Syracuse tennis falls below .500, suffers 2nd ACC loss to No. 19 Duke
Syracuse tennis dropped under .500 in its road loss to No. 19 Duke Sunday. It dropped SU to 0-16 all-time against the Blue Devils. Peter Radosh | Asst. Copy Editor
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Syracuse athletics has had its fair share of struggles against the Duke Blue Devils recently. When SU’s men’s basketball team rolled into Durham this week, it exited with the worst loss — a 37-point drubbing — of head coach Adrian Autry’s tenure.
On Sunday, Syracuse tennis (4-5, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) had a chance to flip the script by taking down the Blue Devils — albeit in a different sport — once and for all, boosting its record in the process with a win over a top 20 women’s tennis team. But, Duke (8-2, 2-0 ACC) dominated from start to finish, winning the doubles point easily and shutting the door in singles.
The loss dropped the Orange under .500 on the season and ensured they’d leave their challenging road trip with two losses to ranked foes under their belt.
After losing to No. 3 North Carolina Friday, SU looked to head home with a win against Duke for the first time in 16 attempts.
Duke entered the afternoon on a 16-match home win streak, with an impressive roster headlined by Irina Balus, the No. 22 singles player in the country. Additionally, Liv Hovde is listed in two nationally ranked doubles pairings. Her pairing with Shavit Kimchi ranks 12th, and she’s ranked 30th when playing alongside Balus.
Beating the Blue Devils was going to be a tall task. It proved to be one the Orange simply couldn’t complete.
In all three doubles matches, Duke took an early one-game lead and never relented. Its No. 2 pairing of Aspen Schuman and Balus dominated, only giving up one game en route to a 6-1 victory.
Soon after, Hovde and Ava Krug sealed the point for the Blue Devils by defeating Leena Bennetto and Constance Levivier 6-2 in the No. 3 matchup. Syracuse’s top doubles pair of Nelly Knezkova and Anastasia Sysoeva — which ranked 20th in the most recent ITA national rankings — left their match unfinished, tied at three games apiece.
The road to victory didn’t get any easier in singles for the Orange. They dropped all six of their first sets, just like they did against UNC earlier in the weekend.
There were still flashes of competitiveness for Syracuse. Emma Scaldalai and Bennetto both forced tiebreak points in their first sets, but both ultimately fell in two sets.
Sysoeva was Syracuse’s lone bright spot. After being tied 4-4, she went on to lose her first set 6-4. However, she came back to win the second set 6-4, striking a masterful shot that went right past Hovde.
It would be the only set the Orange would win all afternoon in singles. The third set between the two went unfinished, tied at 2-2.
Unsurprisingly, Balus was the definition of dominant in her match against Serafima Shastova. She won the first set 6-2, and took a quick 3-0 lead in the second set.
Shastova showed signs of life, battling back and winning two consecutive games to make it 3-2. This comeback was foiled when Balus hit a close shot to the left side, baiting Shastova in before flipping the momentum in her favor with a shot to the opposite back corner, just past Shastova’s reach.
Victories from Balus and Schuman put Duke on the brink of victory. Claire An’s win over Scaldalai quickly secured the 4-0 sweep for the Blue Devils, who improved to 16-0 all time against the Orange.
