All eyes turn to San Diego next week as the International Open of Southern California kicks off at Barnes Tennis Center. Some of the top junior players in the world will vie for one of the most prestigious ITF titles in the United States, a Level 1 USTA championship event.
On Saturday, the qualifying rounds will attract an array of exceptional talent eager to advance into Monday’s main draw. Virginia’s Ryan Colby, a finalist in January at the Mid-Atlantic USTA Championships, is the top seed in the Boys preliminary draw. Ohio’s Preston Stearns, who posted eight consecutive wins out of the qualifier to capture a title in Cancun last month, is seeded second. Irvine’s Jiaxi Ma (playing under Chinese flag), Andy Hernandez of Fullerton, and Eric Kats of Chula Vista are among the locals in the Boy’s quals. San Diego wildcards Bryce Nakashima and Noah Zamora will be hometown favorites.
In the Girls qualifying draw, Florida’s Krystal Blanch leads the pack with help from an L1 title in Paraguay in February. Two SoCal favorites, Rolling Hills’ Madeleine Jessup and Irvine’s Leydon Games, round out the top three. Jessup was a quarterfinalist at last winter’s Newport Beach ITA event, while Games will continue to round out her junior career ahead of arrival at USC.
Tsehay Driscoll, Katie Codd, and reigning Newport Beach and Junior Sectionals champion Emily Deming are among other Southern California names in the qualifiers.
Bruno Kuzuhara and Alexandra Yepifanova are top seeds when main draw action begins on Monday. Please note that fans are not permitted during this event. We invite you to follow daily coverage of this USTA Southern California Signature Series event on social media @USTASoCal and at USTAsocal.com.