SEATTLE, Wash. – Sema Pankin won both of his singles matches on Friday to advance to the quarterfinals of the ITA Northwest Super Regionals held at the Lloyd Nordstrom Tennis Center. Pankin also teamed up with doubles partner Eleftherios Neos to win an evening match to reach the doubles quarterfinals.

The Pilots had three representatives in the 32-player singles draw and three duos that earned bids to the 16-team doubles draw.

Pankin, the No. 6 seed in singles, defeated Gonzaga's Matthew Hollingworth in straight sets to open the tournament and then came back for a 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 victory over James Watt of Saint Mary's in the Round of 16. He will face third-seeded and nationally-ranked Alexandre Rotsaert of Stanford on Saturday morning.

Neos also picked up a quality singles win against No. 90-ranked and fourth-seeded Joshua Charlton of Oregon by a 7-6, 7-6 margin, but was knocked out in the Round of 16 by Gonzaga's Arthus de la Bassetiere. Pilot freshman Julien Penzlin dropped his opening round singles match in straight sets to Oregon's Jesper Klov-Nilsson.

Pankin and Neos then teamed up for an 8-6 doubles win against a pair from Santa Clara in the evening. They will take on Arthur Fery and Rotsaert of Stanford, the No. 59 ranked team in the nation, in Saturday's afternoon quarterfinal.

Freshman Oscar Brown and Nicklas Oberg overcame a 6-1 deficit to the draw's third seed from Washington, but fell 8-7 (6) in the tiebreaker. Issa Yoshida and Leo Hibi lost to the No. 12-ranked and top-seeded Oregon duo by an 8-1 margin.

"It was a crazy day," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "Lefty started the day off with one of the best wins he's ever had against Oregon's top player. He didn't quite play as well in the afternoon, but lost to a solid opponent. Sema got through to the quarterfinals which is a nice accomplishment for him. I think he can push it further in this tournament and he and Lefty are still alive in the doubles draw. Nick Oberg an Oscar Brown almost ended the day with an amazing comeback. They were down 6-1 and came all the way back to actually even have a match point at 7-6 in the tiebreaker, but just couldn't get over the hump. They played some inspire doubles.

"We will be back after it again tomorrow. There is great competition at this tournament since everyone had to qualify so there are no easy draws. The competition is definitely making us stronger."

Play continues on Saturday with live video coverage available at gohuskies.com.

ITA Northwest Super Regionals
Seattle, Wash. (Lloyd Nordstrom Tennis Center)
Oct. 22-26, 2021

Singles
32 Jesper Klov-Nilsson (UO) def. Julien Penzlin (POR) 6-2, 7-5
32 Eleftherios Neos (POR) vs. (4) #90 Joshua Charlton (UO) 7-6 (7), 7-6 (2)
32 (6) Sema Pankin (POR) def. Matthew Hollingworth (GON) 6-4, 7-5
16 Arthus de la Bassetiere (GON) def. Neos (POR) 7-6 (3), 6-3
16 (6) Pankin (POR) def. James Watt (SMC) 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2
QF (6) Pankin (POR) vs. (3) #100 Alexandre Rotsaert (STAN), Saturday 11:30 AM

Doubles
16 Neos/Pankin (POR) def. Guillaume Dalmasso/Arthur Neuhaus (SCU) 8-6
16 (1) #12 Charlton/Quinn Vandecasteele (UO) def. Issa Yoshida/Leo Hibi (POR) 8-1
16 (3) Clement Chidekh/Nedim Suko (UW) def. Oscar Brown/Nicklas Oberg (POR) 8-7 (6)
QF Neos/Pankin (POR) vs. (2) #59 Arthur Fery/Rotsaert (STAN), Saturday, 3:30 PM