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Wake Forest Tops Virginia, Advances To NCAA Men's Tennis Semifinals

The Demon Deacons advanced behind singles wins from Gojo, Bar Botzer, Melios Efstathiou and Siddhant Banthia after dropping a closely contested doubles point.
Credit: Brian Hall, WFMY
After earning the tournament's No. 6 overall seed, the Deacs will welcome Michigan, East Tennessee State and Coastal Carolina to Winston-Salem on May 13 and 14.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Defending NCAA champions Wake Forest completed a comeback victory, epitomized by Borna Gojo’s clinching, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win on Court 1, to defeat Virginia for the third time this season and reach the Saturday semifinals. The Demon Deacons advanced behind singles wins from Gojo, Bar Botzer, Melios Efstathiou and Siddhant Banthia after dropping a closely contested doubles point.

After straight-sets wins by Banthia (No. 6), Botzer (No. 3) and Efstathiou (No. 5), and a Ryan Goetz victory for UVA at the No. 4 spot, the attention turned to Courts 1 and 2, with the defending champs needing just one more point to seal the victory.

That point nearly came at the No. 2 spot, where Wake Forest junior Petros Chrysochos held a pair of match points against Virginia freshman Brandon Nakashima, at 6-4 in a second-set tiebreak. But after dropping five points in a row to get into that position, Nakashima won four straight to take the tiebreak, 8-6, and send the match to a third set.

Amidst the drama on Court 2, Gojo leveled the No. 1 singles match at one set all against Carl Soderlund. With the No. 2 singles tiebreaker sapping the energy of the crowds, Gojo found an extra burst himself to edge ahead in set three. He would continue to ride that momentum to victory.

To start the match, UVA stole the doubles point, coming from behind twice late at No. 3 doubles to secure the early edge, as Gianni Ross and William Woodall took a 7-5 tiebreaker. After Wake Forest broke serve on a deuce point to go ahead, 5-4, the Demon Deacons could not serve out the match. The defending champs again led early in the tiebreak, but UVA freshman Woodall closed out the match, 7-4, ending match with a pair of strong serves.

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