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As most of the tennis spotlight shined on Indian Wells over the weekend, some of Southern California’s top blue chips were logging court time in another part of the state.

Alex Michelsen, Chase Thompson and future Stanford teammates Kyle Kang and Hudson Rivera all won at least one match at the Bakersfield Tennis Open, an ITF 25K event in Bakersfield, California.

Kang beat the top-seeded Michelsen 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals before losing to Australia’s Alex Bolt 6-3, 7-6 in the final on Sunday at Bakersfield Racquet Club.

Kang, a Fullerton native, and Rivera, Rancho Santa Fe native, are two of three blue chips in Stanford’s 2023 class along with Nicholas Godsick. Michelsen, an Aliso Viejo native, has signed with Georgia. Thompson, who hails from Mission Viejo, has committed to Notre Dame.

Kang and Rivera were given wild cards into the event and Thompson came through the qualifying rounds. All four SoCal stars are ranked in the top 10 in the Tennis Recruiting Network rankings and won their opening-round matches.

Michelsen beat New Zealand’s Finn Reynolds 6-3, 6-2, Kang beat third-seeded Adam Walton of Australia 6-3, 6-4, Rivera beat American Isaiah Strode 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 and Thompson beat Argentina’s Federico Agustin Gomez 6-3, 6-4 for his first ATP point.

Michelsen eliminated Rivera 6-2, 6-2 in the second round and Kang defeated American and former University of Florida player Sekou Bangoura 6-1, 6-2. Thompson lost to No. 2 Yuta Shimizu of Japan 6-2, 7-5

In the quarterfinals, Michelsen beat No. 6 Naoki Nakagawa of Japan 6-4, 6-1 and Kang beat No. 8 American Aidan Mayo 6-2, 7-5.

Bolt defeated No. 7-seeded American Christian Langmo 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 in the semifinals to set up his meeting against Kang.

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About Rhiannon Potkey

Rhiannon Potkey is a veteran sportswriter with more than two decades of experience in journalism. Potkey has covered many sports at many levels and has a passion for finding great stories. Potkey has covered the U.S. Open, junior sectional and national events, college conference championships and Davis Cup matches. Potkey is currently Content Strategist for Tennis Recruiting. You can reach Rhiannon by email at rhiannon@tennisrecruiting.net.