Southern California junior stars shined the brightest on finals day at boys’ and girls’ USTA national events with three out of four finalists in the 18s singles tournaments all hailing from SoCal. 

At Kalamazoo, Michigan, Irvine’s Learner Tien, 17, secured the coveted US Open main draw wild card for the second straight year beating San Diego’s Trevor Svajda 6-0, 6-4, 6-4, in the singles final. It was all a new experience for the No. 10-seeded Svajda, who earned his first ATP point earlier this summer on the SoCal Pro Series, as he told Zoo Tennis’ Colette Lewis the trip to Michigan was the first time he had ever taken a flight to play a tournament.  

Last year’s US Open appearance was Tien’s first trip to the Big Apple, and he returns this year not only as the nation’s best junior player, but an upstart ATP pro having recently announced his decision to leave USC and join the pro tour ranks just like his good friend Alex Michelsen, who has ascended to No. 138 in the world after a successful summer season which saw him win his first ATP Challenger and get to the finals in his first regular ATP event at Newport. 

Back home in San Diego at the Billie Jean King National 18s, the unseeded Pasadena doubles pairing of Kate Fakih and Olivia Center earned their shot at the world’s best by taking the doubles crown in three sets. Stanford-bound Katherine Hui, just like Svajda, gained her spot in the US qualifying draw of the pro event by advancing to the singles final at Barnes Tennis Center where she fell to top-seeded and Wimbledon Junior champ Clervie Ngounoue in three sets. 

Tien’s win at Kalamazoo was the fourth consecutive time at the USTA 18s national hard courts tourney a SoCal player had won, and Tien became the second straight player to win back-to-back titles as Trevor’s older brother Zach Svajda won in 2021 and 2019 (the 2020 event was canceled due to Covid). 

Tien became the eighth SoCal player to win the coveted Kalamazoo 18s singles titles since 1996. The list includes: Zach Svajda (2021, 2019), Michael McClune (2017), Robert Yim (2003), Prakash Amritraj (2002), Phillip King (2000-1999), Andrew Park (1998) and Kevin Kim (1996).

One local publication, MLive.com, said this about Tien’s win: “In the 80th installment of arguably the most prestigious junior tennis tournament in the country, those in attendance witnessed wizardry, patience and persistence from a left-handed swinging Tien.”

Tien’s buddy from just down the road in Fullerton, Kyle Kang, came oh-so-close to joining him in the main draw at the Open as he lost a third-set tiebreaker 8-6 in the Kalamazoo doubles final. 

While #TeamSoCal did not have a boys’ or girls’ finalist in the 16s or 12s division this year, there were some notable finals appearances by the following in the 14s:

At the Boys’ 14s Nationals in Mobile, Alabama, Brentwood’s Joseph Nau finished as a runner-up in doubles. At the Girls’ 14s Nationals in Roma, Georgia, Reagan Levine of Laguna Beach won the second-place silver ball in singles while Santa Monica’s Raina Kim teamed with a Massachusetts partner to also take home the silver in doubles.