TEMPLETON, Calif. – September 16, 2026 (by Steve Pratt)
Stacked with its best player lineup yet, the 8th annual Central Coast Tennis Classic, brought to you once again by Central Coast Home Health, takes place September 27-October 4 at the Templeton Tennis Ranch.
The ITF World Tennis Tour and USTA Pro Circuit event has increased the prize money to $100,000 and boasts a strong entry list of WTA women’s players ranked from No. 85 to around No. 275 in the world, Tournament Director and Templeton Tennis Ranch GM Chris Fouquet said. He also announced the return of major sponsor in Central Coast Home Health and Hospice. Servicing San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, Central Coast Home Health and Hospice is physician-directed nursing, rehabilitation, and hospice providing skilled home care in the comfort of your own home.
German Tatjana Maria is expected to be the top-seeded player. The mother of two daughters at 39 years old but is still considered a top contender on tour, currently ranked No. 83 in the WTA Tour rankings. Just three weeks ago, Maria upset the No. 30-seeded Jelena Ostapenko in the first round of the US Open.
Santa Barbara’s Kayla Day is next on the entry list at No. 117 in the world. Last year, Day won her seventh career ITF singles title, beating Canada’s Kayla Cross in the Central Coast Tennis Classic final. Cross is also back this year and expected to be among the eight seeded players. Right behind Day on the entry list is American Mary Stoiana, also among the world’s top 125 women’s players.
The singles winner in Templeton in 2022, 36-year-old Madison Brengle from Dover, Del., returns. Brengle has won two singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, and 19 singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF World Tour. Four years ago, Brengle beat then-18-year-old Robin Montgomery in the singles final in three sets.
Just last week, Montgomery and another CCTC alum, Ashlyn Krueger, made the US Open women’s doubles final as an unseeded team. The duo lost in the final to former CCTC singles champion Taylor Townsend and partner Katerina Siniakova, who completed the career doubles Grand Slam having won each of the four major titles.
The qualifying list is topped by Americans Whitney Osuigwe, Vivian Wolff, Caroline Dolehide and Julietta Pareja, a 17-year-old from Carlsbad who returns from last year when she was ranked as the No. 1 junior in the world.
