SANTA FE, October 13, 2023 (by Steve Pratt)

It took a total of eight wins over four straight days for the collision course of two college teammates to finally materialize as two qualifiers from USC both won again on Thursday at the TaliMar Rancho Santa Fe Open.

Trojan All-American Eryn Cayetano continued her torrid pace of not dropping a set over four consecutive wins as she downed former Washington Husky Stacey Fung, 6-4, 6-1, while fellow qualifier and USC junior Snow Han had a much tougher route to Friday’s quarterfinals as she ousted No. 2 seeded Elvina Kalieva, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (6), in the USTA Pro Circuit Women’s $60,000 tournament taking place at the Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club.

A third qualifier also moved on as former St. Mary’s College All-American Maria Kozyreva also won her fourth straight match beating Fontana’s Hanna Chang, 7-6 (7), 6-4.

Sayaka Ishii of Japan eliminated the tournament’s top-seeded player Julia Riera from Argentina, 6-3, 6-4, but staying alive were the No. 4 Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine, No. 5 American Louisa Chirico, No. 7 Anastasia Tikhonova of Russia and No. 8 Lulu Sun of Switzerland who all posted convincing straight-set wins.