No. 21 USC Men's Tennis Downs Duke 4-2 During First Round of NCAA Tournament

Friday, May 1

Norman, Okla.

11:00 a.m. PT

USC

Duke

Photo by: Kevin Kim

No. 21 USC Men's Tennis Downs Duke 4-2 During First Round of NCAA Tournament

May 01, 2026 | Men's Tennis

Results

Trojans advance to the Second Round of NCAA play.

NORMAN, Okla. - No. 21 USC men's tennis opened NCAA Tournament play with a gritty 4-2 win over No. 40 Duke on Friday afternoon in Norman, advancing past the Blue Devils behind strong doubles point and clutch performances in tight singles battles.

The Trojans set the tone early by securing the doubles point with wins on courts one and two. The ranked pair of Nathan Trouve and Max Exsted took down Duke's No. 10 duo, 7-5, before Branko Djuric and Andrin Casanova clinched the point with a 6-4 victory. Duke picked up a win on court three, but USC carried a 1-0 lead into singles play.

Duke responded in singles, leveling the match with straight-set wins on courts three and two to briefly take a 2-1 lead.

From there, USC surged back.

Branko Djuric evened the score at 2-2 with a statement win over No. 48 Pedro Rodenas, grinding out a 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 decision on court one. Connor Church then put the Trojans back in front, battling to a 7-5, 1-6, 6-1 victory on court six to make it 3-2 USC.

The clincher came on court five, where Jack McCarthy delivered under pressure. After splitting the first two sets, McCarthy held firm in a decisive tiebreak, closing out a 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) win to seal the 4-2 victory for the Trojans.

With the win, USC improves to 19-7 on the season and advances to the NCAA Second Round. Tomorrow, the Trojans will face host either [9] Oklahoma/ Utah State at 3 p.m. PT/5 p.m. CT in the Round of 32.