The 2021 KPSF Open

The 2021 Kunal Patel San Francisco Open $50,000 Championship wrapped up with the top men’s and women’s seeds claiming singles titles. This year’s tournament featured a doubles challenge, with prize money donated to local junior programming, and an Arthur Ashe Community Day, all hosted in partnership with USTA Northern California and the Tennis Coalition of San Francisco.

Featuring 32-player singles draws and doubles round robins for men and women, the KPSF Open was held at the newly renovated Lisa & Douglas Goldman Tennis Center in Golden Gate Park on September 22-26. The KPSF OPEN was named in honor of Kunal Patel, whose life was tragically cut short in 2014 at the age of 27, the tournament was conceived by family members Mukesh, Harsha, and Monique Patel in recognition of his love for life and passion for tennis.

For the first time in tournament history, the KPSF Open featured a women’s draw, attracting some of the top college and Open players throughout NorCal, including former WTA No. 102 Jovana Jović. The Stanford women’s team was also well-represented throughout singles, earning six of the tournament’s top-eight seeds. Other collegiate programs in the women’s field were Saint Mary’s, San Francisco, and UC San Diego.

Top-seeded Connie Ma, who began her first year at Stanford this fall, entered the KPSF Open having won two Open Series $5,000 titles in NorCal this summer. Ma advanced to the tournament’s semifinal losing just three games over the course of three matches. Facing another Open Series champion in No. 4 seed Mariia Kozyreva (Saint Mary’s), Ma prevailed in three sets, 6-0, 4-6, 6-1.

On the other half of the draw, No. 2 seed Jović didn’t drop a set en route to the final, dispatching unseeded semifinalist India Houghton 6-3, 6-4. Houghton previously upset Stanford teammate and KPSF No. 3 seed Alexandra Yepifanova in a third set super-tiebreaker.

In a rematch of the Laguna Creek Open final, Ma upheld her seed to take home the KPSF Open singles title, defeating Jović 6-3, 7-6(3).

The men’s draw was highlighted by ATP players Raymond Sarmiento and Francis Casey Alcantara, who both hold career-high rankings in the top 300; also in competition were top NorCal junior players and college standouts from Princeton, San Francisco, Stanford, and UC Davis.

Sarmiento, the men’s No. 1 seed, breezed through his opening two rounds before being pushed to tiebreakers in both his quarterfinal and semifinal matches. A few points were all the difference in Sarmiento’s 7-6, 7-6 victory over No. 3 Timothy Sah (Stanford) to reach the final.

With the bottom half of the men’s draw full of upsets, Dzianis Zharyn of Gorin Tennis Academy found himself leading the way. After back-to-back three set wins, including over the No. 6 seed, Zharyn faced No. 4 Alcantara in the semifinals. Alcantara had put together a dominant summer in NorCal, winning two Open Series $5,000 titles — the Moraga Open, and the Labor Day Open — but was unable to overcome the unseeded Zharyn.

Meeting for the first time, Sarmiento regained his form with a 6-1, 6-3 win in the final over Zharyn to win the 2021 KPSF Open singles championship.

Singles wasn’t the only attraction at the Goldman Tennis Center over the weekend; club players from around NorCal entered the inaugural KPSF Open Doubles Challenge, with $1,500 in prize money being donated to junior tennis programs or youth charities. The men’s draw was comprised of eight teams in pool play, with the top-two of each flight advancing to the playoffs, while the women’s draw featured two teams.

Harbor Bay’s Christopher Aria and Murphey Parker advanced to the men's final to take on Round Hill’s Michael Reiser and Nicholas Ballou, after each team finished 3-0 in their respective flight and won their semifinal playoff. Round Hill emerged victorious in the championship round, winning 8-5.

In a smaller draw on the women’s side, Claremont Hotel & Spa claimed the crown, with representatives Anjali Mogili and Maya Curry defeating a multi-club team of Alison Vidal (Round Hill) and Alisa Yee (Olympic Club) 9-7.

Check out the entire KPSF draw here and click here to see more photos from throughout the tournament.