UK senior Jesse Witten finds himself in the semifinals of a national-championship event for the first time since his freshman season after posting round-of-16 and quarterfinal victories Friday at the ITA National Indoor Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The three-time All-American from Naples, Fla., posted a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Clemson?s Nathan Thompson in the round of 16 to set up a quarterfinal match against San Diego?s 43rd-ranked Pierrick Ysern. Witten dropped the first set, 6-7 (5) and rebounded for a 7-5 second-set victory before Ysern retired in the third set after Witten assumed a 2-0 lead. The third-seeded Witten will meet Stanford?s Sam Warburg in Saturday?s semifinal.

Witten will make his first semifinal appearance in a national-championship event since his memorable run to the 2002 NCAA championship match as a freshman. Witten won five matches in the event before falling to Georgia?s Matias Boeker in the national-title match.

The National Indoor Championship is one of three national-championship events sanctioned by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). The ITA All-American Championships were held last month in Chattanooga, Tenn., and the NCAA Tennis Championships are set for May 21-30, 2005 at Texas A&M.

AGATE:
ITA National Indoor Championships ? Ann Arbor, Mich.
Singles Round of 16

(3) Jesse Witten (UK) def. Nathan Thompson (Clemson) ? 6-0, 6-4

Singles Quarterfinal

(3) Jesse Witten (UK) def. Pierrick Ysern (San Diego) 6-7 (5), 7-5, 2-0, ret.