Kicking off the month of May, USTA Southern California launched its inaugural SoCal Open Tour, a series of tournaments designed to help elite players make the jump to the professional level. Feeding directly into the SoCal Pro Series, the Open Tour is allowing players that can’t qualify directly into professional events the unprecedented opportunity to do so. 

Beginning in 2022, USTA Southern California launched the SoCal Pro Series, a string of $15,000 ITF Futures, to help connect players to the upper echelons of professional tennis by allowing them to earn points that count towards the ATP and WTA rankings. What used to require tons of costs in time, travel, and expenses, is now accessible to players right here in Southern California. For seven consecutive weeks starting in June each year, qualified players can earn prestige and up to $15,000 in prize money at these events, all the while staying home and competing throughout various locations in SoCal. 

Alongside pre-qualifiers, the newly formed SoCal Open Tour now provides players with a second opportunity to qualify and play in the Pro Series. Both the pre-qualifiers and the Open Tour are USTA events in which American citizens representing Southern California can win Wild Cards into the Main Draw and Qualifiers of one of the seven Pro Series tournaments. The SoCal Open Tour is the perfect pathway into the Futures for players who need a little more time, opportunity, and competition. The main difference between the two events is that the pre-qualifier gives players the chance to compete in the Pro Series the same year they qualify, while the Open Tour gives players the chance to compete in the Pro Series the year following their qualification.

In order to earn a wild card for the Pro Series via the Open Tour, players must accumulate points within the six Open Tour events provided between May 4th and August 25th. These six events vary between levels, as three events are Tour 500 (Level 6), two events are Tour 750 (Level 5) and one event is Tour 1000 (Level 4). After all events are played, the top eight point-earners within each division (Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Singles and Women’s Doubles) will be eligible to compete in the SoCal Open Tour Finals on August 30th. More than just a wild-card entry into the Pro Series is at stake, as $10,000 is up for grabs within this round robin finale.

Within the Open Tour, points for each event are awarded as follows.

Tour 1000 Event – Champion (1000), Finalist (600), Semifinalist (360), Quarterfinalist (216), Points Per Round (72)

Tour 750 Event – Champion (750), Finalist (450), Semifinalist (270), Quarterfinalist (162), Round of 16 (97), Round of 32 (58)

Tour 500 Event – Champion (500), Finalist (300), Semifinalist (180), Quarterfinalist (108), Round of 16 (64), Round of 32 (38)

Tour 500 Round Robin – Champion (500), Finalist (300), Semifinalist (180), Quarterfinalist (108), Points Per Round Won (32)

The first points were awarded earlier this month, as the first two events of the Open Tour were played in Lakewood and Anaheim.

Event #1: Tour 500 (Level 6) Lakewood, May 4-6

Featuring a combination of Men’s and Women’s Singles, action got underway at the Lakewood Tennis Center on May 4th, as the round of 32 began for the Men and the round of 16 for the Women. Although separate events, both the Men’s and Women’s Singles draws told a similar story, as the No. 1 overall seeds in each field would prevail in the finale. Newport Beach’s Tim Kpulun was victorious on the Men’s side, securing himself 500 points and the first championship of the Open Tour, all the while not dropping a set throughout the event. After defeating the No. 7 and No. 3 seeds in succession en route to the final, Kpulun downed Beverly Hills’ Emilio Yera to cap off his undefeated tournament. For the Women, Corona’s Marley Lambert was crowned the champion of the first Open Tour event, upholding her top seed. After a first round bye, Lambert was dominant in her first two matches played, outscoring her opponents 24-4 leading up to the championship. In the finale, Lambert was matched up against No. 2 seeded Tricia Mar out of Seal Beach, who would not go down without a fight. With the players trading the first two sets of the championship match, it all came down to a final set to determine who would come away with the first 500 points. In the end, it would be Lambert that would pull out the victory, clinching the final set and the match via a score of 6-3. 

Event #2: Tour 500 (Level 6) Anaheim, May 11-12

Held at the Anaheim Tennis Center, the second event of the SoCal Open Tour began on May 11th, with only Men’s Singles being played. Ultimately, it would be Playa Del Rey’s Josh Hublitz that would take home the title, marking the first championship of the tour by an unranked player. After shutting out the No. 4 seed to begin his tournament, Hublitz did not look back, cruising through his next two matches and securing his place in the finals. The only player left for Hublitz to face would be No. 1 seeded Nick Grove of Tustin, who prior to the event came off an impressive showing of his just a week prior in Lakewood. Taking a 4-3 lead in the first set, Hublitz was awarded the win and the championship sooner than both players had hoped, as Grove retired due to injury. 

With the conclusion of the first two events, the standings for the Open Tour are as follows:

MEN’S SINGLES

1. Tim Kpulun (Newport Beach), 500
2. Josh Hublitz (Playa Del Rey), 500
3. Nick Grove (Tustin), 408
4. Emilio Yera (Beverly Hills), 300
5. Joshua Quijano (North Hills), 180
6. Edward Markosian (Glendale), 180
7. Neel Bedekar (Saratoga), 180
8. Quentin Gonzalez (Orange), 180
9. Jacob Truong (Arleta), 108
10. JR Chidley (Riverside), 108

WOMEN’S SINGLES

1. Marley Lambert (Corona), 500
2. Tricia Mar (Seal Beach), 300
3. Paula Peralta Vine (Paramount), 180
4. Anna Shtrikman (Beverly Hills), 180
5. Alexandra Kirovski (Escondido), 108
6. Isabella Maria Shirley (San Diego), 108
7. Ruby Van Cott (Agoura Hills), 108
8. Sonia Mangat (Aliso Viejo), 5
9. Jovanna Romero Sangria (Long Beach), 5
10. Sophia Truong (Arleta), 5

Updated standings following each event can be found here underneath the “Points Leaderboard” tab. 

Event #3: Tour 750 (Level 5) Calabasas, June 1-9

Although now a third of the way complete with the Open Tour, it is still not too late to register for an event and make up points, as the third event of the year begins this Saturday. In this more than week long event at the Calabasas Tennis and Swim Center, five different types of play are being held, with Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Singles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles all on tap. While sign ups for the events had closed as of Monday, May 27th at 9:59 a.m., players are still able to be added as late entrants if they contact the tournament director. Registrations are allowed across divisions, with a maximum of two doubles events and one singles event being permitted per player.

Following this event in Calabasas, there are still multiple chances for those interested to accumulate points, with one of the largest opportunities at stake in the form of a Tour 1000 event:

Event #4: Tour 500 (Level 6) San Diego, June 15-17

Event #5: Tour 1000 (Level 4) Lakewood, July 13-16

Event #6: Tour 750 (Level 5) San Diego, August 17-25 (Registration not yet available)