No. 4 Demon Deacons Sweep Baylor on the Road

WACO, Texas – Highlighted by the debut of graduate transfer standout Stefan Dostanic, the No. 4-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team picked up a 4-0 road victory over Baylor Friday afternoon in Waco, Texas.

With the victory, Wake Forest has now started the season 3-0 in three of the last four seasons.

Dostanic, a former PAC-12 Singles and Doubles Player of the Year, started his Wake Forest career with a strong showing on Friday. In doubles, he partnered with junior DK Suresh Ekambaram on court one and easily handled the No. 3-doubles pair in the country with a 6-3 victory over Miladinovic/Brostrom Poulsen.

On court two, the No. 4-ranked doubles team of sophomore Luca Pow and senior Luciano Tacchi continued their strong start to the season with a 6-4 victory over No. 17 Badenhorst/Velcz. The pair is now 3-0 on the year after being named ITA Doubles All-Americans last fall.

After taking the doubles point, the Demon Deacons (3-0, 0-0 ACC) carried the momentum into singles, where Dostanic wrapped up his impressive debut with a dominant, 6-2, 6-1 victory over No. 25 Devin Badenhorst in first singles.

Tacchi, who is now 3-0 in doubles and 3-0 in singles already this season, moved the Demon Deacons to within one court away from clinching the match as he downed Louis Bowden in fourth singles, 6-2, 6-3.

For the third-consecutive match to open the season, newcomer Ioannis Xilas clinched the victory for the Demon Deacons with a 7-6(6), 6-3 win on court three over No. 54 Zsombor Velcz.

With the win, Wake Forest improved to 5-3 all-time against Baylor (2-1, 0-0 Big 12) and now holds a three-match winning streak in the series.

How It Happened

Wake Forest looked strong early on in doubles and quickly took care of business as No. 4 Pow/Tacchi moved to 3-0 on the season with a 6-4 win over No. 17 Badenhorst/Velcz.
Shortly after, Dostanic/Ekambaram handled No. 3 Brostrom Poulsen/Miladinovic 6-3 and claimed the doubles point for Wake Forest.
- Capalbo/Xilas were in a tight battle with Bowden/Koenig on court three before the doubles point was clinched.
Similarly to doubles, Wake Forest dominated singles early as five of the six Demon Deacons were up a break within the first few games of the first set.
Pow was the first Demon Deacon to take a first set (6-3) on court five.
Both making their season debuts, Dostanic (6-2) and Ekambaram (6-2) showed no signs of rust as they took the first sets on courts one and two, respectively.
Picking up where he left off last weekend, Tacchi also took the first set in fourth singles, 6-2.
Xilas became the fifth Deac to win the first set after battling back in third singles and taking the tiebreak, 8-6.
Dostanic notched his first singles win in a Wake Forest shirt with a dominant, 6-2, 6-1 showing against No. 25 Devin Badenhorst.
Tacchi moved to 3-0 on the year with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Louis Bowden in fourth singles as Wake Forest moved to within a match of clinching.
Xilas clinched the 4-0 victory for Wake Forest as he downed No. 54 Zsombor Velcz on court three, 7-6(6), 6-3.
The remaining three courts went unfinished.

Singles Results
1. Stefan Dostanic (WFU) def. No. 25 Devin Badenhorst (BU) 6-2, 6-1
2. No. 7 DK Suresh Ekambaram (WFU) vs. No. 58 Oskar Brostrom Poulsen (BU) 6-2, 6(6)-7, 1-1, UF
3. No. 115 Ioannis Xilas (WFU) def. No. 54 Zsombor Velcz (BU) 7-6(6), 6-3
4. Luciano Tacchi (WFU) def. Louis Bowden (BU) 6-2, 6-3
5. Luca Pow (WFU) vs. Alexandru Chirita (BU) 6-3, 4-6, 2-2, UF
6. Franco Capalbo (WFU) vs. Marko Miladinovic (BU) 5-7, 2-4, UF

Order of finish: 1, 4, 3

Doubles Results
1. Suresh Ekambaram/Dostanic (WFU) def. No. 3 Miladinovic/Brostrom Poulsen (BU) 6-3
2. No. 4 Pow/Tacchi (WFU) def. No. 17 Velcz/Badenhorst (BU) 6-4
3. Xilas/Capalbo (WFU) vs. Koenig/Bowden (BU) 4-5, unfinished

Order of finish: 2, 1

From Coach Bresky
"I thought we had a really good day. We showed a lot of poise and maturity. Baylor has an excellent team, they're kind of a top-15, top-20ish team. There's always some nerves when you start out the season with the big match, especially on the road. They're going to host national indoors and NCAA's this year, so it's a really good opportunity for us to come here and play on their courts.

Overall, I thought we had just an excellent performance. We did a great job of getting the doubles point and then we jumped on them early. We won five-of-six first-sets and it really could've been six. Franco had a couple set-points. It was nice to finish that match off so we can get home tonight and get ready for a really tough Tennessee team on Sunday." - Head coach Tony Bresky

Next Up
The Demon Deacons will now return home on Sunday, Jan. 19 as it hosts another doubleheader against No. 13 Tennessee and SC State inside the Wake Forest Tennis Center. The matches are slated for 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., respectively.

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Franco Capalbo

Stefan Dostanic

Luca Pow

DK Suresh Ekambaram

Luciano Tacchi

Ioannis Xilas

Wake Forest Athletics