Sophomore Samir Banerjee showcased a dominant run at the ITA Northwest Super Regionals this weekend, finishing as the runner-up and securing a place at the ITA Fall National Championships.
In the home season opener, Banerjee secured straight set victories over players from Gonzaga, Pacific, Santa Clara and Sacramento State. In the opening two rounds, Banerjee defeated Matthew Hollingwort (Gonzaga) 6-3, 6-2 and Tiago Silva 6-2, 6-1. He then followed these two victories with a ranked win over Christian Lerby (Santa Clara), who was previously ranked ninth in the ITA Northwest regional rankings and currently sits at 84 on the ITA preseason rankings.
In the semi-finals, Banerjee defeated Jan Silva from Sacramento State 7-6 (3), 6-0. He battled top-seeded No. 104 Quinn Vandecasteele of Oregon in the final but fell 6-3, 6-4. Finishing the weekend 4-1, the 2023 Pac-12 Rookie of the Year leads the team with five singles victories so far this fall.
Banerjee also reached the semi-finals in doubles with senior Aryan Chaudhary. The duo defeated Portland and Sacramento State with scores of 8-5 and 8-6, respectively. However, they lost their semi-final clash with University of the Pacific duo Peter Alam and Justas Trainauskas 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (10).
Joining the two at the tournament were graduate student Neel Rajesh, junior Anders Matta and freshmen Hudson Rivera and Kyle Kang. Rajesh won in his opening match against Nicolas Ocana 6-4, 6-1, but lost in a tightly-contested match against Lerby (Santa Clara) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. Rivera also had a strong display in his collegiate debut, tallying two ranked wins over Washington’s Dzianis Zharyn and Gonzaga’s Sasha Trkulja on his way to the semi-finals, before falling to Vadecasteele 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Kang lost his opening match, but finished the tournament with two wins.
Banerjee will appear next at the ITA Fall National Championships in San Diego, which is scheduled to take place from Nov. 1-5.