LAKEWOOD, Calif., July 8, 2023 (by Steve Pratt)

The top two seeds in the women’s singles draw of the SoCal Pro Series Lakewood event will face qualifiers on Saturday for the right to play each other in the finals as No. 1 Hanna Chang and No. 2 Eryn Cayetano won straight-set matches on Friday.

Chang is a 25-year-old from Fontana who is ranked No. 318 in the WTA World Tour rankings and has won five ITF singles titles during her career. Cayetano, 22, is a former USC No. 1 whose family resides 20 miles from Chang in the Inland Empire city of Corona.

Both will play juniors-to-be this coming college season as Chang takes on Pepperdine’s Savannah Broadus in one semifinal while Cayetano meets Mary Stoiana, a Texas A&M junior from Connecticut, in the other semi.

Broadus and Stoiana won their fifth straight matches over five days coming through qualifying.

Cayetano, who won the singles and doubles titles at the Kramer Club as a wild card last summer, held off her Trojan teammate qualifier Emma Charney, 7-5, 6-4, from South Carolina in the quarterfinals. Charney went 25-12 in her freshman year at USC playing mostly No. 3 and 4 singles. Chang took out Brandy Walker of Brea by the score of 6-0, 7-6.

While all four women’s quarters ended in straight sets, three of the four men’s final four matches went the distance. No. 7 seed from USC Stefan Dostanic took out Australia’s Philip Sekulic, 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-4, while No. 5 Alfredo Perez also split sets with Quinn Vandecasteele before pulling away with a 6-0 third-set victory.

While Dostanic will play the former University of Florida All-American Perez, Andre Ilagan will face No. 4 and last year’s Lakewood champion Jaimee Floyd Angele in second semifinal to follow.

Ilagan ended former UCLA No. 1 Keegan Smith’s run in the closest match on the day, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5). Ilagan is a Hawaii native and played his college tennis for the University for Hawaii ending his career recently as the greatest player in Rainbows history as its first-ever ITA All-American.

In the women’s doubles final to be played after the singles semifinals on Saturday, Fiona Crawley and Stoiana will take on Ameilia Honer and Anita Sahdiieva. Crawley helped the University of North Carolina win its first NCAA team title in May and then won the NCAA Division I Doubles title in the individual tournament played in Orlando.

In the men’s doubles final, Ryan Seggerman and Patrik Trhac will face top-seeded Perez and Jamie Vance.

Daily tournament admission and parking is free to the public at all SoCal Pro Series events. The SoCal Pro Series’ remaining tournament dates and locations are:

• Currently through July 9 – Lakewood Tennis Center, Lakewood
• July 10-16 – Lakewood Tennis Center, Lakewood

To learn more about the SoCal Pro Series, go to: https://www.ustasocal.com/proseries.