CARY, N.C. – The third-seeded Notre Dame men’s tennis squad took 11th-seeded North Carolina’s best shot on Friday afternoon during the ACC Quarterfinals; however, the heroics of junior Kyran Magimay lifted the Fighting Irish to a 4-3 victory. The Irish improved to 21-6 on the year.
Notre Dame has now punched its ticket to the ACC semifinals for just the second time since joining the league (the previous was 2018). They will play two-seed Virginia on Saturday at 10 am ET.
North Carolina had won two straight before today’s match, defeating 14-seed Virginia Tech and 6-seed Clemson. The Tar Heels rode that momentum to steal the doubles point from the Irish and go up 1-0 in the match. All three doubles matches were decided by the score of 6-4.
Sebastian Dominko and Perry Gregg were the lone pair in the win column in doubles, defeating a ranked pairing of No. 34 Jones/Wright.
Just a little over an hour into singles play, the intensity of the match quickly revved up. The Blue & Gold retaliated swiftly, earning victories on courts two, six and one to go up 3-1.
No. 75 Perry Gregg earned a ranked win over No. 79 Roan Jones, 6-2, 6-1. Luis Llorens Saracho dispatched Logan Zapp, 6-1, 6-2. Then No. 18 Sebastian Dominko bested No. 125 Chris Xu, 6-3, 6-4.
Yet, moments later, the Tar Heels quickly netted the match at 3-all with straight-set victories on courts three and four.
Thus, it all came down to Kyran Magimay vs. Constantinos Djakouris on court five to decide the overall match. Magimay had already claimed the first set, 7-5.
Now, right when the team match was tied at 3-3, Magimay just broke Djakouris in the second set to go up 2-1. The junior made the most of it and held serve, putting himself in the driver’s seat, later up 4-2. Yet, Djakouris battled back and later tied the set at 4-4.
Next, in the biggest point of the match, Magimay immediately broke Djakouris right back to go up 5-4. Magimay then served for victory and clinched it, 6-4.
#3 seed Notre Dame (21-6) – 4 | #11 seed North Carolina (15-11) – 3
National Rankings: #24 Irish vs. #46 Tar Heels
DOUBLES – 1, 3, 2
1. Dominko/Gregg (ND) def. #34 Jones/Wright (UNC), 6-4
2. Ratiu/Xu (UNC) def. #62 Llorens Saracho/Nad (ND), 6-4
3. Mayew/Zapp (UNC) def. Lee/Thompson (ND), 6-4
SINGLES – 6, 2, 1, 3, 4, 5
1. #18 Sebastian Dominko (ND) def. #125 Chris Xu (UNC), 6-3, 6-4
2. #75 Perry Gregg (ND) def. #79 Roan Jones (UNC), 6-2, 6-1
3. Ian Mayew (UNC) def. Giuseppe Cerasuolo (ND), 6-4, 6-2
4. Niels Ratiu (UNC) def. Peter Nad (ND), 7-5, 6-3
5. Kyran Magimay (ND) def. Constantinos Djakouris (UNC), 7-5, 6-4
6. Luis Llorens Saracho (ND) def. Logan Zapp (UNC), 6-1, 6-2
– ND –