May 11, 2003

Playing in his final home match, senior Michael Yani clinched Duke's 4-0 win over Wake Forest with a singles victory in the second round of the 2003 NCAA Men's Tennis Tournament on Sunday afternoon at Ambler Tennis Stadium in Durham, N.C.

The ninth-ranked and eighth-seeded Blue Devils improve to 22-5 on the year while the 28th-ranked Demon Deacons close the season at 14-9. Duke advances to the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament and will play eighth-ranked and ninth-seeded Mississippi on Saturday, May 17 in Athens, Ga. The Rebels advanced with a 4-0 win over Auburn on Sunday.

Duke captured the doubles point with wins at the first and third positions. Yani paired with Phillip King for an 8-4 win over Derrick Spice and Brett Ross at the top spot before Stephen Amritraj and Jonathan Stokke picked up an 8-6 decision over David Loewenthal and Andrew Simpson at number three.

Duke's Jason Zimmermann pushed the Blue Devil lead to 2-0 with a straight set singles win over Trent Brendon at number four. After Stokke won a second set tie breaker for a victory at number five over Mike Murray, Yani secured Duke's 15th consecutive win with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Spice at the number two slot.

Dating back to the 1995 season, Duke has now won 99 of its last 104 matches versus teams from the ACC. Sunday's win also improves the Blue Devils all-time record in NCAA Tournament action to 26-12, and pushes Duke into the NCAA's Round of 16 for the ninth straight season.

#9 Duke 4, #28 Wake Forest 0
DOUBLES
1. #3 Phillip King & Michael Yani (Duke) def. Derrick Spice & Brett Ross, 8-4
2. #39 Ludovic Walter & Jason Zimmermann (Duke) vs. Mike Murray & Trent Brendon, DNF
3. Stephen Amritraj & Jonathan Stokke (Duke) def. David Loewenthal & Andrew Simpson, 8-6

SINGLES
1. #25 Phillip King (Duke) vs. #56 David Loewenthal, DNF
2. #35 Michael Yani (Duke) def. Derrick Spice, 6-3, 6-4
3. #55 Ludovic Walter (Duke) vs. David Bere, DNF
4. Jason Zimmermann (Duke) def. Trent Brendon, 6-2, 6-3
5. Jonathan Stokke (Duke) def. Mike Murray, 6-3, 7-6 (2)
6. Peter Shults (Duke) vs. Brett Ross, DNF

Order of finish: 4, 5, 2

POST MATCH QUOTES
Wake Forest Head Coach Jeff Zinn: "(Duke) expects to win. Their tradition has been that they expect to win. That's a trademark of a very, very good team. Tennis is all mental, and the mental toughness factor of Duke is phenomenal."

Duke's Jonathan Stokke: "Competing is the biggest thing in a match. Today I didn't think I played particularly well but I stuck with every point and you can win matches that way. Today I served a really high percentage on first serves. The serve is the biggest thing for me. I didn't lose my serve today."

Duke Head Coach Jay Lapidus: "I thought we played really well in doubles today. If we could get the doubles point under our belts, I felt pretty confident that we could win three of the six singles matches. Our doubles is getting better and better."