BERKELEY – Several members of the California men's tennis team will compete in the annual KPSF Open, a professional tournament in San Francisco scheduled to run Wednesday through Sunday at the Goldman Tennis Center in Golden Gate Park.
 
Cal junior Carl Emil Overbeck – who recently played in the ITA All-American Championships – is the top seed in the KPSF Open. Along with Overbeck, the Golden Bears playing in the KPSF Open – which consists of a singles draw – include co-fifth seeds Derrick Chen, Lucas Magnaudet and Tim Stepanov as well as Alex Aney, Alex Chang, Jonathan Irwanto, John Kim and Ethan Schiffman.
 
The draw for the KPSF Open is available here.
 
Duo Advances To ITA Super Regionals
In the Bears' most recent competition, Cal freshmen Jonathan Irwanto and Tim Stepanov defeated a Pacific pair Sunday on the final day of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships in Berkeley to qualify for the upcoming ITA Northwest Super Regional Championships at Stanford.
 
After a big comeback in the second-set tiebreaker, the first-year Golden Bears completed a 5-7, 7-6(8), 10-8 victory over the Tigers' Terence Das and Tiago Silva at the Hellman Tennis Complex. Stepanov and Irwanto trailed 6-0 in the tiebreaker before rallying to win it, 10-8, and take the second set. They then won a 10-point tiebreaker, also by the score of 10-8, to close out the match.
 
Overbeck Wraps Up ITA All-American
Cal's Carl Emil Overbeck pushed Columbia's Max Westphal in a taut, three-set match in the consolation round of 16 at the ITA All-American Championships on Friday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. But in the end the Bear fell to the 62nd-ranked Lion, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-2, at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa.
 
This season marked the first time that Overbeck reached the ITA All-American main draw. The product of Copenhagen, Denmark, posted three wins in qualifying singles – including a victory over Princeton's 73rd-ranked Top Nidunjianzan. Also in qualifying singles, Overbeck was leading Baylor's 72nd-ranked Oskar Brostrom Poulsen, 7-5, 2-1, when the latter retired with an injury.
 
Earlier in the tournament, several other Bears, including freshmen Jonathan Irwanto and Tim Stepanov and juniors Alex Chang and Derrick Chen, played in the All-American pre-qualifying draws.
 
Last Year At The KPSF Open
Former Cal star Yuta Kikuchi was the runner-up at the 2022 KPSF Open, with the then-graduate student falling to pro player Govind Nanda, 6-4, 6-1, in the final. The Bears had a strong showing overall in the outdoor tournament, with six Cal players – Kikuchi, Alex Chang, John Kim, Lucas Magnaudet, Carl Emil Overbeck and Mikey Wright – along with alumnus Sean Hill competing in Golden Gate Park.
 
Chang, Kikuchi and Magnaudet along with Hill won in the opening round of 32 on Oct. 12, and then Hill and Kikuchi – who defeated Chang, 6-4, 6-3 – advanced out of the round of 16 on Oct. 13.
 
The third-seeded Kikuchi defeated the fifth-seeded Hill, his former teammate, in the Oct. 14 quarterfinals, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3. The Japan native then topped pro Aidan Mayo, the second seed, in the semifinals, 7-6(4), 6-2.
 
Next Time
The Bears will compete in the ITA Northwest Super Regional Championships from Oct. 20-23 at Stanford.
 
Stay Posted
For further coverage of the Bears, follow them on Twitter (@CalMensTennis), Instagram (@CalMensTennis) and Facebook (/CalMensTennis/).