LAKEWOOD, June 26, 2025 (by Steve Pratt)
Mallorca, Spain and Roehampton, England seem like a world away from the Lakewood Tennis Center, but for a few players taking part in the fifth of seven USTA SoCal Pro Series events, following the results of friends and family overseas hit very close to home on Wednesday.
After a practice session with her Tier 1 Performance teammates on Tuesday night, La Habra’s Armira Kockinis texted ATP world-ranked No. 67 Learner Tien of Irvine asking him if she’d seen the coach they share in Eric Diaz. Learner texted back that he’d be on the lookout for Diaz, and then mentioned he had just beaten world No. 10 American Ben Shelton on the grass in Mallorca. “I didn’t believe him at first,” said the 15-year-old Kockinis, a wildcard, following her 6-4, 6-4 loss to No. 3 seeded Hiroko Kuwata. “He said he was serious, and we all started screaming.”
The reigning Easter Bowl Girls’ 16s singles champion, Kockinis also lost in the first round last week in her ITF pro-level debut and will be seeking her first WTA ranking point next week as the series moves to the Jack Kramer Club. “I’ll play one more next week and hoping the third time’s a charm,” she said.
Just one year ago, Tien won the Lakewood title and has now beaten three top 10 players in the world. He could face good friend and former SoCal Pro Series (twice in the summer of 2022) doubles partner Alex Michelsen of Aliso Viejo in the semis if the two can each win another round.
Last week’s SoCal Pro Series singles and doubles champion and former USC All-American Eryn Cayetano said it was great playing back in her “hood” as she recalled winning junior titles as a young junior in Lakewood. “This is where my dad first started tossing me balls and where my love for tennis came,” said Cayetano, the No. 2 seed who beat Laguna Beach’s Kelly Keller, 6-0, 6-3.
It was back in 2022 that Cayetano won the SoCal Pro Series Jack Kramer Club singles and doubles titles – both incredibly as a wildcard – in her first career pro tourney. The player she beat in the singles final was also a wildcard entry, Torrance’s Iva Jovic, playing in her first pro event at the age of 14. On Thursday Jovic, 17, will play in the final round of qualifying at Wimbledon.
The 24-year-old Cayetano, who also trains at Tier 1 Performance, said she loves driving home each night to her downtown Los Angeles apartment where she is greeted each night by her cats Oscar and Indy, who she rescued from a local pet shelter during her senior year at the University of Southern California (USC).
Cayetano said the recent political unrest and protests were close to her home. “I did see some stuff and it was pretty close to my apartment,” Cayetano said. “But the protests were pretty peaceful.”
Two weeks ago, SMU’s Trevor Svajda captured his second career pro title and on Wednesday he recorded his sixth straight series win with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Miles Jones in his opener.
The unseeded Svajda had an interest in the happenings over at Wimbledon as the 2022 two-time SCPS singles winner and Trevor’s older brother Zach was playing in the second round of qualifying at Roehampton, falling in a close match to top-seeded Márton Fucsovics. Trevor said he hadn’t spoken to Zach, but followed the match on his phone earlier in the morning.
Just a few days after his first ITF pro singles titles, former University of Michigan star Andrew Fenty was taken out by Fullerton’s Kyle Kang, 3-6 7-6(2) 6-1, who lost to Fenty in last week’s semifinals. The final four run was the best career result so far for the Stanford junior Kang.
“I was excited to see him next to my name in the draw and hoped to get some revenge,” Kang said. “I worked on some things over the weekend and hit a lot of serves.”
San Marino’s Tianmei Wang, a soon-to-be Stanford Cardinal, continued her strong SoCal Pro Series run with a first-round win over wildcard Brooke Kwon, fresh off her Girls’ 18s Junior Sectionals title right here at the Lakewood Tennis Center. Wang, who reached the semifinals earlier this month in San Diego, will next face veteran Tori Kinard.
Kinard, last year’s Lakewood women’s singles finalist and the oldest player in the draw at 37, is still proving age is just a number. The Pasadena native and No. 7 seed is coached by her brother Travis Kinard, who played at UCLA in the early 2000s. She needed three sets to eke out a 7-5 final-set win over 17-year-old qualifier Isabella Marton from Canada.
San Diego’s top-seeded Haley Giavara opened with a confident 6-3, 6-4 win over Duke’s Claire An. In an all-SoCal matchup, 17-year-old qualifier from Valley Village Maria Aytoyan beat Thousand Oaks’ Jordyn McBride, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5). Aytoyan will face last week’s winner Cayetano in the second round.
Future UCLA Bruin and fellow qualifier Kayla Chung made a statement of her own, taking down Redlands native Camille Kiss in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. Chung will face Giavara in the second round.
Chung will join Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer in Westwood this fall. The UCLA junior from Irvine is on a roll, notching her third straight match in three days. After battling through two wins in qualifying, she outlasted wildcard Kara Garcia from Sylmar in a gritty three-set first-round victory. Up next: a showdown with LMU’s Stefania Rogozinska Dzik, who cruised past wildcard Kaia Giribalan with a dominant 6-0, 6-2 win.
Players to Watch
Any men’s player with a UCLA connection – There are a whopping total of SIX Bruins who will play in the second round on Thursday led by No. 1 seed Karue Sell, who faces current UCLA No. 1 Rudy Quan next. The other Bruins winning first-round matches include qualifier Spencer Johnson, No. 3 and last year’s Lakewood finalist Govind Nanda, Gage Brymer, and wildcard Emon van Loben Sels. The Sacramento native was impressive and quick in his 6-0, 6-2 win over Nathan Ponwith, the former University of Georgia and Arizona State standout. Van Loben Sels played No. 2 singles for the Big Ten champion UCLA Bruins. Last year, van Loben Sels won the pre-qualifying event at Lakewood and used his wildcard to make a quarterfinal run before falling to Sell, who then lost to Nanda. Next up for van Loben Sels is No. 5 Dane Sweeny from Australia.
Alanis Hamilton – Last year’s Lakewood singles champion is just 18-years-old, but has a wealth of experience having already played a season for the University of North Carolina last Spring. The Arkansas native who trains in Dallas made the semifinals in doubles at Junior Wimbledon and finished runners-up to SoCal’s Olivia Center and Kate Fakih at the 2023 USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s Nationals. A three-set winner in her first round, Hamilton has a tough test in round two facing No. 8 Alyssa Ahn from San Diego. Speaking of Ahn, the Stanford-bound teen has played every 2025 SCPS event and has reached the weekend the past two weeks (runner-up at USD in Week 3 and semifinalist in Week 4 at RSF).
Remaining 2025 SoCal Pro Series tournament schedule
– June 30-July 6 – Jack Kramer Club, Rolling Hills Estates
– July 7-13 – San Diego State University, San Diego
To learn more about the SoCal Pro Series, go to: https://www.ustasocal.com/proseries.
