After winning both of his matches on Sunday, sophomore Patrick Kaukovalta advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Southern Regional Championships. The Espoo, Finland native, will play against Trevor Foshey (Mississippi State) at 10 a.m. Monday at the Alabama Tennis Stadium.
Kaukovalta moved past Karlo Kranic (Ole Miss), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, in the Round of 16 and then bested Rafael Wagner (LSU) in a three-set thriller, 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-6(4), to go on to the semifinals.
On the other side of the draw, junior Alexey Nesterov defeated Lorenzo Rodriguez (Auburn), 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, before falling to Trevor Foshey (MSU), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, in the quarterfinals.
In the doubles quarterfinals, No. 6 seed Kaukovalta/Nesterov fell to the No. 7 doubles pair in the nation, Niclas Braun/Giovani Oradini (Mississippi State), 8-3.
In other consolation singles results, sophomore Riccardo Roberto defeated Akos Kotorman (Tulane), 6-3, 6-2, while junior Edson Ortiz lost to No. 53 Matteo De Vincentis (Auburn), 6-3, 6-1, and junior Zhe Zhou was bested by No. 93 Tim Dollman (Auburn), 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (10-6).
