SAN DIEGO, June 10, 2023 (by Steve Pratt)
Doubles may be his bread and butter but, the way San Diego native Keegan Smith sees it, singles is the meat and potatoes that fills his appetite for the 2023 SoCal Pro Series.
The 2017 Point Loma High School graduate hopes to finish the meat on that bone this weekend as Smith moves into his second singles semifinal in as many weeks following a 7-6 (2), 6-4 quarterfinal victory over Connor Farren at the SoCal Pro Series’ $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour stop along the USTA Pro Circuit.
The sixth-seeded Smith, 24, is joined by Rancho Santa Fe resident Jacob Brumm, 24, in Saturday’s singles semifinals at the University of San Diego.
Smith faces Ohio State freshman Jack Anthrop, 19, and Brumm squares off against Swedish qualifier Jonas Eriksson Ziverts after Brumm rallied for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 triumph to end Pacific Beach teenager Trevor Svajda’s run in his second SoCal Pro Series tournament (main draw).
Saturday’s schedule begins at 10:30 a.m. with the women’s singles semifinals playing concurrently, followed by the men’s singles semifinals, and concluding with the men’s and women’s doubles finals in the mid-afternoon. Admission and parking to all SoCal Pro Series events is free.
Coming off a singles semifinal and doubles final appearance in last week’s SoCal Pro Series tournament in Rancho Santa Fe, and in playing an ITF event for the fourth consecutive week, Smith opted to skip playing doubles this week as a means of managing his physical wear and tear. Smith, who recently moved to Torrance, is trying to use the SoCal Pro Series to boost his No. 611 ATP singles ranking and he’ll evaluate his future doubles participation on an event-to-event basis.
“I played doubles last week and it’s tough on my arm,” Smith said. “I can always have doubles in my back pocket but I really want to go for it in singles. That’s my main goal. I’m glad I just did singles this week. Feeling pretty good. I just got to put my body through the work and keep doing the right stuff and some big stuff can be coming. I’m super motivated.”
Undoubtedly, doubles is Smith’s calling card as an ATP ranking of 275, two US Open appearances and a 2019 NCAA Division I men’s doubles national championship with UCLA (while partnered with ATP top 50-ranked Max Cressy) attests to.
However, Smith has his sights set on the SoCal Pro Series’ new ‘Race to Indian Wells’ qualifying wild card towards the 2024 BNP Paribas Open (ATP Masters 1000 event). Smith termed it a “massive” incentive that has him signed up to play all but one of the SoCal Pro Series events.
This year, the top men’s and women’s players accumulating the most points throughout the seven events will be granted a wild card into qualifying at next year’s BNP Paribas Open. The “Race to Indian Wells” wild card is available to U.S. citizens who are Southern California residents or full-time Southern California college students.
“I was so stoked when I heard about that because that’s my favorite tournament,” said Smith, who owns two singles titles to one in doubles on the ITF World Tennis Tour. “Me and my Dad always went and watched it. It’s just a beautiful tournament and it would be sick experience for me to go play that.”
Brumm, a 2017 Torrey Pines High School graduate, is two wins away from capturing his first ITF singles crown. He stopped Svajda’s run that saw him earn his first ATP Tour ranking points following wins over Harvard-bound Santee resident Rohan Murali, a training partner of Svajda’s, and No. 5 seed Daniel Little.
Svajda said: “It was a good feeling, getting my first (ranking) point. This was my second (ITF and SoCal Pro Series) Future, so it was nice to get it early.”
Svajda, 17, is the younger brother of Zach Svajda, who at 20 has an ATP world ranking of No. 227 with a pair of US Open main draw appearances (2019 and 2021) to his name. While Zach won two SoCal Pro Series singles titles in 2022 and has moved on to broader horizons, Trevor now carries the family torch in the SoCal Pro Series.
San Diego native and 2017 Del Norte High School Patrik Trhac will go for a SoCal Pro Series doubles title in his ITF tournament debut alongside partner Isaiah Strode, of El Cajon. Trhac and Strode dominated top-seeded Daniel Little and Joe Tyler (a former San Diego State No. 1), 6-0, 6-3, in Friday’s semifinal. Strode won his only ITF doubles title in 2018.
In Saturday’s doubles final, Trhac and Strode will meet Pepperdine products Andrew Rogers and Daniel De Jonge, who eliminated San Diego resident Bryce Nakashima and Bjorn Swenson, 1-6, 6-1, 10-3 (third-set tiebreaker). Nakashima won last week’s SoCal Pro Series doubles championship in Rancho Santa Fe.
San Diego residents Haley Giavara, 22, and Katherine Hui, 18, dropped quarterfinals in women’s singles. Serra High School alumna Giavara, who is graduating from California (UC Berkeley), was upended by 15-year-old high school freshman Aspen Schuman, who recorded a 6-4, 7-6 (2) win while playing her fourth ITF event. The Stanford-bound Hui fell to Pepperdine University junior Nikki Redelijk, 1-6, 6-2, 6-7 (2).
UCLA freshman Fangran Tian, the 2023 NCAA Division I women’s singles national champion, cruised past University of Texas junior Malaika Rapolu, 6-2, 6-2, in her quarterfinal and will duel against top-seeded Floridian Samantha Crawford in a 10:30 a.m. Saturday semifinal. Tian will also play in Saturday’s women’s doubles final with UCLA teammate and Torrance resident Kimmi Hance after rolling to a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Redelijk and Taylor Johnson, of Redondo Beach. Tian and Hance face off against Rapolu and Ukrainian Anita Sahdieva in the final.
The SoCal Pro Series is in Week 2 of seven consecutive weeks of 15,000 ITF World Tour-level men’s and women’s tournaments at Southern California tennis facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Daily tournament admission and parking is free to the public at all SoCal Pro Series events. The SoCal Pro Series’ remaining tournament dates and locations are:
- June 12-18 – Barnes Tennis Center, San Diego
- June 19-25 – Jack Kramer Club, Rolling Hills Estates
- June 26-July 2 – Racquet Club of Irvine, Irvine
- July 3-9 – Lakewood Tennis Center, Lakewood
- July 10-16 – Lakewood Tennis Center, Lakewood
