No. 1 Wake Forest Secures Doubleheader Sweep over SMU, Longwood

Friday, April 4

Winston-Salem, N.C.

3:30 p.m.

Wake Forest University

SMU

Photo by: Seth Seebaugh / Wake Forest Athletics

No. 1 Wake Forest Secures Doubleheader Sweep over SMU, Longwood

4/4/2025 11:18:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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The Demon Deacons will return to the courts for the final two home matches of the regular season on Sunday.

By: Dylan Shackelford

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C – In the penultimate home matchday of the 2025 regular season, the No. 1-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team notched a pair of wins over SMU (4-1) and Longwood (4-0) Friday at the Wake Forest Tennis Center.

Against the Mustangs, the Demon Deacons (30-0, 11-0 ACC) dropped the doubles point for just the second time this season as SMU took courts one and three.

Junior DK Suresh Ekambaram and freshman Charlie Robertson earned a 6-3 victory on court two, moving the reigning ACC Doubles Team of the Week to 10-1 on the season together with four-consecutive victories.

Wake Forest leveled the match following a 6-3, 6-2 victory from sophomore Luca Pow on court five over Louis Cloud. The Englishman also picked up a 6-1, 6-1 win over Longwood's Timeo Puech in the second match. Pow leads the team with an outstanding 23-2 record so far this season and has extended his winning streak to 18 matches. Additionally, he is now 10-0 against ACC opponents.

Not long after Pow, graduate student Franco Capalbo put the Deacs in front with a dominant 6-1, 7-5 win against Noah McDonald on court six. The Argentine is now 7-1 in singles this campaign.

Following up on his doubles win, Suresh continued his strong run of form with a three-set (6-3, 3-6, 6-1) victory over No. 53 Trevor Svajda in first singles. Coming off of an ACC Player of the Week honor, he has now won three-consecutive matches to bring his record to 13-6 on the year with a team-high seven ranked wins. Additionally, Suresh is now a stellar 9-3 in first singles so far this season.

Once again, Robertson came up in the clutch and clinched the conference victory for Wake Forest. The Scot secured a 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 comeback win over Jerry Barton on court two. This marked his fifth-consecutive win as he is now 7-6 on the year and 4-0 against conference opponents.

Against the Lancers, Wake Forest got back to winning ways in doubles as graduate duo Ioannis Xilas and Capalbo swept aside Belosevic/Lindquist (6-2) on court two before sophomore Martin Mazev joined Pow on court one for a 7-6 (7-3) tiebreak victory.

Capalbo/Xilas rank second on the team with 12 wins together this season, meanwhile it marked Pow and Mazev's first-ever match together.

Continuing the perfect start to his collegiate career, freshman Joaquin Guilleme breezed to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Petar Belosevic on court two. He is now 8-0 on the year and now has a win at all six singles positions.
Finally, graduate student Harry Thursfield clinched the 30th team win of the season for Wake Forest as he downed Mauricio Gonzalez Paiva (6-0, 6-1) on court three. He is now 5-0 this season.

Of note, the Deacs are now a combined 105-30 in singles this campaign.

Wake Forest is one of just two schools that remain unbeaten in ACC play, along with NC State. The Demon Deacons will battle the Wolfpack in the regular-season finale on April 12 in Raleigh. Additionally, the wins on Friday extended the program record for most-consecutive wins to open a season.

How It Happened (SMU)

Suresh/Robertson were the first Demon Deacons to go up a break as they did so on court two.
- Court three remained on serve while the Mustangs held a 3-1 advantage on court one.
The doubles point would come down to court three as Suresh/Robertson closed out a 6-3 victory on court two right before the Mustangs claimed court one.
SMU took the 1-0 lead following a 6-3 victory on court three.
20 minutes into singles, the Demon Deacons held break advantages on courts two (Robertson), four (Tacchi) and six (Capalbo).
Suresh (6-3) and Capalbo (6-1) were the first two Wake Forest players to take a set.
Not long after, Tacchi (7-5) and Pow (6-3) grabbed two more first-sets for the Deacs.
Xilas made it five first sets in favor of the host after a clutch 7-6 (7-5) tiebreak victory.
- SMU only took the first set on court two.
The Mustangs forced a third set on court one.
Wake Forest took the lead following back-to-back wins from Pow (6-3, 6-2) and Capalbo (6-1, 7-5) on courts five and six, respectively.
On court one, Suresh brought the Deacs to within one court away from clinching following a three-set, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory.
Robertson and Xilas both went into a third set.
Once again with the match riding on his shoulders, Robertson stepped up and secured the match victory for Wake Forest with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory on court two.
- Courts three and four went unfinished.

Singles Results (SMU)
1. No. 7 DK Suresh Ekambaram (WFU) def. No. 53 Trevor Svajda (SMU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
2. Charlie Robertson (WFU) def. Jerry Barton (SMU) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
3. No. 90 Ioannis Xilas (WFU) vs. Ofek Shimanov (SMU) 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 2-2, unfinished
4. Luciano Tacchi (WFU) vs. Georgi Georgiev (SMU) 7-5, 4-6, 4-3, unfinished
5. Luca Pow (WFU) def. Louis Cloud (SMU) 6-3, 6-2
6. Franco Capalbo (WFU) def. Maks Silagy (SMU) 6-1, 7-5

Order of finish: 5, 6, 1, 2

Doubles Results (SMU)
1. Georgiev/Shimanov (SMU) def. No. 8 Tacchi/Pow (WFU) -3
2. No. 10 Suresh/Robertson (WFU) def. No. 44 Cloud/Svajda (SMU) 6-3
3. Deo/Barton (SMU) def. Capalbo/Xilas (WFU) 6-3

Order of finish: 2, 1, 3

How It Happened (Longwood)

Capalbo/Xilas surged to a 3-0 out of the gate on court two in doubles.
- The duo closed out the 6-2 victory and brought the Deacs to within a win of going up 1-0.
Longwood took court three as the point would come down to Pow/Mazev on court one.
The Demon Deacons went up 1-0 following a tiebreak victory (7-6 [7-3] by Pow/Mazev.
Wake Forest surged to 4-0 leads on four of the six courts and took firm control of the match.
- The Deacs on the other two courts were also up a break.
Guilleme and Thursfield were the first two Deacs to take their first sets, both 6-0, on courts two and three, respectively.
- Shalmi also posted a perfect 6-0 first set not long after on court five.
Pow (court one) and Mazev (court five) continued the dominant performance by Wake Forest with 6-1 first set wins.
Chang (6-2) rounded out a perfect start for the Deacs as he made it 6-for-6 on first sets.
The wins started to quickly pile in as Guilleme finished first on court two with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Belosevic.
Pow followed shortly after with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Puech in first singles.
Thursfield clinched the match following his 6-0, 6-1 victory against Paiva on court three.
- The remaining three matches went unfinished.

Singles Results (Longwood)
1. Luca Pow (WFU) def. Timeo Puech (LU) 6-1, 6-1
2. Joaquin Guilleme (WFU) def. Petar Belosevic (LU) 6-0, 6-1
3. Harry Thursfield (WFU) def. Mauricio Gonzalez Paiva (LU) 6-0, 6-1
4. Dylan Chang (WFU) vs. Alejandro Uribe (LU) 6-2, 1-2, unfinished
5. Cornelius Shalmi (WFU) vs. Marko Mrdak (LU) 6-0. 3-3, unfinished
6. Martin Mazev (WFU) vs. Petter Lindquist (LU) 6-1, 3-4, unfinished

Order of finish: 2, 1, 3

Doubles Results (Longwood)
1. Pow/Mazev (WFU) def. Puech/Paiva (LU) 7-6 (7-3)
2. Capalbo/Xilas (WFU) def. Belosevic/Lindquist (LU) 6-2
3. Uribe/Mrdak (LU) def. Suresh/Hahn (WFU) 6-3

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1

From Coach Bresky
"Nice to be back at home. First of all, credit to SMU, they played a really good match, pushed us hard. There were tough conditions for both teams, we haven't played in heat like that yet this year. We did a really good job of adjusting after the doubles point. Our fitness, the work we put in, was extremely important at the end of those matches. I felt like we were starting to kind of find our stride at the end, which is the mark of a good team. We were excited to get through that and it was nice to get some extra tennis in tonight for some guys that don't get to play all the time and those guys do a really good job of getting that win for us this evening."

Next Up
On Sunday, the Deacs will welcome Boston College and Coastal Carolina at noon and 4 p.m., respectively. After the match against the Eagles, Wake Forest will honor the seniors and graduates for their contributions to the program.

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