Orlando, Fla. – No. 42 Murphy Cassone upset No. 3 Arthur Fery (Stanford) in straight sets, 7-6(6), 7-5, to advance to the 2023 NCAA Men's Tennis Semifinals on Thursday morning. Cassone is set to play No. 8 Michigan's Ondrej Styler on Friday, May 26 at 8:30 a.m. MST.
Cassone tallied five aces in his fifth NCAA postseason win and is the first Sun Devil to reach the semifinal round since Sargis Sargsian in 1995.
Fery, the 2023 Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year, had nine wins over ranked opponents this season, including three over top-eight seeds in the National Championship.
"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."
In a back-and-forth battle, the pair kept each other within distance until the end of the first set when Murphy ultimately won the tiebreaker.
Fery went up 3-0 in the second set 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.
Cassone was named to the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team this season. He was a perfect 6-0 in April and never lost more than two consecutive matches 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.
Cassone tallied five aces in his fifth NCAA postseason win and is the first Sun Devil to reach the semifinal round since Sargis Sargsian in 1995.
Fery, the 2023 Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year, had nine wins over ranked opponents this season, including three over top-eight seeds in the National Championship.
"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."
In a back-and-forth battle, the pair kept each other within distance until the end of the first set when Murphy ultimately won the tiebreaker.
Fery went up 3-0 in the second set 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.
Cassone was named to the Pac-12 All-Conference First Team this season. He was a perfect 6-0 in April and never lost more than two consecutive matches 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.