Fittingly, as year two of the SoCal Pro Series begins its 2023 spring and summer session in San Diego County, the cream of the traditionally talent-rich San Diego tennis crop is rising to the top at the Rancho Santa Fe Pro Open.

San Diego natives Keegan Smith, Bryce Nakashima and Haley Giavara, Oceanside native Megan McCray and Solymar Colling, an Orange native who recently completed her collegiate career at the University of San Diego, move into championship weekend on the 2023 SoCal Pro Series with $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour/USTA Pro Circuit singles and doubles titles within their grasp.

Oklahoma State product McCray, 27, heads into the weekend at Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club with the potential to win her first ITF singles and doubles titles. Likewise, San Diego resident Smith, 24, is alive in the men’s singles and doubles draws.

Seeded No. 2 in singles this week, McCray advanced to Saturday’s semifinals when Spaniard Alicia Herrero Linana retired in the third set due to injury while trailing, 1-6, 7-5, 0-3.

McCray then teamed with Brea resident Brandy Walker to down Newport Beach native Lauren Friedman and Alina Shcherbinina, 6-3, 6-2. The tandem meets USC senior and 2023 NCAA Division I women’s doubles national semifinalist Eryn Cayetano and Princeton-bound Irvine resident Isabella Chhiv in Saturday’s doubles final.

San Diego resident and No. 7 seed Giavara earned the right to face McCray in a 10 a.m. singles semifinal after ousting Stanford-bound San Diegan Katherine Hui, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-2. Giavara, a Serra High School alumnus, was recently named the 2023 Pac-12 Women’s Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year in her senior year at Cal.

Colling coasted by Tennessee freshman Leyla Britez Risso, of Paraguay, 6-1, 6-1. Though the USD ace is the No. 3 seed in this week’s women’s singles draw, Colling’s semifinal task will be tall as she matches up with Fangran Tian, the UCLA freshman and 2023 NCAA Division I women’s singles national champion.

Tian has only dropped seven games in three wins this week and hasn’t dropped a set in her last nine matches in all competitions. The 19-year-old from China hasn’t lost since UCLA was ousted from the third round of the NCAA Division I team championships on May 12.

Although Smith is mostly known as a doubles specialist, as the 2017 Point Loma High School graduate’s two US Open main draw doubles appearances, current ATP Tour doubles ranking of No. 275 and a 2019 NCAA Division I men’s doubles national championship can attest, he actually owns two singles titles to one in doubles on the ITF World Tour.

Smith, who teamed with ATP top 50-ranked Max Cressy to hoist that 2019 NCAA doubles championship for UCLA, recorded his third consecutive straight-set singles victory in the event by dismissing North Carolina State sophomore Braden Shick, 6-4, 6-2, on Friday morning. Then he partnered with Aidan McHugh and the top-seed duo knocked off No. 4 seed Jacob Brumm, of Rancho Santa Fe, and Matias Soto, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 10-5 (third-set tiebreaker).

The sixth-seeded Smith faces fourth-seeded Frenchman Jaimee Floyd Angele in a singles semifinal, and then he and McHugh duel with Nakashima, an incoming Ohio State freshman, and future Buckeyes teammate Jack Anthrop for the doubles championship on Saturday. Nakashima, 19, will attempt to win his second ITF $15,000 doubles title in his third finals appearance after he and Anthrop edged second-seeded Juan Carlos Aguilar and Joe Tyler, 7-6 (1), 1-6, 10-4 (third-set tiebreaker).

The $15,000-purse ITF events for both men and women are part of the USTA Pro Circuit. This year, the top men’s and women’s players accumulating the most points throughout the seven events will be granted a wild card into qualifying at next year’s BNP Paribas Open. The “Race to Indian Wells” wild card is available to U.S. citizens who are Southern California residents or full-time Southern California college students.

Overall, the SoCal Pro Series showcases seven consecutive weeks of 15,000 ITF World Tour-level men’s and women’s tournaments at Southern California tennis facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange counties. Debuting successfully in 2022, the SoCal Pro Series will once again give Southern California players the chance to earn valuable ATP and WTA world ranking points.