SEATTLE, Wash. – Sema Pankin continued his impressive run by reaching the singles semifinals at the ITA Northwest Super Regionals held at the Lloyd Nordstrom Tennis Center. Pankin knocked off nationally-ranked and third-seeded Alexandre Rotsaert in three sets on Saturday morning to earn a place in Sunday's semifinals.

Pankin, the No. 6 seed in the singles draw, pulled out the 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Rotsaert who was ranked No. 100 nationally in the ITA Preseason Poll. The Omsk, Russia native will now prepare to face Washington's Clement Chidekh on his home court on Sunday morning. Chidekh is the No. 2 seed and ranked 72nd nationally.

Pankin also competed with partner Eleftherios Neos in an afternoon doubles quarterfinal match against Rotsaert and Arthur Fery of Stanford. The Cardinal duo cruised to an 8-0 win to knock the last Pilot doubles team out of the draw.

"Sema was terrific today," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "He got off to a quick start against one of Stanford's best and most experienced players. He came back from 15-40 on his serve twice in the third set to hold and ended up cruising to the finish. The work Sema puts in in the summer is what put him in this position. He has earned the right to be confident in big situations and that confidence showed with a very clearheaded third set from him today.

"The doubles match was another story. We lost our serve the first two times on no ad points and the Stanford team was just very strong and played really well in the lead. No excuses, they were just too solid."

Play continues on Sunday with live video and scoring 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) def. (3) #100 Alexandre Rotsaert (STAN) 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
SF (6) Pankin (POR) vs. (2) #72 Clement Chidekh (WASH) Sunday, 10:30 AM

Singles Consolation
C Issa Yoshida (POR) def. Phuc Huynh (USF) 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10)
C Aryan Chaudhary (STAN) def. Julien Penzlin (POR) 7-6 (4), 6-7 (8), 1-0 (4)
C Arthur Neuhaus (SCU) def. Yoshida (POR) 6-1, 6-2

Doubles
16 Neos/Pankin (POR) def. Guillaume Dalmasso/Arthur Neuhaus (SCU) 8-6
16 (1) #12 Charlton/Quinn Vandecasteele (UO) def. Yoshida/Leo Hibi (POR) 8-1
16 (3) Clement Chidekh/Nedim Suko (UW) def. Oscar Brown/Nicklas Oberg (POR) 8-7 (6)
QF (2) #59 Arthur Fery/Rotsaert (STAN) def. Neos/Pankin (POR) 8-0