Tenth-seeded Wake Forest battled from behind, won five straight tiebreakers, and pushed past seventh-seeded Clemson on Thursday in the opening round of the ACC men’s tennis tournament at Cary, NC.
It was a disappointing setback for coach Chuck McCuen’s Tigers, who set the table for a victory by winning the doubles point and then grabbed a 3-0 lead by winning at the No. 5 and 6 singles positions.
The rest of the match was all Deacons, however, as Wake swept the top four singles matches capped by Adam Lee’s clinching double tiebreaker victory over Dominique Maden at the No. 4 spot.
The loss, which reversed a 4-3 Clemson victory in the teams’ regular season meeting, ended the Tigers’ season with a 9-14 record. The Deacons improved to 14-14.
Clemson won the doubles point to take an early 1-0 lead. The Tigers won the next two two singles matches to be decided: Hunter Harrington defeated Sam Wells at 6-2, 6-3 at No. 5 and Zachary Rigsby defeated Alex Tsai 6-2, 6-2 at No. 6.
Wake Forest then won four straight singles matches to claim the victory.
Daniel Kreyman defeated Clemson's Yannick Maden at No. 1 7-6, 6-3, while David Hopkins defeated Gerardo Meza 7-6, 6-1 at No. 2.
Clemson’s best chance to clinch the match slipped away when Aryton Wibowo, after winning his first set against Wake’s Amogh Prabhakar 6-3, dropped a second-set tiebreaker by a score of 7-5. Prabhakar went on to a 3-6, 7-6, 6-2 victory.
Lee then won a pair of tiebreakers against Dominique Maden – 7-3 in the first set and 7-5 in the second – for a clinching 7-6, 7-6 victory.
The Deacons advanced to play North Carolina in the tournament’s quarterfinal round.
Wake Forest 4, Clemson 3
Singles
1. Daniel Kreyman (WF) d. Yannick Maden (CU) 7-6 (5), 6-3
2. David Hopkins (WF) d. Gerardo Meza (CU) 7-6 (5), 6-1
3. Amogh Prabhakar (WF) d. Ayrton Wibowo (CU) 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2
4. Adam Lee (WF) d. Dominique Maden (CU) 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5)
5. Hunter Harrington (CU) d. Sam Wells 6-2, 6-3
6. Zachary Rigsby (CU) d. Alex Tsai (WF) 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4
Doubles
1. Maden/Rigsby (CU) d. Prabhakar/Hopkins (WF) 8-4
2. Kreyman/Lee (WF) d. Wibowo/Cedric Willems (CU) 8-5
3. Wesley Moran/Maden (CU) d. Tsai/Conner Sherwood (WF) 8-6
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
ACC: Durham Bulls Athletic Park
ACC: North Carolina 12, Clemson 7
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
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