SAN DIEGO, June 17, 2023 (by Steve Pratt)

Pasadena resident Kate Fakih and Del Mar native Warren Wood are on opposite ends of the spectrum in their tennis careers. Yet, somewhat remarkably, they find themselves playing in their first ITF semifinals Saturday at Barnes Tennis Center while making their SoCal Pro Series main draw singles debuts in the $15,000 tournament along the ITF World Tennis Tour and USTA Pro Circuit.

Wood, 30, is the oldest player in this week’s men’s draw. The 2011 Country Day School (La Jolla) graduate recorded a 7-5, 7-5 quarterfinal triumph over Matt Kuhar, of Rhode Island, on Friday. Wood faces Jamaican Blaise Bicknell – who will enter his final NCAA season as a graduate student at Tennessee – in the semifinals.

Fakih, who just completed her junior year of high school at 16, won her fifth match of the week (two in qualifying) in straight-set fashion with a convincing 6-2, 6-3 victory over University of Tennessee sophomore Leyla Fiorella Britez Risso, of Paraguay. Fakih plays fellow qualifier Chanel Simmonds, of Washington, in a Saturday semifinal.

“I’m so happy. I’m overjoyed,” said Fakih, who has committed to UCLA for the 2024-25 school year. “Aspen (Schuman) really inspired me. Last week (in the SoCal Pro Series at University of San Diego), she got to the finals and she’s younger than me. She definitely showed me that it’s possible. My confidence has gotten higher.”

Fakih entered her first SoCal Pro Series event last week at the University of San Diego but could not get out of qualifying. She has been playing on qualifying wild cards and is hopeful to continue receiving opportunities to play in the final four SoCal Pro Series tournaments now that she has gained her first three WTA Tour world ranking points.

“I’m really excited to be playing all of these (SoCal Pro Series tournaments),” Fakih said. “It’s a really cool atmosphere to be in and it means a lot for us juniors, especially, to have something so close to home and to have more matches and, hopefully, to try to get your ranking points. The exposure is definitely amazing for us.”

While Fakih’s time in tennis is just taking off, Wood can be considered one of the elder statesmen of those playing $15,000 ITF events.

While he has entered 37 career ITF tournaments and played in 14 main draws over a 12-year span, it is not to say Wood has grinded on the ITF World Tour all this time. He entered 31 of those 37 events within the past two years. All three of his ITF singles quarterfinal appearances have come in the past nine months.

Wood is also among the rare few NCAA Division III tennis veterans to play professionally on the ITF circuit. He entered his first Futures event as a freshman at NCAA Division III powerhouse Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) in 2011. Wood graduated as the most accomplished player in CMS men’s tennis history, as he is the only Stag to win over 100 singles and 100 doubles matches in his career.

In completing a storied collegiate career in 2015, Wood became the second player in the history of NCAA Division III tennis to win the NCAA team championship and national singles and doubles championships in the same season. In 2013 and 2014, Wood anchored CMS teams which finished as NCAA Division III runner-up.

Elsewhere among Friday’s men’s singles quarterfinals, Santee resident Rohan Murali, 18, narrowly missed out on extending a memorable second week on the SoCal Pro Series which includes gaining his first two ATP world ranking points.

Italian Lorenzo Claverie, 20, rallied for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal victory over Murali, winner of this year’s CIF-San Diego Section boys’ singles championship and a CIF team title with Santana High School. Murali, who attends Harvard in August, received main draw wild cards the past two weeks in getting his first taste of the SoCal Pro Series.

“So valuable because I’m not getting into any of these (caliber of) tournaments in any other place,” Murali said. “I just want to make the best of it. It’s really a great step forward for all of us juniors trying to get out and play pro events.”

Completing her sophomore year at UCLA, Torrance resident and No. 4 seed Kimmi Hance advanced to her first women’s singles semifinal on the 2023 SoCal Pro Series (and her second in five SoCal Pro Series events all time) with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 comeback over sixth-seeded Kylie McKenzie. Hance, 20, vies for her first ITF singles final berth against top-seeded Michigander Sara Daavettila, 25, at 10 a.m. Saturday.

San Diego’s Katherine Hui, 18, barely missed out on her second SoCal Pro Series semifinal in as many years at Barnes Tennis Center. Simmonds – The Ojai Tournament’s 2022 and 2023 Women’s Open singles champion – held off Hui, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (9), handing Hui her second straight quarterfinal defeat via a third-set tiebreaker.

Saturday’s SoCal Pro Series men’s and women’s doubles finals are set. San Diego’s Bryce Nakashima reached his second doubles final in three weeks. The Ohio-State bound Nakashima, who won the doubles title at the SoCal Pro Series opener in Rancho Santa Fe, and partner Quinn Vandecasteele, soon to begin his junior season at the University of Oregon, dismissed second-seeded Kareem Al Allaf and Joe Tyler (San Diego State’s No. 1 player as a senior in 2022), 6-4, 7-5, in a semifinal.

Nakashima and Vandecasteele will square off against top-seeded Colin Markes, a University of Texas product and Andrew Rogers, a Pepperdine graduate student in 2021-22, in the final. Markes and Rogers downed El Cajon resident Isaiah Strode and Kuhar, 7-6 (9), 4-6, 10-7 (third-set tiebreaker), in the other Friday semifinal.

Top-seeded Hui and Daavettila will meet No. 2 seed Malaika Rapolu and Anita Sahdieva in the women’s doubles final. On Friday, Hui and Daavettila breezed past the wild card tandem of 15-year-old San Diegan Elena Zhao and Philadelphia high schooler Kayla Chung, 6-1, 6-3. Texas native Rapolu, entering her senior year at Texas, and Ukrainian Sahdieva, entering her junior year at Baylor University, eked out a 6-2, 7-6 (6) victory over University of San Diego duo Solymar Colling and Filippa Bruu-Syversen.

The SoCal Pro Series showcases its final $15,000 ITF men’s and women’s tournament in San Diego County this week. Debuting in 2022, the SoCal Pro Series gives Southern California players the chance to earn valuable ATP and WTA world ranking points.

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 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

To learn more about the SoCal Pro Series, go to: https://www.ustasocal.com/proseries.