World No. 1 junior to play Central Coast Tennis Classic in Templeton
Sixteen-year-old Julieta Pareja enters ranked No. 1 junior in world
– Sixteen-year-old Julieta Pareja of Carlsbad, the No. 1 junior player in the International Tennis Federation singles rankings, will compete at the Central Coast Tennis Classic Sept. 22-28 at Templeton Tennis Ranch.
Pareja is currently ranked No. 355 in the world by the Women’s Tennis Association. In July, she reached both the singles and doubles junior finals at Wimbledon and received a wild card entry into the main draw of the US Open. At age 15, she won her first career professional title at the SoCal Pro Series Rancho Santa Fe Futures $15,000 event. In March, she advanced to the semifinals in Colombia, becoming the youngest WTA Tour semifinalist since Coco Gauff in 2019.
The Central Coast Tennis Classic is a $60,000 ITF World Tour event and part of the USTA Pro Circuit. Tournament Director and Templeton Tennis Ranch General Manager Chris Fouquet said the seventh annual event will feature players ranked between No. 120 and No. 375 in the world. He also announced Central Coast Home Health and Hospice as the event’s new major sponsor. The organization provides nursing, rehabilitation, and hospice services in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.
The singles entry list includes last year’s finalist Usue Arconada of Florida and American Louisa Chirico of New Jersey, who has won seven ITF singles titles and is ranked No. 151. Chirico is listed second on the entry list behind world No. 121 Olivia Gadecki of Australia. Other top seeds include Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus, Himeno Sakatsume of Japan, and Cadence Brace of Canada.
Americans expected to compete in the main draw include Elvina Kalieva, Emina Bektas, Fiona Crawley, Mary Stoina, Claire Liu, Vivian Wolf, and Eryn Cayetano. The qualifying list is led by former UC Berkeley All-American Haley Giavara. Other Americans in qualifying include former USC players Madison Sieg and Salma Ewing, former US Open Junior champion Kayla Day, former Princeton standout Victoria Hu, Katrina Scott of Woodland Hills, and former UCLA NCAA singles champion Fangran Tian.
Tickets for the tournament start at $15 and are available at www.centralcoasttennisclassic.com, where news and updates on the event are also posted. Tournament updates can also be found on Facebook at facebook.com/ttrtennis and on Instagram @TTRTennis.
