IRVINE, June 22, 2026 (Media Release)
There is no shortage of cause for family celebration in the Johnson household, and Spencer Johnson couldn’t have come up with a better pair of gifts for his father – and coach – Joey on Father’s Day. Which also happens to be Joey’s birthday.
Spencer Johnson’s third SoCal Pro Series weekend of 2026 turned out to be the charm as the Ladera Ranch resident and UCLA’s No. 1 player bagged his first professional singles and doubles tennis titles at the $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour/USTA Pro Circuit tournament hosted by USTA Southern California at the Racquet Club of Irvine.
Johnson, 23, swept through the singles draw without conceding a set this week and pulled out a 6-3, 7-6(1) victory over San Diego’s Bryce Nakashima in Sunday’s men’s singles final.
That comes on the heels of Saturday’s doubles championship, which Johnson shared with Bruins teammate Emon van Loben Sels in a 6-7(5), 6-4, 10-6 triumph over San Diegan Noah Zamora, a 2025 UC Irvine graduate, and Sam Landau, of Los Angeles.
It was van Loben Sels’ second ITF Pro Circuit title in as many years on the SoCal Pro Series, and he was on hand to watch Johnson complete the weekend championship double along with Johnson’s family (Joey, mother Wendy and sister Lauren).
“This has started to become a little more real,” Johnson said. “I have always wanted to play pro tennis. It’s just a cool feeling to feel, like, I’ve won a pro tournament, finally. I’m really happy I was able to get this one. The college tennis thing is going to end, but this is what I want to do. And so it feels like I’m taking a big step in the right direction. It just gives me a lot of confidence. I was able to figure it out, each match.
“This (week) is definitely the cleanest I’ve been able to (play), putting it together for a lot of consecutive matches. I was able to really bear down this week and just find the form I wanted. My dad is my coach and so it was pretty cool to have him be there helping me win a tournament for the first time.”
Johnson has now reached two finals and three semifinals in five consecutive SoCal Pro Series appearances dating back to last summer.
Johnson and Nakashima had played each other once before, in the 2025 Big Ten Tournament dual team championship match. Ohio State’s Nakashima beat Johnson, 6-2, 6-4, but UCLA won the match, 4-3, in Columbus in its maiden Big Ten season.
“I was coming back from a stress fracture in my arm and he tuned me up pretty well,” said Johnson, set to return to UCLA for his senior year. “I didn’t get to play to the best of my ability and so it was kind of fun to get out here and get this one.”
Perhaps the only player to play in all five years of the SoCal Pro Series, Nakashima, 22, owns five ITF doubles titles. But the returning Ohio State senior is using this SoCal Pro Series summer to prioritize his singles game and improve his ATP Ranking.
Nakashima made his 2026 SoCal Pro Series debut this week and played in his first pro tournament final on Sunday in front of his father, Wes, his mother, Chris, and his mother’s side of his family. He doesn’t see himself playing doubles when he participates in the series over the remaining three weeks.
“I think, overall, moving in the right direction. You can’t just focus the week on one match at the end,” Nakashima said. “Taking in the four matches I had before, decent results. Hopefully it carries to next week. I hope I get back to the finals again. I don’t think I was expecting to get to the finals but I knew I had a little confidence coming out of (NCAA) season. I’m just building off of the confidence right now.
“I think, playing at Ohio State, you definitely develop the physicality of playing three-setters, having to really dig things out. I think a big part of my game is becoming a little more strategic. Not trying to do something outside of the box and crazy that causes errors. Playing to my strengths and then knowing what I do best and then executing it is the biggest thing. Always trying to improve my forehand. That’s the weapon that’s either going to make it or break it for me.”
Johnson’s championship double at Racquet Club of Irvine comes three years after another Orange County product, Learner Tien, accomplished the same feat at age 17. It was the only other time the club hosted the SoCal Pro Series.
Tien won the doubles crown that week with Nakashima. Southern California’s tennis landscape of elite juniors and collegiates is a small world.
Said Johnson of Tien: “That’s cool to have something in common with a guy who’s made it. I think seeing guys who were in the same area as I was and made it, it’s like, I can do it, too. I think that’s something that kind of motivates me.
“He’s someone who’s shot up pretty quick and I played him a few times growing up. I played against him when I was, maybe, in the 14s or 16s, and then I played against him my (high school) junior or senior year. I beat him both times in close matches. I think he’s also like three years younger than me. He was pretty good for his age.”
Sunday’s women’s singles final saw unseeded Alina Shcherbinina, 22, win a second consecutive SoCal Pro Series singles title, defeating second-seeded Monika Ekstrand (No. 568 WTA Tour ranking), 6-2, 6-4, in Sunday’s women’s final.
Prior to the Moscow, Russia native’s current two-tournament, and 12-match, win streak over the past 14-days – in which Shcherbinina has only dropped one set, via a tiebreaker – she had never been past a quarterfinal in an ITF event.
“I felt pretty strong coming into this week because, last week, every match was really tough,” said Shcherbinina, who played at Baylor, then Oklahoma during her collegiate tennis career. “I felt like I was prepared, mentally. I saw familiar faces from last week so I kind of knew what to expect. I played these tournaments like, four years ago or so. It’s a great experience. I love California. Turns out that it went well.”
Ekstrand, a 19-year-old Stanford sophomore, was born and raised in Santa Monica until she was 13 and her family moved to Boca Raton, Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ekstrand reached the semifinals a week ago in the SoCal Pro Series’ Week 3 event at Jack Kramer Club.
Said Ekstrand: “A lot of good matches, which is exactly what I needed. It was great to get me back into that rhythm. Some ups and downs but I learned a lot. It’s definitely a good start for my summer. I actually hadn’t been back (to California) since I moved. I love it here. Cool to be back.”
In Saturday’s women’s doubles final, unseeded crosstown rivals-turned-partners Kate Fakih (UCLA returning junior) and Lily Fairclough (USC returning senior) bested former University of Arizona teammates Midori Castillo Meza and Brandelyn Fulgenzi (No. 2 seed), 7-6(6), 6-4.
It was the first ITF World Tennis Tour title for the 19-year-old Fakih, a Pasadena resident who played in the 2023 U.S. Open’s doubles tournament with Bruins teammate Olivia Center.
Fairclough, 20, has become quite the doubles specialist on the SoCal Pro Series. The Australian claimed her eighth ITF doubles crown, which includes having won three doubles titles with three different partners in consecutive weeks on the 2025 SoCal Pro Series.
Remaining 2026 SoCal Pro Series tournament schedule
June 22-28: Biszantz Family Tennis Center, Claremont
June 29-July 5: Barnes Tennis Center, San Diego
July 6-12: Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club, Rancho Santa Fe
To learn more about the SoCal Pro Series, go to socalproseries.com.
