No. 4 Demon Deacons Down Charlotte, Will Face Memphis Saturday

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Continuing its flawless start to the season, the No. 4-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team picked up a 4-0 victory over Charlotte Friday evening at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center.

With the win, the Demon Deacons (6-0, 0-0 ACC) will now take on Memphis on Saturday for a chance to advance to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the fourth-consecutive season.

First serve against the Tigers, who downed North Carolina earlier Friday afternoon, is slated for 5 p.m. at the ITC. Charlotte and North Carolina will meet for a consolation match at 1 p.m. The live stream for both matches will be provided via Playsight, while the live results can be found here.

The Demon Deacons are now a combined 24-0 in singles and 12-0 in doubles to open the season, the best mark in both since the 2022 campaign.

The ITA All-American duo of sophomore Luca Pow and graduate student Luciano Tacchi notched their fourth win together this season and third competing on the first doubles line as they downed No. 89 Prata/Iturbe, 6-2.

Wake Forest clinched the doubles point following another dominant performance on court two from junior DK Suresh Ekambaram and freshman Joaquin Guilleme as they defeated Dreycopp/Schlossman, 6-3.

Freshman Charlie Robertson made his collegiate debut, competing in third doubles. His match alongside graduate student Franco Capalbo went unfinished with the Demon Deacon pair leading, 5-4.

In singles, Wake Forest won the first set on all six courts. Ioannis Xilas improved to 5-0 on the year and now leads the team outright in singles victories following his 6-1, 6-3 win over Ivan Dreycopp on court two.

In fifth singles, Guilleme notched his second win of the campaign (6-2, 6-4) against Frederic Schlossman.

Suresh clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Charlotte's Vasco Prata on court one. It marked the ITA All-American's first singles win of the season.

Wake Forest is now 14-1 all-time against the 49ers and have an nine-match winning streak against the program dating back to 1999.

How It Happened

In doubles, Tacchi/Pow earned the first break of the match on court one shortly followed by Suresh/Guilleme on court three as both Demon Deacon pairs went up 3-1.
- Capalbo/Robertson remained at 2-2 on court three.
Wake Forest then went up a break on all three courts as Capalbo/Robertson went up 4-2.
The Demon Deacons took the doubles point with wins on court one (6-2) and two (6-3).
- Court three went unfinished with Capalbo/Robertson leading 5-4.
A few minutes into singles, all six Demon Deacons were up a break.
Xilas was the first Demon Deacon to claim a first set (6-1) on court two followed by Guilleme on court five (6-2).
- Suresh (6-3), Tacchi (6-3) and Capalbo (6-1) kept the momentum swinging in favor of the Deacs.
Wake Forest went 6-for-6 on first sets as Pow battled out a 7-4 tiebreak win on court three.
Xilas continued the excellent start to his Wake Forest career with a quick 6-1, 6-3 victory on court two.
It was a race to the finish as four Demon Deacons were one game away from victory, but only two matches away from clinching the team win.
Guilleme made it 3-0 Wake Forest with a 6-2, 6-4 win in fifth singles right before Suresh closed it out on court one, 6-3, 6-3.
Tacchi (6-3, 5-3) and Capalbo (6-1, 5-2) came close to wins on courts three and five, respectively, but their matches went unfinished.
Court three also went unfinished with Pow leading 7-6, 0-1.

Singles Results
1. No. 7 DK Suresh Ekambaram (WFU) def. Vasco Prata (CLT) 6-3, 6-3
2. No. 115 Ioannis Xilas (WFU) def. Ivan Dreycopp (CLT) 6-1, 6-3
3. Luca Pow (WFU vs. Matias Iturbe (CLT) 7-6(4), 1-0, unfinished
4. Luciano Tacchi (WFU) vs. Arsene Pougault (CLT) 6-3, 5-3, unfinished
5. Joaquin Guilleme (WFU) def. Frederic Schlossman (CLT) 6-2, 6-4
6. Franco Capalbo (WFU) vs. Brett Glordia (CLT) 6-1, 5-2, unfinished

Order of finish: 2, 5, 1

Doubles Results
1. No. 4 Pow/Tacchi (WFU) def. No. 89 Prata/Iturbe (CLT) 6-2
2. Suresh/Guilleme (WFU) def. Dreycopp/Schlossman (CLT) 6-3
3. Capalbo/Robertson (WFU) vs. Pougault/Gloria (CLT) 5-4, unfinished

Order of finish: 1, 2

From Coach Bresky
"That was a good team win. I was excited to get through that one. Charlotte has an excellent program, they won their conference last year and made NCAA's, so we knew it would be a challenge. It was good to advance and just go one-by-one. We have the round of 32 tomorrow against Memphis. That's also a very good team, who obviously beat North Carolina today. Now to get some rest, recover and be ready to go at home tomorrow." - Head coach Tony Bresky

The Matchup - Memphis
Memphis enters Saturday with a 2-2 record following its 4-1 victory over North Carolina on Friday afternoon. Last season, the Tigers posted a 19-7 overall record and a 4-1 mark in AAC play. The Tigers earned a bid to the 2024 NCAA Tournament, beating North Carolina in the first round before falling to Tennessee.

The Deacs are 2-0 all-time against the Tigers, with the last meeting coming in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Of note, this will be the second time the two schools have met on day two of ITA Kickoff Weekend (2019).

Fan Information
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No. 4 Demon Deacons Down Charlotte, Will Face Memphis Saturday

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Franco Capalbo

Joaquin Guilleme

Luca Pow

Charlie Robertson

DK Suresh Ekambaram

Luciano Tacchi

Ioannis Xilas

Wake Forest Athletics