DAY #5 OF WEEK 2 AT THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA OPEN ATP CHALLENGER 50 AT INDIAN WELLS TENNIS GARDEN

SATURDAY’S CHALLENGER CHAT:

Simply playing the bigger points better. That’s the easy answer Ryan Seggerman and Patrik Trhac gave in their post-match interview on why they’ve had so much success following yet another pro doubles title and second in a row at the Southern California Open being played at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. For the fifth time over their eight victories at the ATP Challenger 50 the past two weeks, San Diego’s Seggerman and Trhac dropped a set, but it made no difference as the duo won the deciding 10-point tiebreaker each time. On Saturday, they dominated by serve hitting 11 aces to 1 against them in a, 6-4, 3-6, 10-3, win over Thomas Fancutt of Australia and Ajeet Rai of New Zealand.

“We always sit back and laugh and say how neither one of us could have seen this coming, but we’ve been fortunate to play the big points well…Our team work and camaraderie has paid off in the 10-point tiebreakers,” said Seggerman, who ended the match with a booming perfect serve right down the “T” as the pair celebrated title No. 12 in 14 tournaments with a jumping sideways shoulder bump.

The tandem will split the $2,140 in prize money and received 50 ranking points. It was the 49^th time in 51 matches Seggerman-Trhac won since first playing together in the SoCal Pro Series in Lakewood July 4^th Weekend. 

“Being from SoCal and these being the first two tournaments of the year it was nice to come out here and get two titles and also dust off some of the rust at the same time,” Trhac said.

Added Seggerman: “We had a hot season but with the time off there’s a lot of uncertainty and in this new year wondering if we were going to pick up right where we left off. So, there’s still a lot of question marks and we have that target on our backs now. It’s a good start to 2024 and we’re excited for the rest of the year.”

In the singles semifinals decided before the doubles final, top-seeded Zach Svajda will look to make it a SoCal sweep when he takes on unseeded Blaise Bicknell of Jamaica in the 11 a.m. singles final. Svajda, who lives and trains in the South Bay, beat former Pepperdine All-American Sebastian Fanselow of Germany, 6-2, 6-4, while Bicknell ended Hawaiian qualifier Andre Ilagan’s dream run in his first Challenger semi, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

SUNDAY’S SINGLES FINAL:

USTA National Coach David Nainkin and First Break Academy’s Rick Buchta intently watched as their pupil Svajda, 21, continued his climb to a potential world top 125 ranking by advancing to the final where he will try and win his fifth career Challenger on Sunday. He’ll have to do it over streaking 22-year-old Bicknell, who has yet to drop a set this week. Both players have served well, winning around the same amount of service games (Svajda 34 of 37 and Bicknell 35 of 39). Bicknell played his college tennis for the University of Florida before transferring to Tennessee where he played the past two seasons. He had an incredible 2020-21 season going a perfect 32-0 as a sophomore for the Gators. In fact, Bicknell was playing on Court 4 right next to current Top 15 Ben Shelton playing No. 5 when the freshman Shelton clinched Florida’s first NCAA title over Baylor.

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To learn more about the Southern California Open, visit southerncaliforniaopen.com.