After a successful spring campaign that featured a Big Ten regular-season title and an NCAA Super Regional appearance, USC women’s tennis kicked off the Fall 2026 season last week with its first tournament in Newport Beach — the Universal Tennis Rating Pro Fall Slam. 

The UTR rates players on a scale from 1 to 16.50, with 1 being beginners and 16.50 being professionals. UTR Powered Events are tennis tournaments where match results count toward a player’s overall rating. 

Three Trojans participated in the 20-player women’s draw, which ran from Sept. 14 to 20: junior Simone Kay, senior Lily Fairclough and freshman Kiara Zabkova. Players spent Monday through Friday in five-woman round-robin groups before moving into single-elimination playoff draws over the weekend.

Kay and Fairclough did not lose a match all week until knockout play Saturday, where their streaks ended.

The two Trojans won all eight of their round-robin matches in Newport Beach and reached the tournament’s top playoff bracket, coming within one win of the final and a chance to participate in the tour’s season-ending championship in late November. 

Kay takes four straight matches

Kay, who plays in the No. 6 position in USC’s singles lineup, opened Monday against Bulgaria’s Dia Evtimova, needing just over two and a half hours to put her away. Kay lost the first set 6-4, but came back to take the next two 6-3 and 6-1. 

The next afternoon was a tough start for Kay after losing the first set to American Mingyue Deng without winning a game. She mounted a comeback once again, though, winning the next two sets 6-2 and 6-0. Kay followed this match with two more wins over Americans Olive Maunupau and Marley Lambert to finish group play unbeaten.

Kay drew American Kailey Evans in knockout play, the second highest-rated player in the field at 10.80. Kay lost 6-2, 6-0 in 62 minutes, never earning a break point. Evans dominated, winning 92% of her first-serve points and 71% of her second while serving three aces to Kay’s zero. 

Fairclough sweeps group play

Fairclough has built her career in doubles. The senior from Perth, Australia, reached as high as No. 6 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Doubles alongside USC sophomore Dani Borruel. Fairclough also carries a 24-27 singles record across three seasons at USC.

Although her success has been mostly in doubles, in Newport Beach, she won all four of her group matches without losing a set.

Fairclough beat Italy’s Matilde Magrini 6-1, 6-4 on Monday and American Tricia Mar 6-1, 6-2 on Friday, with neither opponent converting a break point. She also beat Spain’s Martina Puvill Fuertes on Wednesday, 6-4, 6-3. 

On Friday night, Fairclough closed group play with a 6-3, 6-3 win over American Tiffany Papazian, serving eight aces and never double-faulting. 

The match against Papazian marked her second match of the night, which she had not initially planned for. Fairclough’s Friday match against Mar was scheduled for Thursday but postponed a day due to an issue with livestream camera equipment, forcing her to play two matches in one day. 

In elimination play, Fairclough pushed American Katja Wiersholm, who boasted a 10.04 rating, but ultimately fell 6-4, 6-4, in a match lasting nearly two hours. The senior generated 11 break points and converted 4, while Wiersholm, who would go on to win the tournament, took 6 of her 13 break points. 

With a 10.15 rating, Fairclough came in winning four of her last six matches, including a semifinal run at the UTR PTT Newport Beach playoff that lasted from Sept. 7 to 13.

A first look for Zabkova

Two months ago, Kiara Zabkova won Slovakia’s national women’s singles title. This week, the USC freshman got her first chance at American competition. 

Zabkova, rated 9.98, beat UC Irvine’s Isabella Pitchford 6-4 in both sets Monday in a match where she won 53% of her second-serve points. That would be her only victory of the tournament, though, as she fell to UC Berkeley’s Anya Murthy, Evans and American Alexandra Wolf throughout the week.

Zabkova landed the No. 1 seed in the 13-16 playoff draw, but withdrew from her semifinal against Emma Pell on Friday night and didn’t play the weekend. 

The Fall Slam runs from mid-August through November, with players accumulating their points towards the tour’s yearlong Tour Card race. 

The Trojans await the Battle in the Bay from Oct. 1 to 4 in San Francisco.