INDIAN WELLS/STARNBERG, January 26, 2024

Four players with SoCal connections were among a group of eight who advanced to the quarterfinals during the Southern California Open Week 2 being played at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

The quartet was led by top-seeded Zach Svajda of San Diego, who boasts an ATP World Tour ranking of No. 143 and climbing. The 21-year-old Svajda looked solid in his win over Strong Kirchheimer, 6-2, 6-1, and his singles match was one of seven of the eight that ended in straight sets. Zach’s little brother Trevor Svajda, 17, was on the losing end of one of those matches as he fell short against former Pepperdine All-American Sebastian Fanselow of Germany, 6-4, 6-4.

Irvine’s unseeded Learner Tien and No. 4 seed Brandon Holt from Rolling Hills were the others who moved on in the ATP Challenger Tour 50 hard-court event that is handing out $41,000 in total prize money this week. Tien upset No 3 seeded Marco Trungelliti of Argentina dropping just two games, 6-2, 6-0, and Holt eliminated qualifier Bruno Kuzuhara, 6-3, 6-1, in similar dominating fashion.

Indian Wells quarterfinals 🔜👇

🇺🇸 Holt vs Bicknell 🇯🇲
🇺🇸 Svajda vs Artnak 🇸🇮
🇺🇸 Tien vs Fanselow 🇩🇪
🇺🇸 Kwiatkowski vs Ilagan 🇺🇸#ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/UWDBJWWIaQ

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) January 26, 2024

In what is becoming a familiar theme, Ryan Seggerman and Patrik Trhac won again in doubles. The pairing came back to beat last Sunday’s finals opponents, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Alex Lawson, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 10-7. It was the duo’s 47^th win in their last 49 matches which has included 11 titles over 13 total weeks.

RESULTS – JANUARY 25, 2024

Singles – Second Round

[1] [WC] Z. Svajda (USA) d S. Kirchheimer (USA) 62 61

[Alt] L. Tien (USA) d [3] M. Trungelliti (ARG) 62 60

[4] B. Holt (USA) d [Q] B. Kuzuhara (USA) 63 61

[Q] B. Artnak (SLO) d [6] M. Krueger (USA) 62 63

[8] T. Kwiatkowski (USA) d [PR] P. Jubb (GBR) 75 46 63

S. Fanselow (GER) d [WC] T. Svajda (USA) 64 64

B. Bicknell (JAM) d Y. Oliel (ISR) 75 63

[Q] A. Ilagan (USA) d T. Handel (GER) 64 64

Doubles – Quarterfinals

[1] R. Seggerman (USA) / P. Trhac (USA) d T. Kwiatkowski (USA) / A. Lawson (USA) 36 76(6) 10-7

S. Fanselow (GER) / L. Gerch (GER) d [3] S. Duncan (GBR) / H. Reese (USA) 61 64

G. Oradini (ITA) / M. Soto (CHI) d T. Handel (GER) / T. Whiting (USA) 76(2) 61

T. Fancutt (AUS) / A. Rai (NZL) d G. Goldhoff (USA) / J. Trotter (JPN) 75 75