No. 11 Wake Forest Upsets No. 2 North Carolina

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – After a dominant performance in doubles and three straight-set victories in singles, the No. 11 Wake Forest men's tennis team secured the 5-2 upset at No. 2 North Carolina on Friday afternoon at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.

The win is Wake Forest's (24-5, 9-1 ACC) sixth-straight victory over the Tarheels, and it secures the Demon Deacons at second place in the ACC, while UNC (15-2, 7-2 ACC) fell for the second time in its last four matches.

Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Wake Forest has a 33-6 record in away matches. This includes an impressive 21-6 record over the past three seasons.

QUOTABLE
"Good win for us on the road at UNC against the reigning indoor champs. We started off hot in doubles pulling out the first point. I feel like we played tremendously well in singles to begin and earned three straight first sets. That set us up for the quick clinch over the Tarheels. Our guys have been practicing hard and this result has been a product of it. We are going to enjoy it tonight and then head to Duke on Sunday." - Coach Bresky

HOW IT HAPPENED

Wake Forest took the early lead following doubles after grabbing a 6-3 win on court two, quickly followed by a 6-4 win on court three to take a 1-0 lead into singles action.
The Demon Deacon pair of junior Siddhant Banthia and sophomore Matthew Thomson pulled out the 6-3 win to exit the courts first.
After trading breaks, the Wake Forest duo of senior Melios Efstathiou and sophomore Taha Baadi earned the doubles clinch.
In singles, the Deacs continued to roll to three easy wins to clinch the match at 4-0.
Senior No. 53 Eduardo Nava did what he does best and quickly extended the Wake Forest score to 2-0, with a dominant, 6-4, 6-1 effort on court two, downing UNC's No. 80 Benjamin Sigouin.
- With the win, Nava pushed his win streak to nine.
Banthia followed minutes later with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Mac Kiger on court six.
No. 13 Henri Squire immediately followed Banthia with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 61 William Blumberg to clinch the match win for the Demon Deacons, giving the Deacs its sixth ranked victory of the season.
Baadi battled in a three set thriller, he took the first and third sets for the fifth point.

ACC TOURNAMENT SCENARIO
Wake Forest's win on Friday means the Deac are locked into a top three seed at the ACC Tournament in Rome, Ga. April 23-25. A win on Sunday would clinch the two seed for the Deacs.

UP NEXT
Wake Forest returns to action on Sunday afternoon for an ACC bout with No. 38 Duke and a quick road trip to Elon. First serve from Durham, N.C. is slated for 1 p.m. ET and Elon at 5:30 p.m. ET.

𝐃𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐓! 😤

𝘋𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘕𝘰. 2 𝘜𝘕𝘊.#GoDeacs🎩 | pic.twitter.com/0jKfKnqWUz
— Wake Men's Tennis (@WakeMTennis) April 9, 2021

RESULTS
Singles Results vs. No. 2 UNC
No. 8 Henri Squire def. No. 61 Blumberg, 6-4, 6-4

No. 53 Eduardo Nava def. No. 80 Sigouin, 6-4, 6-1

Taha Baadi def. No. 66 Cernoch, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4)

No. 75 Soengergaard def. Rrezart Cungu, 6-2, 6-1

Zapp def. Melios Efstathiou, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2

Siddhant Banthia def. Kiger, 6-2, 6-4
Order of Finish: 2, 6, 1*, 4, 5, 4, 3

Doubles Results vs. No. 2 UNC
No. 13 Henri Squire / Eduardo Nava vs No. 5 Blumberg / Cernoch, 4-5 unfinished

Siddhant Banthia / Matthew Thomson def. Kiger / Soengergaard, 6-3

Taha Baadi / Melios Efstathiou def. Neff / Sigouin, 6-4
Order of Finish: 2, 3

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Taha Baadi

Siddhant Banthia

Rrezart Cungu

Melios Efstathiou

Eduardo Nava

Henri Squire

Matthew Thomson