Clemson men’s tennis upset No. 5 seed Duke on Thursday, advancing to the ACC Tournament quarterfinals for the first time since 2015.
With a 3-3 tie between the No. 12 seeded Tigers and the Blue Devils, the match fell in the hands of Clemson’s Jorge Plans Gonzalez.
Facing off against Duke’s Connor Krung, Gonzalez lost the first set, 7-6(5), by the slimmest of margins. However, Gonzalez maintained his composure in the second set, winning it 7-6(3) in another tiebreaker.
In need of a third set victory to secure the match for the Tigers, Gonzalez took the momentum from the second set and was victorious in the third, winning it 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 6-3. With the victory, the team will now take on Louisville on Friday at 10 a.m. EDT.
Although they went down 1-0 early, the Tigers had three notable singles wins on Thursday that set the stage for Gonzalez’s three-set thriller.
Clemson’s Teodor Giusca, Spencer Whitaker and Maxwell Smith all won in their respective singles matches.
Giusca defeated Duke’s Andrew Zhang, 6-4, 6-3, while Whitaker and Smith both clinched their matches in three sets. Whitaker defeated Duke’s Edu Güell, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, and Smith defeated Duke’s Andrew Dale, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
