CLAREMONT, June 29, 2026 (by Steve Pratt)

UCLA senior Spencer Johnson from Ladera Ranch continued his impressive play on Sunday on the final day of the SoCal Pro Series Claremont event as he captured his second straight ITF $15,000 World Tennis Tour singles title defeating Arizona senior Alex Rozin from Toronto, Canada in a comfortable two-set win, 6-4, 6-3, at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center. 

The unseeded 23-year-old Johnson never trailed in the match and credited his powerhouse serve as “the main part of my game.” In the pivotal moment in the match, with Johnson leading 5-4 in the first set but down 15-40, he came back to break Rozin’s serve to take the first set and roll to the victory just one week after winning at the Racquet Club of Irvine.

This was Johnson’s 17th ITF singles win of the year and 10th straight singles win. After the match, Johnson said his confidence has been the key. “I feel like I’m competing more consistently each match,” he said. He has reached the semifinals in all four of his last singles tournaments and now boasts an 85 percent ITF singles win rate in 2026.

“I feel a lot more comfortable when I start strong,” said Johnson, the Bruins’ No. 1 player. “The rest of my game is catching up to my serve, which is the anchor of my game. I was able to calm down midway through that first set and make him a little more uncomfortable.” He hopes to continue his ITF streak this week in San Diego and finish his collegiate career in Westwood next spring with a Big Ten Championship.

As for Rozin, this was the furthest the 20-year-old had made it in an ITF pro event and he said he owes it to the “tons of hard work put together over the past year.” Rozin reflected on the great atmosphere at Claremont and the continued confidence he has in his game and in himself moving forward.

His deepest run came last month when he made it to the semifinals at the Jack Kramer Club $15K in Rolling Hills Estates. “Keep building and improving is the main goal,” Rozin said. “I want to play more tournaments, get more experience and keep giving myself opportunities to succeed.” 

El Dorado Hills’ Alexis Nguyen won her first career pro title on the women’s side Sunday in an impressive performance. The No. 5 seed Nguyen defeated Stanford sophomore and No. 7 seed Alyssa Ahn in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, to claim the title. The 18-year-old North Carolina commit lost only one set during this week’s SoCal Pro Series event.

After being down 2-1 in the first set, Nguyen never trailed again. “I feel great right now,” she said. “It was my first title and I am very excited.” Nguyen had not reached a final match since the W15 Rancho Santa Fe event in June of last year and had been “training and communicating with my coach back home so I think that helped.”

Nguyen mentioned that her game is a “work in progress,” but feels she is doing a better job at staying neutral, attacking the net, and hitting angles. She loved the environment at Claremont and looks forward to playing in more $15K tournaments, while preparing for her freshman season at North Carolina.

The 19-year-old Ahn is still seeking her first career pro title after playing in her second ITF pro final. The San Diego native continues to develop her game and said her strong work ethic in practice has been paying off. “It did this week with my first tournament back and putting in the work behind the scenes has allowed the results to come through,” she commented.

Ahn’s strong support system helped her at Claremont, mentioning Connie Ma, her assistant coach at Stanford, her teammates, and her father who “has been alongside me my whole life; not only as a coach, but as a mentor.” She said she plans to play this week’s San Diego SoCal Pro Series tournament.

In the women’s doubles final on Saturday, UCLA sophomore Kayla Chung from Stanton and UCLA senior Ahmani Guichard, who hails from Florida, upset the top-seeded Paola Lopez, a recent high school graduate from Florida, and Amy Zhu, 6-3, 6-2. In the men’s doubles final, it was the unseeded team of Rhode Island’s Matt Kuhar (Bryant College) and Henry Lieberman (North Carolina) defeating San Diego’s Michael Blando (UC-Riverside/Utah) and San Jose’s Hugo Hashimoto (Columbia), 7-5, 6-1.

The next SoCal Pro Series tournament – the sixth of seven consecutive weeks of action – will take place at Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego starting tomorrow and concluding Sunday. The final event at the Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club will take place beginning on July 6.

To learn more about the SoCal Pro Series, go to socalproseries.com.