TEMPLETON, September 26, 2025 (by Steve Pratt)
Kayla Day’s comeback continued with another win on Thursday at the Central Coast Classic brought to you by Central Coast Home Health, an ITF World Tennis Tour W75 $60,000 event taking place at the Templeton Tennis Ranch.
The Santa Barbara native Day, 25, took out the No. 2 seeded Japan’s Himeno Sakatsume, 6-3, 6-3, in the second round in a battle between two lefties. Ranked No. 345 in the WTA world rankings, Day also beat Sakatsume at the end of July in straight sets at the W75 in Lexington, Ky.
Day, who played both qualifying at Wimbledon and the US Open this year, played all of 2024 with a pinched nerve in her right ankle that eventually required surgery in December. On her comeback tour, she made the final of a SoCal Pro Series event in San Diego in July and a few weeks later won her sixth career ITF singles titles winning the W35 at Southhaven, Miss.
“I felt really good out there today,” said Day, who is looking to get back into the world top 100 which she reached a career high of No. 84 in April of 2024. “The conditions were a little tricky and the winds were moving around a little bit so that made it tough.”
Day was watched by her longtime junior coach Larry Mousouris, who helped coach her to the US Open Junior title back in 2016.
Day will next face wildcard Katrina Scott in Friday’s quarterfinals. The 21-year-old from Woodland Hills looked impressive in her 7-5, 6-0 win over San Diego’s Haley Giavara.
In another All-American second-round tilt featuring two unseeded players, 32-year-old Emina Bektas eliminated last year’s singles finalist Usue Arconada, 6-4, 6-3.
Bektas will next face former NCAA No. 1 player Mary Stoiana in the quarters. On Tuesday, Stoiana upset No. 1 seed Louisa Chirico. It was second time Stoiana had beaten Chirico over the past 12 months as she also beat her in the first round of the W100 in Tyler, Texas, in October. “It was kind of similar with this as she was also a high seed before,” said Stoiana, who played at Texas A&M and is playing her first time in Templeton.
Thursday, Stoiana beat Sahaja Yamalapalli of India, 6-0 6-2.
In the night match, Claire Liu from Thousand Oaks, beat former UCLA player Vivian Wolff, in the tightest match of the day, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
