WINSTON-SALEM, N.C — Reaching new heights Sunday afternoon, the top-seeded Wake Forest men’s tennis team advanced to the program’s first-ever semifinal of the NCAA Tennis Championship with a 4-0 win against No. 8-seed Illinois on the Jim Leighton Courts at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.
The semifinal berth comes a year after the program’s first-ever quarterfinal appearance in the NCAA Championship. Wake Forest improves to 29-2 on the season, while Illinois’ run at the NCAA Title ends with a 24-8 overall record. The Demon Deacons will play for the opportunity to notch another program-first – a National Championship appearance – Monday at 2 p.m. against fifth-seeded Texas A&M.
Heading into singles, Wake Forest held a 1-0 lead after taking its 24th doubles point of the season. The Demon Deacons have yet to drop a doubles point in the 2018 NCAA Championships.
In singles, the first two finished first sets swayed Illinois’ way, causing brief concern until Wake Forest secured three of the remaining four first sets to maintain the advantage. Furthermore, two of WF’s dropped first sets transpired into third sets, strengthening Wake Forest’s stronghold.
Senior Skander Mansouri, ranked No. 38 in the ITA singles rankings, was off the court first in singles with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Aron Hiltzik on court three. Putting the Deacs up 3-0, Bar Botzer defeated Aleks Kovacevic, 6-4, 7-5, on court four. Mansouri improved to 25-6 on the season, while Botzer upped his win streak to 16 matches for an overall mark of 35-6.
Two courts vied for the clinching point, but it was redshirt senior Christian Seraphim on court six that sent the Deacs to the next round. Seraphim dispatched Fighting Illini’s Caleb Chakravarthi, 6-4, 7-5.
The other court racing for the clinch was court two, manned by Petros Chrysochos. After dropping his first set, Chrysochos burned through the second set and had a match point of his own when Seraphim clinched. Also recovering from losing a first set and forcing a third set was No. 7-ranked Borna Gojo who was leading 3-1 at the time of clinch.
In doubles, the Deacon duo of No. 16-ranked Seraphim and Ian Dempster notched the first win on court three, beating Aleks Vukic and Vuk Budic, 6-3. The Deacs broke the Fighting Illini’s second serve to go up 3-1, and then serves held until the end. Clinching the point was No. 21-ranked Gojo and Mansouri on court one with a 6-3 win over Alex Brown and Chakravarthi. Similar to court three, one break was all the difference only this time it occurred on Illinois’ first serve.
The victory marks the 14th-straight win for Wake Forest, matching a program-best streak that was set at the start of the 2018 season.
