane (DUQ) def. Tverijonas/Zelenkov (GW) 6-3
2. Reynolds/Kapukiran (GW) def. Bendel/Robinson (DUQ) 7-5
3. Sala/Fletcher (GW) def. Stavropoulos/Corrao (DUQ) 6-1
Singles
1. Julius Tverijonas (GW) vs. Corey Robinson (DUQ) 6-4, 3-2, unfinished
2. Danil Zelenkov (GW) def. D.Stavropoulos (DUQ) 6-3, 6-3
3. Chris Reynolds (GW) vs. Adam Blasinsky (DUQ) 3-6, 4-3, unfinished
4. Chris Fletcher (GW) vs. Drew Akins (DUQ) 6-2, 2-3, unfinished
5. Cahit Kapukiran (GW) def. Chris Corrao (DUQ) 6-2, 6-0
6. Christos Hadjigeorgiou (GW) def. Dane Bendel (DUQ) 6-3, 6-1
Players Mentioned
