WACO, Texas – On a windy day at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas, Duke University women's tennis delivered a thrilling victory, unseating No. 8 Baylor, 4-3, to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
With the win, the Blue Devils (17-6) improve to 6-0 against the Bears (24-5) in program history and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 20th time under head coach Jamie Ashworth. The win is also the highest ranked opponent the Blue Devils have defeated since the Duke knocked off No. 5 Florida State on March 6 of this year.
Going up against a home crowd at the Hurd Tennis Center, the Blue Devils faced early service breaks in all three matches, falling behind, 1-2, in each. Baylor was able to secure the first doubles match of the day as the No. 9 duo of sophomore Chloe Beck and freshman Karolina Berankova fell, 3-6. Baylor's doubles duo of Jessica Hinojosa/Kristina Sorokolet built a commanding 5-1 lead on two service breaks. However, the Blue Devil tandem showed poise, holding serve and breaking back to shave the deficit to 5-3. However, the Bears duo held to give Baylor the early edge.
Duke responded in a gritty fashion, as junior Maragaryta Bilokin and graduate Meible Chi were able to bounce back from an early deficit. Facing a 1-3 hole, the experienced No. 10 ranked duo held serve to start a run of three straight games and take a 4-3 lead. After a Baylor hold, Bilokin and Chi delivered a critical deuce point victory to take a 5-4 lead and followed it up with another service break on the second match point, taking their set, 6-4, and setting up a winner-take-all doubles point on court three.
Much like their teammates Bilokin and Chi, the No. 41 ranked duo of senior Kelly Chen and redshirt sophomore Georgia Drummy dug themselves out of a hold. Trailing 1-3 after an early break, the two teams traded service holds, before a critical break of serve knotted the match at 4-4. The two teams battled it out to a tiebreaker with the doubles point on the line. After winning the first point, the Blue Devils tied it at 2-2. However, Baylor rode a 4-0 run and held on to take first set tiebreaker, 7-3, and give the Bears a 1-0 edge.
The Blue Devils responded in singles immediately, taking three of the six first sets in each match. Drummy set the tone, delivering a dominant performance from start to finish. The Dublin, Ireland product recorded a wire-to-wire victory of 6-0, 6-0, to give the Blue Devils their first point of the match. Drummy notched six breaks of serve and earned several key deuce points en route to the victory over Hinojosa.
Right behind her was Chi, who imposed her will early as well. She secured a break at 2-1 in the opening set and didn't look back, taking the opening set 6-1. The Weston, Fla., native would go on to secure five breaks of serve and avoid any trouble after giving up an early break in the second set, cruising to a 6-1, 6-2, victory over Shakhraichuk and giving Duke its first lead of the evening at 2-1. Chi's victory made more history as she moved into a tie for fourth on the all-times singles wins list at Duke, tying Julie Exum with 135.
The Bears responded on court six, as Berankova fell, 1-6, 3-6, to Paula Baranano. The Prague, Czech Republic native put in a strong fight in the second set, securing a break after falling behind, 1-5, and taking the 3-5 point to deuce. However, the Bears earned a critical point to tie the match at 2-2.
Duke wasn't down for long, as Beck completed a 6-3, 6-2 victory on court three. Beck and her opponent, Herrero Linana, traded blows early, with Beck starting on a 3-0 run, before Herrero Linana answered with multiple breaks. However, Beck weathered the storm, securing a key break of serve to go up 5-3 and held on from there, combining for a 6-0 run between the first and second set. With the win, the Blue Devils took a 3-2 advantage heading into the final two matches.
Behind the home crowd, the Bears were able to tie the match once again, as Bilokin fell 5-7, 2-6 on court five. Bilokin started her match with a break, but her opponent Sorokolet matched her with a break to tie it at 1-1. Bilokin secured another key break to take a 4-3 edge, but Sorokolet responded to tie it immediately. A late break at 5-6 proved critical, as Baylor rode a momentum swing to tie the match at 3-3.
The decisive match occurred on court one, in a battle of top-75 players in the nation. The early edge went to Baylor's Krywoj, who built a 5-1 lead behind two service breaks and held on for a 6-3 first set win. Not to be denied, Chen fought the crowd noise and an early second set deficit of 1-3 with a 4-0 run made up of two service breaks to take a 5-3 lead. Krywoj responded with a break of her own to tie the match,5-5, but Chen answered with a service break, followed by a deuce point win at 6-5 to take the second set 7-5.
The third set began with three straight service breaks, as both players dealt with all eyes on them. Chen got the breaks started and secured her second straight to make it 2-1. The Cerritos, Calif., native held her nerves to secure a critical service hold and extend the lead to 3-1 in the third set. Chen wasn't done and secured her fourth consecutive break of serve, dating back to the second set, to extend her advantage and held serve once again to make it 5-1. Kyrwoj struck back with a service hold to make it 5-2. After falling behind 0-40, Chen bounced back and won four straight points, securing the match point on a beautiful forehand winner to take the third set 6-2.
The Blue Devils will now turn their attention to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in Orlando, Fla., as well as the NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournaments at the same location. Duke is scheduled to clash with No. 9 UCF on May 16 at 7:00 p.m. ET.
For more information on Duke women's tennis, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeWTEN".
No. 18 Duke 4, No. 8 Baylor 3
Doubles
1. No. 10 Margaryta Bilokin/Meible Chi (DU) def. No. 31 Mel Krywoj/Angelina Shakhraichuk (BU) – 6-4
2. Jessica Hinojosa/Kristina Sorokolet (BU) def. No. 9 Chloe Beck/Karolina Berankova (DU) – 6-3
3. Alicia Herrero Linana/Audrey Boch-Collins (BU) def. No. 41 Kelly Chen/Georgia Drummy (DU) – 7-6 (3)
Singles
1. No. 49 Kelly Chen (DU) def. No. 67 Mel Krywoj (BU) – 3-6, 7-5, 6-2
2. No. 19 Georgia Drummy def. (DU) Jessica Hinojosa (BU) – 6-0, 6-0
3. No. 39 Chloe Beck (DU) def. Alicia Herrero Linana (BU) – 6-3, 6-2
4. No. 40 Meible Chi (DU) def. Angelina Shakhraichuk (BU) – 6-1, 6-2
5. Kristina Sorokolet (BU) def. Margaryta Bilokin (DU) – 7-5, 6-2
6. Paula Baranano (BU) def. Karolina Berankova (DU) – 6-1, 6-3
Finish:
Doubles – 2, 1, 3
Singles – 2, 4, 6, 3, 5, 1
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