No. 9 Wake Forest Battles With No. 1 Ohio State

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Despite a resilient effort, the ninth-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team dropped a 4-3 decision to No. 1 Ohio State Thursday evening inside the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center.

The loss marked the Demon Deacons' first of the 2023 campaign and snapped the Deacs' 36-match home winning streak, which dated back to last season.

After securing the doubles point behind wins in first and second doubles, Wake Forest jumped out to a 2-0 lead as graduate student Jurabek Karimov notched an impressive 6-1, 6-1 victory in third singles over No. 41 Alexander Bernard.

Ohio State then responded with four hard-fought victories in sixth, fourth, fifth and second singles to go up 4-2, securing the victory.

With the match already decided, the two sides chose to play out the remainder of the contest as first singles was left unpronounced. Senior Melios Efstathiou went on to earn a thrilling 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over No. 9 JJ Tracy.

The Demon Deacons will return to action Sunday when they host a double-header against No. 8 South Carolina and Queens at 1 and 5 p.m., respectively, inside the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center.

How It Happened

Matthew Thomson/Melios Efstathiou jumped out to a 4-1 lead in third doubles as Courts 1 and 2 remained tightly contested early on.
Juan Lopez de Azcona/Filippo Moroni earned a hard-fought, 6-4 victory on Court 1 to bring the Deacs' one win away from securing the doubles point.
Jurabek Karimov/Luciano Tacchi closed out doubles play with a 6-4 decision on Court 2 and gave Wake Forest a 1-0 advantage heading into singles.
- This marked the first time all season Ohio State dropped the doubles point.
Karimov opened singles action with four-consecutive points over the 48th-ranked player in the nation.
- Karimov took the first set, 6-1.
Wake Forest went on to take a 2-0 lead as Karimov claimed a 6-1, 6-1 victory on Court 3.
After dropping the first set, Moroni surged to a 3-0 lead in the second on Court 2.
- The junior evened his match with a 6-1 second set victory.
Ohio State leveled the score at 2-2 with wins on Courts 4 and 6.
Thomson forced a second set tiebreak on Court 5 but fell 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) as the Buckeyes took a 3-2 advantage with two courts still in action.
Efstathiou forced a third set on Court 1 following a crucial 7-5 second set win as Moroni continued to battle on Court 2.
Moroni eventually fell 3-6, 6-1, 3-6 as Ohio State went up 4-2 to secure the victory.
With the match already decided, the two sides chose to play out the remainder of the contest as first singles was left unpronounced.
- Efstathiou went on to earn a thrilling 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over No. 9 JJ Tracy.
Ohio State won the contest, 4-3.

Singles Results
1. Melios Efstathiou (WFU) def. JJ Tracy (OSU) 2-6, 7-5, 6-4
2. Justin Boulais (OSU) def. Filippo Moroni (WFU) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
3. Jurabek Karimov (WFU) def. Alexander Bernard (OSU) 6-1, 6-1
4. James Trotter (OSU) def. Luciano Tacchi (WFU) 6-4, 7-5
5. Robert Cash (OSU) def. Matthew Thomson (WFU) 6-4, 7-5 (7-3)
6. Andrew Lutschaunig (OSU) def. Juan Lopez de Azcona (WFU) 6-2, 7-5

Doubles Results
1. Juan Lopez de Azcona/Filippo Moroni (WFU) def. Andrew Lutschaunig/James Trotter (OSU) 6-4
2. Jurabek Karimov/Luciano Tacchi (WFU) def. Robert Cash/Justin Boulais (OSU) 6-4
3. Matthew Thomson/Melios Efstathiou (WFU) vs. JJ Tracy/Jack Anthrop (OSU) 5-3, unfinished

From Coach Bresky
"Congratulations to Ohio State. They're obviously an excellent team and outplayed us at the end. We did a great job in the doubles and got off to a good start. Obviously, when you lose matches like this you learn a lot from it. The guys fought really hard and there's a lot of good to takeaway. We have a new opportunity on Sunday." - Coach Tony Bresky

Up Next
The Demon Deacons will return to action Sunday when they host a double-header against No. 8 South Carolina and Queens at 1 and 5 p.m., respectively, inside the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center.

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Melios Efstathiou

Jurabek Karimov

Juan Lopez de Azcona

Filippo Moroni

Luciano Tacchi

Matthew Thomson