Men’s Tennis | May 25, 2023
Orlando, Fla.– In a two set sweep, No. 42 Murphy Cassone upset the Pac-12 Player of the Year, No. 3 Arthur Fery (Stanford) 7-6(6), 7-5 on Thursday morning to advance himself to the 2023 NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Semifinals. Murphy is the first Sun Devil to reach the semifinal round since Sargis Sargsian in 1995 and is set to play Michigan’s Ondrej Styler on Friday, May 26 with a time TBD.
The All-American sophomore tallied five aces in his fifth NCAA postseason win.
“It was a great mental effort by Murphy today as Arthur is one of the best players in the country which was displayed on the court,” head coach Matt Hill said. “We knew it would come down to a couple points on who could execute better, and who was willing to be braver in the bigger moments.”
It was an all gas, no breaks match from Murphy as he grabbed the first point against Fery. In a back and forth battle, the pair kept each other within arms distance up until the end of the first set when Murphy ultimately won in the tiebreaker. The second set looked a bit different as Fery went up 3-0 before Murphy could find a point. A double fault by Fery while up 4-1 changed the trajectory of the match as Murphy scored three points in a row. Murphy’s momentum persisted, tying up the match 5-5 before shutting Fery down to claim the sixth point. The final point had eight serves, ending in Murphy’s favor for the 7-5.
This season Cassone was named to the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team as he was absolutely dominant in the final weeks of the regular season. Cassone was a perfect 6-0 in April and never lost more than two matches back-to-back during the year. Of his 17 wins in the regular season, just five went to a third set. He finished the regular season 17-6 (8-2 Pac-12) in singles play, and has a 3.1 ITF World Tennis Number.
Live scoring for Cassone’s match will be available here. Continue following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter and Instagram for all the latest coverage and news.
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