Demon Deacons Deliver Sooners' First Loss

No. 11 Wake Forest

No. 2 Oklahoma

NORMAN – The second-ranked Oklahoma men's tennis team dropped its match with No. 11 Wake Forest on Sunday, falling 5-1 inside the Gregg Wagley Indoor Pavilion at the Headington Family Tennis Center.

Playing live on the Fox Sports network, the Sooners (2-1) dropped the doubles point to the Demon Deacons (5-0) and then lost four of the six singles matches en route to their first loss of the year.

"I think [Maxime Mora] did a really good job of competing and giving effort to execute the game plan he was given. That was a really good thing to see out of him.
- Head Coach John Roddick

“First of all I think Wake played really well,” head coach John Roddick said. “They deserve a lot of credit. They finished us off in doubles and they finished us off is singles. They did their job for sure. I think some of the things we have been talking about over the last few weeks were very evident today. Sometimes you need that experience to learn it. You would rather not learn it with a loss, but in this case that is what happened.”

At number two doubles, OU's duo of junior Alex Ghilea and senior Austin Siegel gave up a pair of breaks and were unable to steal any of their own, falling 1-6 to Petros Chrysochos and Jon Ho. On court one, OU's top pair of senior Axel Alvarez and sophomore Spencer Papa dropped serve at 5-6, giving Christian Seraphim and Skander Mansouri a 7-5 win and Wake Forest the doubles point.

With junior Andrew Harris still sidelined by injury, Papa faced Chrysochos at number two singles. The Edmond, Okla., native took his first loss of the year in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.

“With Andrew being out our guys are getting a lot of opportunities,” Roddick said. “We have to find out which guys want them. I was disappointed because I don't think with anyone out of our lineup our level should drop as much as it did. Our guys can learn from that. Getting Andrew back will be a big boost, but we should be a lot better for it with guys getting more experience and learning that they can step up. We had that learning curve, but we will see how we respond this week and into the weekend.”

Playing in the number six position, freshman Andre Biro played Seraphim close in the first set, but fell 4-6, and then dropped the second 3-6 to give Wake Forest a 3-0 lead. With four singles matches remaining, the Demon Deacons needs just one more win to clinch the dual.

That point came at number three singles where Ghilea faced Bogaerts. At one point in the first set, Ghilea trailed 1-5 before winning four games in a row to level the set at 5-all. Ghilea's late charge came up just short as he dropped his service game at 5-6 to lose the set. Bogaerts controlled the second set, winning 6-1 to take the match and secure the win for Wake Forest.

Freshman Maxime Mora delivered the Sooners' only point of the day with a win at number five singles. The Narbonne, France, native won 7-5, 6-3 over Dennis Uspensky to improve to 2-0 in dual play.

“Max did a good job listening to the game plan,” Roddick said. “He did a lot of the things we worked on. That was one of the bright spots. He made the guy play and hit volleys. I think he did a really good job of competing and giving effort to execute the game plan he was given. That was a really good thing to see out of him.”

Alvarez, reigning national and Big 12 player of the year, went to three sets in his match with No. 26 Mansouri at number one singles. Alvarez dropped the first set 4-6 and then took the second after winning a tiebreaker 7-3 to force a third set. Alvarez grabbed an early break and led for most of the third set, but Mansouri would rally and win the set 6-4 to take the match.

At number four singles, junior Florin Bragusi defeated Ho by retirement. Bragusi led one set to none and was serving at 4-5 in the second when Wake Forest clinched the match and Ho elected not to continue.

The Sooners are back in action next weekend as they hit the road to face Alabama on Friday, Feb. 5 at 4 p.m. CT. Oklahoma then continues its trek east to take on No. 10 North Carolina on Sunday, Feb. 7 at noon CT.

For more information on Oklahoma Men's Tennis, follow the team on Twitter at @OU_MTennis.

RESULTS

DOUBLES

1.^#26Seraphim/Mansouri def. Alvarez/Papa - 7-5
2. Chrysochos/Ho def. Siegel Ghilea - 6-1
3. Mora/Bragusi vs. Bogaerts/Uspensky - 4-5 unfinished

Order of finish: 2,1

SINGLES

1. ^#26Skander Seraphim def. ^#60Axel Alvarez - 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4
2. Petros Chrysochos def. Spencer Papa - 6-2, 6-2

3. Romain Bogaerts def. ^#92Alex Ghilea - 7-5, 6-1

4. Florin Bragusi def. ^#103Jon Ho - 6-4, 4-5 retired

5. Maxime Mora def. Dennis Uspensky - 7-5, 6-3

6. Christian Seraphim def. Andre Biro - 6-4, 6-3