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$600,000 San Diego Open Extends Qualifying Wild Card To Two-Time USTA Boys’ 18s National Champion Zachary Svajda
- Updated: September 16, 2021

San Diego’s Teenage Tennis Sensation Currently Ranked No. 476
Eighteen-year-old
Zachary Svajda of San Diego has been awarded a Wild Card into the Qualifying
Draw of the $600,000 San Diego Open. The ATP 250-Level tournament is set for
Monday, September 27 through Sunday, October 3, 2021 at Barnes Tennis Center.
The young, talented San Diegan, who occasionally trains with fellow Americans
Taylor Fritz and John Isner, is a two-time United States Tennis Association
Boys’ 18s National Champion, having captured the 2019 and 2021 singles titles
in Kalamazoo, Mich.
Svajda became the first player to win back-to-back 18s championships since
2010-11, when Jack Sock, who has been ranked as high as No. 8 in the world,
accomplished the feat. (2020 tournament was cancelled due to pandemic)
Since turning professional in 2019, Svajda has spent the majority of his career
competing on the International Tennis Federation Pro Circuit and the ATP
Challenger Tour. He is one of six 18-year-olds and the lone 18-year-old
American in the current Top 500 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Svajda is currently
ranked No. 476.
As the reigning USTA Boys’ 18s National champion, Svajda received a main draw
wild card to this year’s US Open where he advanced to the second round.
In his opening US Open match, he dispatched Italian tennis veteran Marco
Cecchinato 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. In the next round, Svajda face another
Italian as he fell to 13th seeded Jannik Sinner 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (6), 6-4 in
three-hours and 34-minutes.
A resident of San Diego’s Pacific Beach community, Svajda grew up playing at
the Pacific Beach Tennis Club and occasionally trains at Barnes Tennis Center.
“It’s great that there is an ATP Tour event in my hometown this year,
especially at the Barnes Tennis Center. I’m excited to get out there and
play in front of my family and friends and appreciate the opportunity which the
San Diego Open has given to me at this early stage of my professional tennis
career,” Svajda said.
For additional player information on Svajda, click here.
“We are so happy to have a talented local player like Zach in our qualifying
tournament. He has the game and determination to really move up in the pro
rankings,” said San Diego Open Tournament Director Ryan Redondo, “As a two-time
Boys’ 18s National champion, Zach has a very bright future and has shown that
he is definitely a player to watch.”
The San Diego Open qualifying rounds will take place Saturday, September 25 and
Sunday, September 26 at Barnes Tennis Center. A total of four qualifiers will
advance to the main draw.
Current Top 20 players entered in the 2021 San Diego Open include: No. 5 Andrey Rublev of
Russia, No. 10 Casper
Ruud of Norway, No. 11 Felix
Auger-Aliassime of Canada, No. 12 Denis Shapovalov of
Canada, No. 13 Hubert
Hurkacz of Poland, No. 15 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, No. 17 Cristian Garin of
Chile and No. 19 Reilly
Opelka of United States.
The San Diego Open awarded main draw Wild Cards to Japan’s Kei Nishikori,
American Brandon Nakashima of San Diego, and former World No. 1 Andy Murray of
Great Britain.
The ATP 250 tournament features a 28-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles
draw. The event offers a total of $600,000 in prize money and tournament
champions will receive 250 points in the FedEx ATP Rankings.
Tickets for the San Diego Open can be purchased at www.barnessdopen.com.