USC’s Steve Johnson qualifies for first ATP World Tour event

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

USC junior and Orange native Steve Johnson defeated Chris Guccione of Australia on Monday to qualify for the main draw of the Farmer’s Classic at UCLA.

It will be the first ATP main draw for Johnson, 20, who entered the Farmer’s Classic last year but lost in the qualifying rounds.

‘It’s pretty unbelievable. It’s been a dream week so far,’ Johnson said. ‘I just want to keep it going.’

Johnson played through three rounds of qualifying matches to make the main draw, defeating Australian Marinko Matosevic on Saturday and Ze Zhang of China on Sunday.

The schedule of play beyond Monday has not yet been released, so Johnson does know when he will play his first-round match or who he will be facing.

‘I’ll just see who I play and I’ll do my best,’ he said.

In his freshman year, Johnson won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s indoor championship and helped USC to the 2009 NCAA Championship. Johnson finished the 2009-10 season as the country’s No. 9-ranked singles player.

-- Laura Myers