No. 1 Demon Deacons Stay Perfect, Defeat Virginia Tech 5-0

BLACKSBURG, Va. – In the first ACC road test of the 2025 campaign, the No. 1-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team downed No. 57 Virginia Tech, 5-0, Friday afternoon at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center.

The Demon Deacons (20-0, 3-0 ACC) are now the last remaining unbeaten team out of all Power Four schools. Additionally, the win on Friday extended the program record for most-consecutive wins to open a season.

Wake Forest is also a combined 73-23 in singles and 41-7 in doubles so far this year, taking all 20 doubles points.

Junior DK Suresh Ekambaram and freshman Charlie Robertson, the No. 5-ranked pairing in the country, earned a quick and dominant 6-1 victory over No. 75 Harper/Orso. The duo improved to 5-0 together and 2-0 against ranked pairings.

The doubles point was clinched following a 6-3 victory by graduate student Luciano Tacchi and sophomore Luca Pow over Fahim/Sculley on court two. No. 6 Tacchi/Pow are the first Wake Forest pair to reach double-digit wins this season as they improved to 10-2 on the year.

Graduate student Ioannis Xilas notched the first singles win of the afternoon as he downed Patrik Jurina (6-1, 6-0) in less than an hour on court two. Xilas is second on the team with 12 singles victories this season, trailing only Pow (13).

Suresh extended his winning streak to five-consecutive matches with another dominant showing on court one against Maxime St. Hilaire (6-2, 6-1). The junior improved to 5-0 while competing in first singles and 9-3 overall this campaign.

Robertson and Tacchi won their respective matches on courts three and four nearly simultaneously as Wake Forest secured the 5-0 road victory.

Robertson, who also clinched last Friday against Stanford at home, took down Scott Sculley (6-2, 6-2) for his fourth win of the season. Tacchi defeated Victor Kimpel (6-0, 6-2) to move to 9-3 on the year.

Wake Forest now has 12-consecutive victories over the Hokies (8-6, 0-3 ACC) dating back to 2015 and is 33-14 all-time in the series.

How It Happened

Suresh and Robertson earned the first break in doubles action and took an early 2-0 advantage on court one.
- The other two courts remained on-serve.
The Demon Deacon pair on court one continued to surge and took down the No. 75 duo in the county, 6-1.
- Wake Forest went up a break on court two and three.
The Deacs clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 victory by Tacchi/Pow.
- Xilas/Capalbo led 5-2 on three before the match was abandoned.
Early on in singles, the Demon Deacons were up a break on courts one, two, three and four.
Wake Forest went on to take four of the six first sets in dominant fashion.
- 1. Suresh (6-2)
- 2. Xilas (6-1)
- 3. Robertson (6-2)
- 4. Tacchi (6-0)
Wake Forest took full control of the match as Suresh, Xilas and Robertson all went up a break early in the second set.
Capalbo was the fifth Demon Deacon to take a set as he did so in 6-4 fashion on court six.
- Pow quickly followed with a 7-5 first-set victory on court five.
No. 65 Xilas put Wake Forest up 2-0 with a quick 6-1, 6-0 victory on court two.
Not long after, No. 5 Suresh notched his fourth-consecutive win with a 6-2, 6-1 decision on court one.
The Demon Deacons clinched the match with simultaneous victories from Robertson (6-2, 6-2) and Tacchi (6-0, 6-2) on courts three and four, respectively.
- Courts five and six went unfinished with Pow and Capalbo leading.

Singles Results
1. No. 5 DK Suresh Ekambaram (WFU) def. Maxime St. Hilaire (VT) 6-2, 6-1
2. No. 65 Ioannis Xilas (WFU) def. Patrik Jurina (VT) 6-1, 6-0
3. Charlie Robertson (WFU) def. Scott Sculley (VT) 6-2, 6-2
4. Luciano Tacchi (WFU) def. Victor Kimpel (VT) 6-0, 6-2
5. Luca Pow (WFU) vs. Alberto Orso (VT) 7-5, unfinished
6. Franco Capalbo (WFU) vs. Matt Harper (VT) 6-4, 3-1, unfinished

Order of finish: 2, 1, 3, 4

Doubles Results
1. No. 5 Suresh/Robertson (WFU) def. No. 75 Harper/Orso (VT) 6-1
2. No. 6 Tacchi/Pow (WFU) def. Fahim/Sculley (VT) 6-3
3. Capalbo/Xilas (WFU) vs. Kimpel/Shumilov (VT) 5-2, unfinished

Order of finish: 1, 2

From Coach Bresky
"Fantastic to get an ACC road win, they're never easy to come by. The guys did a really good job and in some brutal conditions. We didn't get to practice here yesterday and had to play outside in some tough weather. I think for them to come in here and play as well as we did is kind of a testament to the schedule we've played and their preparation. I'm really pleased with our effort and our toughness, and excited to get our first ACC road win. On the next one." - Head coach Tony Bresky

Next Up
The Demon Deacons will now head to Charlottesville for a highly-anticipated matchup with No. 5 Virginia Sunday afternoon. First serve is slated for 1 p.m.

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No. 1 Demon Deacons Stay Perfect, Defeat Virginia Tech 5-0

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Franco Capalbo

Luca Pow

Charlie Robertson

DK Suresh Ekambaram

Luciano Tacchi

Ioannis Xilas

Wake Forest Athletics