No. 2 Demon Deacons Defeat No. 6 Columbia, 5-2

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Improving to 10-0 for the second time in three years, the No. 2-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team picked up a massive, 5-2, road win over No. 6 Columbia Saturday afternoon inside the Philip and Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center.

The Demon Deacons (10-0, 0-0 ACC) are now a combined 37-8 in singles and 20-3 in doubles so far this campaign. Additionally, Wake Forest remained perfect all-time against Columbia with five wins and zero losses dating back to 2010. This marked the first true road victory over the Lions.

Wake Forest went into singles with a 1-0 advantage following doubles wins on courts one and three. The No. 30-ranked pair of graduate Student Stefan Dostanic and junior DK Suresh Ekambaram moved to 4-0 together as they took down No. 45 Kotzen/Zheng, 6-4.

Moments later, the graduate student pair of Franco Capalbo and Ioannis Xilas clinched the point with a 6-3 win over No. 62 Hashimoto/Templeman. This marked the first time this season the Lions dropped a doubles point as the Deacs are now 10-for-10 in doubles points this campaign.

Five of the six singles courts went the distance, with Luca Pow's 7-6(7-2), 6-4 victory over Thanaphat Boosarawongse on court six being the only straight-set win Saturday afternoon. Not long after Pow's win, Tacchi made it 3-0 to Wake Forest with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 victory in fifth singles over Sachin Palta.

The Lions cut the deficit to 3-2 following tight wins on courts one and three.

Despite dropping the first set following a tiebreaker, Suresh battled back and clinched the win for Wake Forest with a 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 win over No. 40 Nicolas Kotzen on court two. Suresh is now 3-1 on the year and 2-1 against ranked opponents.

Xilas closed out the match with a comeback victory of his own on court four, downing No. 41 Hugo Hashimoto (5-7, 7-5, 6-1) for his second ranked win of the year.

Pow, Tacchi and Xilas are all tied for the most singles wins this campaign with six each.

How It Happened

On the third doubles court, Xilas/Capalbo went up a break early and took control of the match.
- Court one remained on serve and Wake Forest trailed on court two.
Suresh/Dostanic went up a break on court one (4-3) as the Demon Deacons moved closer to taking the doubles point.
The Demon Deacons took the doubles point with simultaneous wins on courts one (6-4) and three (6-3).
- Court two went unfinished.
In singles, two Demon Deacons jumped out to dominant leads as Dostanic (court one) and Tacchi (court five) took control of their respective matches while the other four courts remained on-serve.
- Tacchi was the first to take a set (6-1) followed by Dostanic (6-3).
- Columbia took the first set on court three, as the other three courts were level at 5-5.
The Lions took the first set on courts two and four.
Right after Pow took the first set on court six, Robertson forced a third on court three as the Deacs remained in control.
Dostanic and Tacchi were both forced into a third set on courts one and five.
Court two was the fourth match to enter a third set as Suresh dominated his second set, 6-2.
Wake Forest's lead quickly extended to 3-0 following wins from Pow (7-6, 6-4) and Tacchi (6-1, 5-7, 6-2) on courts six and five, respectively.
On court four, Xilas forced a third as five of the six singles courts went the distance.
The Lions picked up wins on courts one and three and cut the Demon Deacons' lead to 3-2.
Forced into a tiebreaker in the third set, Suresh handled business and clinched the match for the Demon Deacons with a 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 win on court two.
- The two teams agreed to play out the remaining match.
Xilas closed out the 5-2 win with a ranked victory (5-7, 7-5, 6-1) on court four.

Singles Results
1. No. 1 Michael Zheng (CU) def. No. 17 Stefan Dostanic (WFU) 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5
2. No. 7 DK Suresh Ekambaram (WFU) def. No. 40 Nicolas Kotzen (CU) 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
3. Max Westphal (CU) def. No. 98 Charlie Robertson (WFU) 6-3, 2-6, 7-5
4. No. 100 Ioannis Xilas (WFU) def. No. 41 Hugo Hashimoto (CU) 5-7, 7-5, 6-1
5. Luciano Tacchi (WFU) def. Sachin Palta (CU) 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
6. Luca Pow (WFU) def. Thanaphat Boosarawongse (CU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-4
Order of finish: 6, 5, 3, 1, 2, 4

Doubles Results
1. No. 30 Suresh/Dostanic (WFU) def. No. 45 Kotzen/Zheng (CU) 6-4
2. No. 3 Tacchi/Pow vs. No. 86 Westphal/Palta (CU) 2-5, unfinished
3. Capalbo/Xilas (WFU) def. No. 62 Hashimoto/Templeman (CU) 6-3
Order of finish: 1, 3

From Coach Bresky
"That was an exciting match. It's always super tough to beat a top-10 team on the road and we have a lot of respect for Columbia. The coaches do a great job, they're ranked number six in the country for a reason. I think this was the biggest match, at least on paper, that they ever hosted at Columbia so they had a really big crowd and it was fun to play in front of. Our guys did an awesome job handling that. It certainly helps when we have the opportunity to play in front of our home crowd. We're very comfortable in that situation. It was a tough, physical match and we are happy we were able to gut it out." - Head coach Tony Bresky

Next Up
The Demon Deacons will now prepare for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Dallas, Texas from Feb. 14-18. Stay tuned to GoDeacs.com and Wake Forest men's tennis social accounts for more details.

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Franco Capalbo

Stefan Dostanic

Luca Pow

Charlie Robertson

DK Suresh Ekambaram

Luciano Tacchi

Ioannis Xilas

Wake Forest Athletics