San Diego Prospects Chase ATP Points as Tennis Exchange Open Serves Up at Barnes

Professional tennis returns to Point Loma this weekend as the Tennis Exchange Open opens qualifying at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Barnes Tennis Center, kicking off a week-long ATP 75 Challenger event stacked with local talent and a $107,000 purse.

The tournament, previewed by the San Diego Union-Tribune, follows the U.S. Open. Main-draw tournament play begins at 11 a.m. Monday and runs through Wednesday, with sessions shifting to noon Thursday, 1 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sept. 27 to close out the week. The singles champion is set to collect $17,000 of the total purse, and the winner also earns 75 ATP ranking points toward tour status.

The tournament's host site has been a fixture of San Diego junior and professional tennis for nearly three decades. Barnes Tennis Center, at 4490 W Point Loma Blvd., opened in 1997 to support junior tennis throughout the region, according to ustasocal.com. The facility spans 23 hard courts and two red Cali-Clay courts, and it hosts 66 tournaments a year while serving more than 12,000 people and handing out 2,500 scholarships, per the same source. Barnes Tennis Center also hosts the sixth event on the 2026 SoCal Pro Series schedule.

The Tennis Exchange Open's field includes several players with direct ties to San Diego. Keegan Smith is among them. Also in the draw is Trevor Svajda.

Svajda's presence carries extra local intrigue. Zach Svajda previously won the San Diego Open championship, giving Trevor a family tie to that title as he competes on the same Barnes courts this week, according to the paper's reporting. The connection threads together the region's two marquee professional events without overshadowing the broader field chasing ranking points this week.

Heading that field is Nishesh Basavareddy.

The tournament also features additional players. Among them is Darwin Branch. Branch, Smith and Svajda are among the players competing at Barnes this week.