No. 1 Wake Forest Earns Another Top-25 Victory at No. 22 Clemson

CLEMSON, S.C. – Continuing one of the most dominant seasons in recent collegiate tennis history, the No. 1-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team notched a 4-1 road victory over No. 22 Clemson Friday evening at the Duckworth Family Tennis Facility.

The Demon Deacons (27-0, 9-0 ACC) took the doubles point for the 26th time in 27 matches this season with victories from junior DK Suresh Ekambaram/freshman Charlie Robertson on court one and senior Luciano Tacchi/sophomore Luca Pow on court two.

Suresh and Robertson, the No. 40-ranked pair in the country, took down No. 31 Smith/Vukadin (6-4) for their eighth win together to just one loss and are now 4-0 against ranked opponents. No. 6-ranked Pow/Tacchi extended their team-lead to 14 doubles wins as a pair this season with a 6-4 victory over Damm/Gales.

Graduate student Ioannis Xilas notched his third-consecutive win with a 7-6(10-8), 6-2 victory over Viktor Markov on court two. It marked his 16th win of the season, which ranks second on the team, to just four losses.

On court one, No. 6 Suresh grabbed his team-high sixth ranked win of the campaign as came back from a set down and defeated No. 55 Noa Vukadin, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Wake Forest clinched the match following Pow's three-set, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, win over Marko Mesarovic on court five. In addition to becoming the first Demon Deacon to reach 20 wins this season, the Englishman also extended his winning streak to an incredible 15-consecutive matches.

The Demon Deacons are the first school this season to defeat Clemson on their home courts, as the Tigers entered the match 13-0 at home.

Wake Forest is one of just two schools that remain unbeaten in ACC play, along with NC State. Additionally, the win on Friday extended the program record for most-consecutive wins to open a season. Of note, the Deacs are now a combined 95-29 in singles this campaign.

With the win, the Deacs improved to 37-29 all-time against the Tigers and have won 15-consecutive matches in the series dating back to 2012.

How It Happened

In doubles, the Demon Deacons earned the first break of the evening as Suresh/Robertson went up 2-0 early on court one.
The two other courts remained on-serve until Xilas/Capalbo found the breakthrough on court three and went up 5-3.
Shortly after, Pow/Tacchi went up a break and earned the win on court two (6-4) followed by Suresh/Robertson (6-4) on court one, earning the doubles point for the Deacs.
Wake Forest carried the momentum into singles and went up a break on courts two, three, four and five early on.
- The Tigers led on one and six.
Pow was the first to take a set as he did so in dominant, 6-1 fashion on court five.
Robertson (6-3) and Tacchi (6-4) shortly followed with first-set victories on courts three and four, respectively.
- Clemson took the first set on courts one and six.
Xilas was the fourth Demon Deacon to take a set as he won an intense set tiebreak, 10-8, on court two.
On court one, Suresh forced a third set with a 6-3 victory in set two.
The Tigers forced a third set on court five.
Wake Forest went up 2-0 following a win on court two by Xilas, 7-6(8), 6-2 over Viktor Markov.
Clemson forced two more third sets on courts three and four.
The Tigers got one back with a victory on six.
Suresh moved the Deacs to one win away from clinching as he defeated No. 55 Noa Vukadin in comeback fashion (4-6, 6-3, 6-3) on court one.
Wake Forest remained undefeated as Pow clinched the victory with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 win on court five over Marko Mesarovic.
- Courts three and four went unfinished in the third set.

Singles Results
1. No. 6 DK Suresh Ekambaram (WFU) def. No. 55 Noa Vukadin (CU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
2. No. 67 Ioannis Xilas (WFU) def. Viktor Markov (CU) 7-6(10-8), 6-2
3. Charlie Robertson (WFU) vs. No. 92 Wissam Abderrahman (CU) 6-3, 5-7, 3-0, unfinished
4. Luciano Tacchi (WFU) vs. Romain Gales (CU) 6-4, 6-7(8-10), 0-1, unfinished
5. Luca Pow (WFU) def. Marko Mesarovic (CU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
6. Max Smith (CU) def. Franco Capalbo (WFU) 7-5, 7-5

Order of finish: 2, 6, 1, 5

Doubles Results
1. No. 40 Suresh/Robertson (WFU) def. No. 31 Smith/Vukadin (CU) 6-4
2. No. 6 Tacchi/Pow (WFU) def. Damm/Gales (CU) 6-4
3. Capalbo/Xilas (WFU) vs. Markov/Abderrahman (CU) 5-5, unfinished

Order of finish: 2, 1

From Coach Bresky
"I thought that we played a very good match tonight. Clemson is having an excellent year. I know they've been undefeated at home and having a really good season. They have a very good team, so we knew it was going to be a really tough challenge on a Friday night, they had a really nice crowd which was fun to play in front of. I thought across the board we played a really good, solid match. We went up with the point in doubles and then had some tough battles in singles. Our guys had a really strong week of practice and I think it showed tonight. We're excited to get another road win, they're tough to come by in the ACC. Now we'll head off to Georgia Tech tonight and get ready for another battle Sunday."

Next Up
Wake Forest will now head to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech on Sunday, March 30 at 12 p.m. The clash with the Yellow Jackets will be shown via PlaySight with live results here.

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No. 1 Wake Forest Earns Another Top-25 Victory at No. 22 Clemson

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Franco Capalbo

Luca Pow

Charlie Robertson

DK Suresh Ekambaram

Luciano Tacchi

Ioannis Xilas

Wake Forest Athletics