RANCHO SANTA FE, October 2, 2024 (by Steve Pratt)
Former WTA world-ranked top-30 player Lauren Davis and three with ties to San Diego were among eight qualifiers who won matches on Tuesday at the Rancho Santa Fe Open to make it into the main draw of the ITF World Tennis Tour $60,000 event being played at the Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club.
A fourth San Diego player opened up main-draw play later in the day with a huge win as 15-year-old USTA wild card Julieta Pareja from Carlsbad upset world No. 185 and RSF Open No. 6-seeded Elli Mandlik from Florida, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. Former Pac-12 Player of the Year from Cal-Berkely and San Diego native Haley Giavara, former University of San Diego Star Solymar Colling, and current Torero senior Kailey Evans all posted qualifying victories to advance.
The best year of American 30-year-old Davis’s career came in 2017 when she won her first of two WTA singles titles, was on the winning USA Billie Jean King Cup squad and achieved her career-high ranking of No. 26.
Davis started this year at No. 72 in the rankings but has since fallen to No. 554 and has not won a main-draw match at any level since the US Open last year. She will get a chance to get that elusive first main-draw win in 13 months on Wednesday when she faces fellow American Louisa Chirico.
Davis, who has been to the third round six times in Grand Slam tournaments during her career, has shared the courts with the elite of women’s tennis having faced major champions such as Venus Williams, Ash Barty, Angelique Kerber, Sloane Stephens, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Naomi Osaka, Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Ostapenko, Sofia Kenin and Coco Gauff.
The 21-year-old Evans from Ennis, Texas, is someone else who has also played Gauff as a top junior from Texas. A redshirt senior after playing a year for Texas Tech, Evans used her wild card granted by tournament director John Chanfreau to beat Jada Robinson, 7-6 (2), 6-2.
“I was up on her both times we played, but never beat her,” Evans said of Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion. “I was fortunate to play in the Australian and US Open junior tournaments and faced a lot of great players.”
Over the weekend, Evans played in the ITA All-American, one of the top collegiate events of the year losing in the Round of 16 before winning a few back draw matches in Cary, N.C. “I’ve been playing a lot of tennis, but I’ve been able to recover nicely and have been feeling pretty good on court,” said Evans, who is playing in her 10th ITF pro event and will compete in her fourth main draw.
Later in the day, Evans and her former USD teammate Colling fell in the first round of doubles in a tight 11-9 super tiebreaker after splitting sets.
Colling had a nice straight-set win in her final qualifying singles match beating high school junior Maya Iyengar from Arizona, 6-4, 6-4. She next faces former UCLA All-American and 2022 French Open doubles winner Ena Shibahara, the No. 3 seed from Rancho Palos Verdes, who is representing Japan.
Giavara beat Torrey High senior Alyssa Ahn in three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, to advance. In doubles, the No. 3 seeded team of Giavara and Rasheed McAdoo escaped with a 13-11 super tiebreaker win to move to the quarterfinals. McAdoo played her college tennis at Georgia Tech and is the daughter of NBA Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo.
Over the summer, the high school sophomore Pareja won her first ITF professional title as a wild card at the SoCal Pro Series $15,000 Futures tournament on these same Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club courts. A few weeks later, Pareja played in the Women’s US Open qualifying event and won two rounds.
Ashley Kratzer joined fellow wild card Pareja in the main draw winner’s circle as she beat Canada’s Carson Branstine, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Carson grew up just 35 miles north of Rancho Santa Fe in the City of Orange.
