RANCHO SANTA FE, October 1, 2024 (by Steve Pratt)
The Rancho Santa Fe Open’s fourth edition opened with singles qualifying play on Monday at the Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club with the ITF World Tennis Tour W75 ($60,000 prize money) and USTA Pro Circuit event continuing all week.
Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club General Manager John Chanfreau said that this year players with WTA rankings from No. 113 to No. 335 will compete in the main draw starting on Tuesday and led by top-seeded 18-year-old Michigan-born sensation Maya Joint who represents Australia.
On Monday during the opening day of the event the first round of qualifying was completed. University of San Diego’s Kailey Evans, a redshirt senior from Texas, was the big winner as she captured her first-ever WTA ranking point with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 upset over No. 6 seeded Jenna DeFalco of Tustin.
It was a big day for other San Diego-area players as Torrey Pines High senior Alyssa Ahn dropped just three games in advancing to Tuesday’s final qualifying round match where she will face a familiar face in fellow San Diegan Haley Giavara. The No. 4 seed former Cal All-American Giavara beat San Diego State wild card Zoe Olmos, also dropping just three games with the same, 6-1 6-2, scoreline. The two will meet for a spot in the main draw in the second match on following a 9:30 opening match on Court 1.
Former University of San Diego star Solymar Colling advanced with a win over former world top 30 Urszula Radwanska of Poland. San Diego’s Sabi Leon and Oceanside’s Megan McCray both fell in the first round, as did high school senior Emily Deming from Fallbrook and Westview High sophomore Ylin Chen, who took a set off Veronkia Miroshnichenko from Russia.
Chanfreau said the tournament has been used as a springboard for young WTA players looking to improve their WTA ranking and get into the four major tournaments on the pro calendar – the Australian and French Opens, Wimbledon and the US Open.
Last year RSF Open singles winner was Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva, a WTA Tour rookie who played for Old Dominion University in Virginia. She beat Switzerland’s Lulu Sun in the final, and the two amazingly met up again in the first round at Wimbledon in July with Sun getting the revenge win and going onto the quarterfinals.
“I’m looking forward to this year’s 4th Annual RSF Open,” said Chanfreau, adding that Sun is now ranked No. 40 in the world. “It was amazing over the summer watching last year’s finalists Yuliia and Lulu have breakout years on the WTA Tour and qualifying and playing each other at Wimbledon. That’s what our event is all about – seeing the future stars of tomorrow right here in Rancho Santa Fe.”
The current University of Texas freshman Joint will be followed in the seedings by Canada’s Rebecca Marino (No. 133) and former UCLA All-American Ena Shibahara (No. 154) representing Japan. The top-seeded American entered is Santa Barbara’s Kayla Day (No. 170). She is followed by Elli Mandlik (No. 185) at No. 7 from Boca Raton, Fla. Mandlik’s mother Hana Mandlikova was a top-ranked player in the early 1980s from Czechoslovakia who won five Grand Slam titles. The final seed at No. 8 is Fontana’s Hanna Chang (No. 196).
Other American’s entered in the singles main draw include New York’s Louisa Chirico (No. 217), Torrance teenager Iva Jovic (No. 290), Victoria Hu (No. 273) from Massachusetts, Boca Raton, Fla., teenager Akasha Urhobo (No. 305), former USC star Madison Sieg (No. 315), New York native Elvina Kalieva (No. 333) and 2022 RSF Open singles finalist Katrina Scott from Woodland Hills (No. 335).
The USTA has selected two 15-year-old teenagers from California as main draw singles wild cards and they include Carlsbad’s Julieta Pareja and Campbell’s Annika Penickova. Pareja won two rounds of qualifying at the US Open and Penickova also competed in New York City in the junior event and is ranked in the top 50 of the ITF junior rankings. Battle in the Bay singles winner Anastasiya Lopata from the University of Geogia and Ashley Kratzer from Newport Beach are the other main draw wilds.
This year, tournament organizers has announced a special collaboration with ICL Academy (Institute for Champions and Leaders) and ICL Foundation. Throughout the week, there will be various events and activations to support the ICL Foundation.
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