By Karen Ronney

Women’s pro tennis, health and awareness hit the spotlight once again in San Diego with the USTA Pro Circuit’s Rancho Santa Fe Open from October 9 to 15 at the Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club. The ITF W60 event will host some of the top 100 ranked female pros. It’s an exciting time for Southern California women’s pro tennis and the public is welcome to attend. Free Admission Monday through Thursday, and tickets are $25 Friday to Sunday. (It is free all week for Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club members.) The Title Sponsor for the event is sponsored is Talimar Income Fund and the presenting sponsor is Gillian and Prentiss with Compass Realty.

The RSF Open follows the Cymbiotika San Diego Open WTA 500, Presented by ResMed, which showcased some of the top players in the world. For eight days, Barnes Tennis Center was magically transformed into an intimate world class venue that saw No. 1 seed Ons Jabeur (TUN), No. 2 Caroline Garcia (FRA), No. 3 Maria Sakkari (GRE), No. 4 Barbora Krejcikova (CZE), No. 5 Belinda Bencic (SUI), No. 6 Veronika Kudermetova, No. 7 Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA) and No. 8 Ekaterina Alexandrova to name a few.

However, the depth of international tennis talent was evident when Barbora Krejcikova, a 27-year-old from Brno, Czech Republic, was a Wild Card entry who paved a pathway to win the singles and doubles titles. It was her seventh career singles title with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory over American Sofia Kenin. Krejcikova then partnered with countryman Katerina Siniakova to log her second major coup of the tournament over the American duo of CoCo  Vandeweghe and Danielle Collins.

“The Cymbiotika San Diego Open WTA500 was an incredible success and an amazing experience for the players and fans,” said Linda Milan, the Executive Director for the SCTA Foundation. “To have some of the world’s best players compete in our backyard was boon for the Southern California tennis community. It’s even better to have another women’s pro event in the RSF Open to keep the momentum going.”

This year, returning is the 2022 RSF Open singles finalist Katrina Scott (USA) along with Americans No. 3 seed Ann Li, No. 4 Hailey Baptiste, No. 6 Elvina Kalieva, No. 7 Louisa Chirico, No. 13 Makenna Jones and No. 17 Hanna Chang.

“I’m looking forward to more world class players coming to San Diego and the North County community,” said John Chanfreau, the General Manager of the Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club “There are a lot of great young U.S. and international players trying to make their way up the rankings. It’s great to see them in our tournament as they rise to the main tour. “

The qualifying matches begin Monday, October 9, and the singles main draw begins at 10am on Tuesday, October 12, concluding on Sunday, October 15. Doubles play is Wednesday through Saturday. This tournament is supported by community sponsors including The Vertical Collective and The Secret Garden at Rancho Santa Fe.

To kick off the tournament, Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club will host the RSF Open Tennis Fest on Friday, October 6th from 3:30 to 7pm. The community is invited to attend the event, which will include a Tennis and Pickle Ball Clinic, Drills and Games (3 to 5pm), the kick-off program (5pm) and an Exhibition Match (5:30pm).  Tickets for the Tennis Fest are $50 per person. Tickets for the RSF Open for Friday through Sunday can be purchased at RSFopen.com. For more information, call the Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club at 858-756-4459.

About the Southern California Tennis Association Foundation: We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization and is the charitable arm of USTA Southern California. The Foundation’s mission is to “Change lives and build communities through tennis.” Since 2020, the SCTA Foundation has had a community impact of giving over $1million in tennis grants and tennis scholarships to deserving youth, adults, tennis organizations, tennis facilities and tennis programs to make tennis an equal opportunity sport, accessible to all, regardless of age, ability, ethnicity, or economic background. Visit us on Social Media on Instagram and Facebook. To learn more about the SCTA Foundation go to: www.sctafoundation.org.  To donate go to: sctafoundation.org/donate/ or https://secure.qgiv.com/for/sctfougivtue.