BERKELEY – The 10th-ranked California men's tennis team posted its 10th consecutive on Friday night at the Hellman Tennis Complex, with Timofey Stepanov clinching an impressive 4-3 Golden Bear win over No. 15 Duke. Stepanov, clinching for the second straight match, defeated Connor Krug in a three-set win at court-four singles.
 
Cal improved its record to 17-2. With its 9-2 ACC record, Cal currently sits in third place in the conference.
 
Duke is 15-6 (8-3).
 
The Bears trailed 1-0 after dropping the doubles point.
 
Cal bounced back in singles when 66th-ranked Alex Chang beat Andreja Petrovic 6-4, 6-4 and then 45th-ranked Theo Dean bested Remy Dugardin 7-6(5), 6-2 to give the Bears a 2-1 lead. When Derrick Chen won 6-3, 6-4 over Alexander Visser to make the score 3-1, Cal was on the verge of closing out the match.
 
But Duke pulled out two wins to tie the proceedings 3-3, leaving the match between Stepanov and Krug to decide matters.
 
Stepanov split the first two sets with the Blue Devil but then began the third set down 3-0. The sophomore rallied to take a 4-3 lead in the final stanza and eventually prevail 6-7(1), 6-2, 6-4.
 
"It's a good win at home," said Kris Kwinta, Cal's Peter Wright Director of Men's Tennis. "Duke is a super tough team. Even though they played without their No. 2 player (56th-ranked Cooper Williams), I knew they were going to come out and take it to us, and they did. It was felt in doubles. They just took doubles by storm. We didn't respond well. We started off shaky, and they had two breaks on two courts in five seconds. That's not how you protect your home turf. I was a little disappointed in that. Once you give them that lead, you have to claw back, and we did. We had some amazing performances from Changer, Theo Dean – they were just relentless. Derrick has been insane. And Carlo played an unbelievable first set. It was good.
 
"Lechno struggled today. He's now 12-2, so the guy knows how to win. But overall it was a war. Do I wish we could've played better? Yeah, but I'll take the win. Guys came through, and Stepanov came through for us in huge fashion, like he did against SMU, like he did against USC. He's built for these moments, but a lot of guys allowed him to be in that position. It's a team that anybody can step up at any time. The good teams have all the players available to step up in big moments, so it's cool to be part of that and see these guys pull for one another. It's a great performance in front of a lot of fans. It's fun to see so many fans watching tennis, and it's a great night for tennis. We're going to enjoy this match for a couple of hours and then get ready for McManus Legends Day and UNC on Sunday."
 
Cal plays its last regular-season home match Sunday at noon PT against No. 47 North Carolina. Before the match, the Bears will celebrate the careers of seniors Chen, Chang, Overbeck and Mikey Wright and also the career of Dean, a graduate student. Throughout the day, Cal will honor the life of late alumnus Jim McManus.
 
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