ITF J300 San Diego Recap; No. 1 Seeds Fall in Contrasting Fashion at FILA Easter Bowl; Payne Extends Winning Streak by Eliminating No. 2 Seed Kennedy; Blanch Advances to USTA Pro Circuit Calabasas M25 Semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Indian Wells CA--

Before the review of Friday's 16s and 18s quarterfinals, don't forget to check out my Tennis Recruiting Network recap of last week's ITF J300 North American Regional Championships in San Diego, with Kristina Penickova and Jack Satterfield claiming the titles.

Two weeks ago, Tyler Lee took on Kalamazoo 18s finalist Jack Kennedy in the second round of the ITF J300 FILA International Championships in Indian Wells, taking the second set in a tiebreaker from the ITF Top 10 junior and No. 2 seed before dropping the final set 6-1. Returning to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for the FILA Easter Bowl after a week at the J300 in San Diego, where he reached the doubles semifinals, Lee won an even more significant tiebreaker Friday to defeat 18s top seed Shaan Patel 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3) reach his first USTA Level 1 semifinal.

"I'm starting to love tiebreakers," said the 15-year-old from Tustin California. "I've been playing really good tiebreakers recently, so I had a lot of confidence going into it. It's only seven points long, so I just told myself, just focus for seven points."

Lee only got an opportunity to play the tiebreaker when Patel was unable to serve out the match after breaking Lee at 4-all. The 17-year-old left-hander was countering Lee's big forehands without making errors until that game, but he began to feel the pressure, with a double fault giving Lee a second break point, which he converted when Patel's forehand caught the tape. 

"When he broke me, I thought it was going to be over, but I decided to fight hard," said Lee, who is coached by JC Beeson at Veylix Tennis in Tustin.  At 15-all (at 4-5) I thought his serve was a let, so I didn't play the point and I lost it, and I actually told myself it's going to be so embarrassing if I lose this game like that. So I gave myself some extra fuel and actually pulled through. That was my motivation, I didn't want to be embarrassed in front of the crowd."

Up 40-0 serving at 5-all, Lee let those three game points get away, but he held with two more forehand errors from Patel. Lee had a 15-30 advantage with Patel serving at 5-6, but Lee misfired on the next three points to send the match to the deciding tiebreaker.

Once Lee gained the advantage with some good defense to go up 4-2, he took didn't relenquish it, with an ace and forehand winner giving him three match points. He only needed one, with a forehand volley winner completing the day's second upset on Practice Court 2. Lee will face unseeded Cooper Han in the semifinals Saturday morning.

Although Lee wasn't aware of it, No. 9 seed Keshav Muthuvel had already pulled off a similar feat in the preceeding match, defeating Safir Azam, the top seed in the 16s, 6-3, 6-4.

Azam couldn't quite find his game in the opening set, and went down two breaks, with Muthuvel serving at 3-0 in the second. But Muthuvel lost that game, and when Azam held serve for 3-2, he could be heard telling himself "I'm back in this."  He was right, breaking Muthuvel a second time to level the set at 4, but all the momentum he had was lost when he was broken in the next game. 

Muthuvel actually felt the big lead he had in the second set had been detrimental. 

"I think when the match got closer, I stopped feeling as much pressure," said the 15-year-old from Pleasanton California, who lost to Azam in the round of 16 in the 14s division last year. "I knew I had to play my game. I was playing really good, and then then he suddenly started playing a good game and it was tough. I started thinking too much about things, but I think I refocused myself pretty well in the end."

Muthuvel said his down the line backhand has been working well all week, and he came into the tournament expecting to have a good run. 

"I've been training a lot and I knew I could do a lot in this tournament," Muthuvel said. "I knew I just had to play my game." Muthuvel will play fellow No. 9 seed Marcel Latak in Saturday's semifinals.

While the boys 18s semifinals features just one seed, No. 9 Winston Wooin Lee, the girls also have unseeded contenders for the title, although one, 16s Easter Bowl champion Bella Payne is hardly a surprise.

Payne added No. 2 seed JoAnna Kennedy to her list of opponents vanquished at the Easter Bowl, beating the big server from Colorado 6-2, 6-1 for her tenth consecutive singles win at the FILA Easter Bowl.

"It was super windy today, and I think that honestly helped me a little bit," said the 17-year-old left-hander from Florida, who has committed to the University of Georgia for 2026. "Her game is a super aggressive style and I was trying to stay more solid. Her serve was huge, but I was more stepping in on it and that was a big thing, instead of stepping back and giving it more time. Stepping forward was good and I was able to break down her serve pretty early in the match, and honestly, I think that's what won me the match, was my return. And my serve, I was serving pretty well."

Payne can't put her finger on a reason for all her success at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, which includes a doubles title last year and another run to the semifinals in doubles with a win this evening with another future Georgia Bulldog, Emily Deming.

"I love the energy here," said Payne. "I honestly just love Palm Springs, it's really great to play here. I don't know what it is about this place, but I guess it works for me."

Payne will be tested in the semifinals by unseeded Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, who beat her in the first round of the Las Vegas ITF J100 earlier this month, but she views the change of venues as working in her favor.

"I like my chances," Payne said.

Results of today's singles quarterfinals:

B16s

Keshav Muthuvel[9] d. Safir Azam[1] 6-3, 6-4

Marcel Latak[9] d. Rowan Qalbani[9] 6-2, 6-4

Tristan Stratton[8] d. Ilias Bouzoubaa[9] 6-4, 6-0

Alexander Suhanitski[2] d. Lixing Jiang[5] 6-4, 7-5

B18s 

Tyler Lee d. Shaan Patel[1] 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3)

Cooper Han d. David Wu[9] 7-6(2), 2-0 ret. inj.

Winston Wooin Lee[9] d. Aryan Badlani 6-4, 6-4

Nikolas Stoot d. Yashwin Krishnakumar 6-1, 6-2

G16s

Ciara Harding[WC] d. Alanna Ingalsbe 6-0, 7-5

Carolina Castro[7] d. Aarini Bhattacharya[4] 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-5

Carlota Moreno[3] d. Delaney Letzel 7-5, 6-2

Armira Kockinis[9] d. Natalie Kha[5] 7-5, 6-3 

G18s

Nadia Valdez[9] d. Calla McGill[9] 6-1, 6-1

Nicole Weng[9] d, Blair Gill[7] 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(2)

Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann d. Hi'llani Williams 7-6(4), 6-1

Bella Payne d. JoAnna Kennedy[2] 6-2, 6-1

The matches on the main show court, Practice Court 2, will be available on the Easter Bowl YouTube channel, with Ken Thomas of radiotennis.com providing commentary.

Complete draws, including doubles and consolation results, can be found at the USTA tournament page.

2022 Kalamazoo 16s champion Darwin Blanch is through to the semifinals of the USTA M25 Pro Circuit tournament in Calabasas California, with the 17-year-old left-hander defeating Ron Hohmann(LSU, Michigan State) 6-1, 6-3 in today's quarterfinals. Blanch will face Wake Forest grad student Stefan Dostanic, the No. 7 seed, who beat No. 4 seed Govind Nanda(UCLA) 6-2, 7-5. The other semifinal will feature TCU junior Jack Pinnington Jones of Great Britain, the No. 3 seed, and No. 8 seed Andres Martin(Georgia Tech).

Wild cards Noah Johnston and Ian Mayew lost in the doubles semifinals to top seeds Nanda and Benjamin Sigouin(North Carolina) of Canada 6-4, 6-4.

Krishnan and Del Mastro Double Up for FILA Easter Bowl 14s Titles; Borchard Sweeps Boys 12s, Dupere Makes Late Charge to Claim Girls 12s; Valdez Ousts Top Seed Gowda in 18s Third Round Action

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Indian Wells CA--

Wednesday's wind and dust relented on Thursday, allowing the 12s and 14s FILA Easter Bowl tournaments to finish, but stamina was required, with many of those in action on the final day playing three matches, after the cancellation of play Wednesday due to poor air quality at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

The two players who went to bed last night not knowing if they were finalists won two matches today, with No. 8 seed Arjun Krishnan and No. 6 seed Daniela del Mastro crowned champions in the 14s.

Krishnan, who led unseeded Adrian Sharma 6-3, 2-2 when their semifinal match was suspended Wednesday afternoon, earned his place in the final by taking the second set 6-4, and he carried that form to a championship, beating top seed Rafael Pawar 7-6(5), 6-4 to earn his first gold ball.

"There were maybe nerves going to bed, more than usual," said the 14-year-old from San Jose California. "But I knew I was playing good from yesterday and I just moved it on to today."

Krishnan lost the early break in the first set, but played the better tiebreaker, although he missed an easy volley at 6-4 that would have shaken many players. But Krishnan didn't let it affect him on the next point, bombing an ace past Pawar, one of many unreturnable serves he showcased on important points.

"I really think my mental game has strengthened," said Krishnan, who lost in the first round of the Easter Bowl last year, after winning the backdraw in the 12s in 2023. "I'm pretty calm throughout the points. And my serves are really big and I utilize my weapons as much as possible."

Krishnan, who trains with his father and John Thomas (JT) Gaviano at the Saratoga Country Club, counts his forehand as one of those weapons, with Pawar agreeing there wasn't much he could do to counteract that shot today.

"He played on fire today," said Pawar, who had completed his semifinal before play was suspended Wednesday. "I was just trying to stay in the rallies, keep with it, but it was too good by him today."

Serving at 2-3 in the second set, Krishnan faced a break point but saved it, and broke Pawar in the next game.

"He served a monster serve there, so that was a tough one," said Pawar, who is moving from New Jersey to Florida later this spring. 

"I was pretty down, with a loss of focus, loss of energy,"  Krishnan said of that 2-3 service game. "I'm pretty happy that I bounced back, used my routines between points, hit a big serve and played good points right after."

Krishnan couldn't convert his two match points in with Pawar serving at 3-5, but he earned a third in the next game and with another unreturned serve, was an Easter Bowl champion.

"It's an honor, I know a lot of greats have won this tournament, so I'm pretty happy to have won it as well," Krishnan said.

Girls 14s champion del Mastro had an even more challenging start to the day than Krishnan, trailing No. 9 seed Abigail Haile by a set before play began at 8 a.m. Thursday. Despite that deficit, she remained upbeat, earning a 6-7(9), 6-2, 7-5 victory to reach the final.

Riding that momentum, del Mastro went up 5-2 in the first set of the championship match with No. 3 seed Allison Wang, but she was unable to close out the set serving at 5-2, 5-4 and 6-5, only to dominate the tiebreaker. Once her first serve got going however, del Mastro was able to close out Wang 7-6(2), 6-4 to claim her second singles gold ball.

"My serve was a little off to start," said the 13-year-old from the Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove, who felt more excited than fatigued when facing a second match just 90 minutes later. "I was not really making my first serves and she's a very good returner of seconds. And then I started making my first serves and taking advantage of that in the points."

"I think in the critical moments she could hit a winner down the line or cross," said the 14-year-old Wang, a San Jose resident. "Her first serve was really good, hard for me return."  Wang, who finished her semifinal match on Wednesday, said she strained her neck prior to the match. "I didn't play my best, but it's just another day for me."

Del Mastro, who trains with Toby Boyer at On the Rise Tennis Academy and at Deciding Point Tennis, said she found the heat and conditions in the desert difficult at first, but made the adjustments necessary.

"I struggled the first couple of matches," said del Mastro, who won the 2023-24 USTA Winter Nationals in the 12s division. "But then toward the end of the tournament, it was not as hot as the first couple of days."

While the 14s finals were competitive, the 12s finals were even more so, with the outcome in doubt for nearly three hours before the top seeds emerged with the titles.

James Borchard, a semifinalist last year, saw his 4-0 lead in the third set disappear, but won the final two games to secure a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory over No. 3 seed Udham Singh.

Singh was up 30-0 serving at 4-5 in the final set, but the 12-year-old lefthander netted a forehand to go down 30-40, giving Borchard his first match point. A good first serve saved it, and he earned a game point, but Borchard countered that with an aggressive forehand in the corner. A fortunate net cord winner gave Borchard another match point, which he converted with a angled forehand winner.

"I came out super nervous, I was really really tight," said the 11-year-old from Thousand Oaks California. "I managed to pull off the first set. In the third set I got up 4-0 and he came back, he played really good. He's just so good, because his forehand, he just rips it, and it usually goes in. I had to work really hard to get his shots back. His backhand he doesn't miss much and he hits in the corners very well."

Borchard said fatigue was a factor late in the match.

"I got very tired after I went up 4-0," said Borchard, who is coached by his father Quinn, the head pro at Sunset Hills Country Club. "I wasn't really feeling good, because I think I drank too much water, but I managed to pull it off. It feels great, because this is one of my favorite tournaments. It makes you feel like a pro, because you're playing at Indian Wells and it's just very fun."

Borchard literally doubled his gold ball count later in the day, adding a third level 1 doubles title to those he won at the Easter Bowl last spring and the Hard Courts last summer. Borchard and Evan Fan, seeded No. 3, defeated No. 5 seeds Keita Iida and Mateo Vicens 6-1, 7-5.

Top seed Lucy Dupere trailed No. 5 seed Kareena Cross 3-1 in the third set before taking the last five games to earn the gold ball that eluded her at the Winter Nationals earlier this year.

"It feels really good because the last one hurt a lot," said the diminutive left-hander from North Carolina, who just turned 12. "I had the first set there, but this time I really fought through. I wanted it really badly, I came for it, and I got it."

Dupere lost more games in today's final than she had in her five previous matches combined, 14 to 11, and she gave credit to Cross for fighting back after trailing 5-1 in the first set.

"She was dictating the points; she has a really good forehand," said Dupere. "She played really well overall, her serve was really good and she did a great job of making me work the point. But in those last few games, I just believed more in myself and played smarter, going for a few bigger targets.

Dupere was quick to credit her coaches Max Desmars, Calin Mateas, Meghan Coomes and Richard Ashby with helping her add a second gold ball to go with the one she earned in doubles at the Winter Nationals earlier this year.

"I go down to the USTA occasionally, so thank you so much to coach Lori (Riffice) for everything," said Dupere, who wanted to note the help she received from the recently retired USTA National Coach. "I want to thank all my coaches for everything they've done to help me grow so much." 

B14s consolation final:

Louden Muha d. Carter Jauffret[9] 6-4, 6-4

B14s third place:

Zesen Wang[6] d. Adrian Sharma 3-0 ret. inj.

B14s doubles:

Siddhant Dua and Indra Vergne d. Karan Shanker and Trishiv Premanand 6-3, 6-1

B14s doubles third place:

Rafael Pawar and Zesen Wang[2] d. Mason Fekete and Smyan Vijay 6-3, 6-3

G14s consolation final:

Emery Combs[9] d. Daniella Sales 6-3, 6-1

G14s third place:

Molly Widlansky[9] d. Abigail Haile[9] 3-1, ret. inj.

G14s doubles:

Madeline Cleary and Anya Arora d. Olivia de Los Reyes and Emery Combs 7-6(2), 6-4

G14s doubles third place:

Soo-Ah Byun and Isha Manchala d. Londan Evans and Ava Chua[5] w/o inj.

B12s consolation final:

Olie Rosa Hall[8] d. Pranav Madamanchi 6-2, 6-0

B12s third place:

Evan Fan[2] d. Haris Shahbaz[9] 4-6, 6-2, 6-2

B12s doubles:

James Borchard and Evan Fan[3] d. Keita Iida and Mateo Vicens[5] 6-1, 7-5

B12s doubles third place:

Udham Singh and William McGugin[1] d. Gabriel Marino and Jason Ye[2] w/o inj.

G12s consolation final:

Skylar Mandell d. Mila Mikoczi Spivey 6-2, 6-2

G12s third place:

Cataleya Brown d. Violetta Mamina[2] def ns

G12s doubles:

Gabrielle Alexa Villegas and Kareena Cross d. Nicole Blanco and Inie Toli[3] 6-4, 7-6(7)

G12s doubles third place:

Mila Mikoczi Spivey and Lucy Dupere d. Summer Yang and Cataleya Brown 6-3, 7-5

With the 12s and 14s champions crowned, the 16s and 18s will take center stage at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden this weekend, with only half of the No. 1 seeds remaining after girls 18s top seed Thara Gowda was beaten today by No. 9 seed Nadia Valdez 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-4.

"It feels great because last year I lost and lost," said the 15-year-old from San Antonio. "I came to the tournament and I didn't like it after I did so bad, so this year I'm doing much better and I'm glad."

Valdez had never played Gowda, but was eager to employ the strategy that has worked for her the past three days.

"I tried to lob it, because everything bounces really high on these courts," said Valdez, who is coached by her father Adrian and also trains in Texas with pros Catherine Harrison and Fernanda Contreras. "I catch it very late, so I think that's working. I'm hitting it cross court and going for my ball down the line when getting a short ball, and hitting a volley when I get a lob back."
 

Valdez will play No. 9 seed Calla McGill in the quarterfinals Friday.

Below are all the quarterfinals matchups for Friday, with the lack of seeds in the 18s particularly notable.

B16s Quarterfinals

Safir Azam[1] v Keshav Muthuvel[9]

Marcel Latak[9] v Rowan Qalbani[9]

Tristan Stratton[8] v Ilias Bouzoubaa[9]

Lixing Jiang[5] v Alexander Suhanitski[2]

B18s Quarterfinals

Shaan Patel[1] v Tyler Lee

Cooper Han v David Wu[9]

Aryan Badlani v Winston Wooin Lee[9]

Nikolas Stoot v Yashwin Krishnakumar

G16s Quarterfinals

Ciara Harding[WC] v Alanna Ingalsbe

Aarini Bhattacharya[4] v Carolina Castro[7]

Delaney Letzel v Carlota Moreno[3]

Natalie Kha[5] v Armira Kockinis[9]

G18s Quarterfinals

Nadia Valdez[9] v Calla McGill[9]

Nicole Weng[9] v Blair Gill[7]

Hi'llani Williams v Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann

Bella Payne v JoAnna Kennedy[2]

For all results from Thursday, see the USTA tournament website.

Ken Thomas will be providing commentary for tomorrow's action at radiotennis.com.

Air Quality Alert Leaves Two FILA Easter Bowl 14s Finalists Undecided; Top Seeds Advance to 12s Finals; Second Round Incomplete in 16s and 18s; Blanch Beats Maloney at Calabasas $25K

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Indian Wells CA--

The weather this month in Indian Wells has gone from cool and damp during the second week of the BNP Paribas Open to 100 degrees Tuesday at the FILA Easter Bowl and Wednesday brought a new condition to contend with in the form of blowing dust.

Just after 12:30 p.m., play was suspended at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden site, with the air quality reaching hazardous levels for "extended or intense" physical activities. Each court stopped at their next changeover, so unlike a rain delay, there were no game scores to keep track of, just games and who was serving. The 12s semifinals were completed before the suspension of play, as all were in straight sets, but the noon semifinals for the 14s were in the first sets at the first suspension. Play resumed a little less than hour later, and two of the 14s semifinals were completed in the 45 minutes before the second, and final suspension came, with the two others to be finished Thursday.

The top seeds in the 12s advanced to the final, with Lucy Dupere defeating unseeded Cataleya Brown 6-1, 6-2 and No. 5 seed Kareena Cross beating No. 3 seed Violetta Mamina 6-1, 6-3.  Dupere has been dominating opponents this week, having dropped only 11 games in her five victories. A finalist at the USTA Winter Nationals, Dupere will again meet Cross at a level 1, with Dupere winning their quarterfinal match in San Antonio 7-6(5), 7-6(5). 

"I lost to her at Winters 6-7, 6-7, so it was very close, so I hope redeem myself," said Cross, who won the back draw after that loss, beating Mamina 6-0, 6-0 to finish fifth at the Winter Nationals. 

Cross, who has worked with the late Robert Lansdorp and is now coached by Alexandra Stevenson, will be playing in her first Level 1 final, but she managed to avoid thinking about that possibility in the second set.

"I just focus on one point at a time, so I didn't really think about the finals, getting to the finals, I was just focused on each point," said Cross, who has played Mamina on several occasions, and wasn't bothered by the emotional reactions on the other side of the net.  "I play a lot of emotional players, and I think everyone is emotional, including me sometimes, I have to admit. But I'm kind of used to it."

In the boys 12s semifinals, top seed James Borchand, who reached the singles semifinals last year and won the doubles title, has advanced one step further this year, beating No. 9 seed Haris Shahbaz 6-2, 6-0. Borchand will face No. 3 seed Udham Singh, who won the closest match in the 12s, beating No. 2 seed Evan Fan 6-4, 6-4.

Singh, who lost in the first round at last year's Easter Bowl, was down a break with Fan serving at 4-3 in the second set, broke back at love, then saved a break point in a three-deuce game to take the lead. Fan went up 40-0 serving at 4-5, but couldn't close out the game, with Singh converting his third match point after three deuces.

"I think whenever the match was slightly tighter, I played pretty well," said the left-handed Singh, who is from Northern California but is currently training at the Dent Tennis Academy in Texas. "I locked in and didn't make as many errors. But I think when I had my chances early on in the sets I missed them, made too many errors."

Singh said he wasn't sure how he'd perform in this tournament. "I wasn't really expecting much, we were making some changes to my game, so we were just here really for practice," said Singh, who will be playing in his first Level 1 final. "It's nice to get deep in the tournament."

For a Desert Sun article on Borchard and Nikol Davletshina, who lost Tuesday, click here.

The third top seed playing for an Easter Bowl title is Rafael Pawar, who defeated No. 6 seed Zesen Wang 6-3, 6-2. Pawar will play the winner of the suspended semifinal between No. 8 seed Arjun Krishnan and unseeded Adrian Sharma, with Krishnan having taken the first set in that semifinal.

No. 3 seed Allison Wang, who won the 14s Clay Court title last summer, advanced to the final with a 6-0, 6-3 win over No. 9 seed Molly Widlansky. She will play the winner of the suspended semifinal between No. 9 seed Abigail Haile and No. 6 seed Daniela del Mastro. Haile saved two set points in the first set tiebreaker at 5-6 and 6-7, converting her first set point with a forehand winner. Del Mastro won the first game of the second set when play was suspended. 

In the boys 18s, top seed Shaan Patel needed over two hours, but got past Drew Hedgecoe 6-3, 6-4, with three top eight seeds losing in the incomplete second round.  Rishvanth Krishna defeated No. 5 seed Blake Anderson 6-3, 6-1; Benjamin Berger beat No. 6 seed Nicholas Patrick 6-3 ,6-1 and Tyler Lee defeated No. 7 seed Andre Alcantara 6-3, 0-6, 6-4.  

Girls 18s top seed Thara Gowda received a walkover from Katie Spencer, while No. 2 seed JoAnna Kennedy was in top form with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Teresa Tran.  2024 Easter Bowl 16s champion Bella Payne advanced to the third round with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Maya Chen.

The boys 16s third round will feature a rematch of the 2024 boys 14s semifinal, in which Izyan Ahmad defeated Safir Azam 6-4, 6-2. Azam, the No. 1 seed this year in the 16s, defeated Peyton Barrett 6-0, 6-4, while wild card Ahmad, who is unseeded, beat No. 9 seed Gurjot Singh 6-2, 6-1.

No. 2 seed Alexander Suhanitski and Erik Schinnerer are at 4-all in the third set in a to-be-completed second round match.

All of the doubles on the schedule, including the 12s and 14s semifinals were canceled.

The air quality alert is in place through Friday at midnight, so there is no guarantee that Thursday's play will be continuous.

Check the USTA tournament website for match times.

At the men's $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Calabasas California, two young wild cards lost their first round matches today, with Noah Johnston losing to Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain 7-5, 6-2 and Alex Frusina(Auburn) falling to No. 8 seed Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) 6-0, 6-2.

Darwin Blanch, back in the United States for the Miami Open qualifying, traveled to the West Coast for this event, and beat No. 5 seed Patrick Maloney(Michigan) 6-1, 6-0.

FILA Easter Bowl 16s Begins with Harding's Ouster of Top Seed; Auburn Teammates Assist in Pettingell's Win Over No. 2 Seed in 18s; Semifinals Set in 12s and 14s as Desert Heat Continues; Calabasas $25K Qualifying Complete, Monday Aims for Second Straight Title

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Indian Wells, CA--

Temperatures peaking at 100 degrees Tuesday at the FILA Easter Bowl would normally dominate the conversation at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, but big upsets at the start of the 16s and 18s tournament took center stage, with the girls 16s losing No. 1 seed Anna Bugaienko and, in the boys 18s, No. 2 seed Drew Fishback bowing out.

Bugaienko lost to wild card Ciara Harding 7-6(3), 6-2, with Harding coming into the Easter Bowl after a successful week at the ITF J300 North American Regional Championships in San Diego, where she qualified, and won a round before falling to top seed and Australian Open finalist Kristina Penickova 6-2, 7-6(3).

"I had a great week last week, great experience and a lot of matches, so I think it was definitely an advantage," said the 15-year-old from Florida. "I got a wild card, because recently I've just been playing ITFs, so I just wanted to come here, not put any pressure on myself and just play my game."

Harding said she was not disappointed to see that she had drawn the No. 1 seed. 

"I knew my opponent, I've known her a few years, we've played doubles together before," Harding said. "So I knew it was going to be a great match, it was going to be a battle, good competition, so I was actually excited to come in and play."

Harding fought back from 5-3 down in the opening set, but said she found her game in the tiebreaker and took control from there. 

"I knew if I could just stay in the points, aggressive but still consistent, I knew I could get back into the match and getback into the set," Harding said. "By the tiebreaker I was going for everything, attacking with my forehand. In the second set, I felt a lot better with my game and I had a high first serve percentage in the second set."

After getting an insurance break to go up 5-2 in the second, Harding eliminated any drama by getting all four of her first serves in. Bugaienko didn't get three of them back in play, and Harding's forehand forced an error, and ideal way to close out a match against the No. 1 seed.

"That was a great game," said Harding, who felt no pressure in that moment. "I was just going to compete and play my game, so there was nothing to be nervous about, I guess."

Harding will face Yui Watanbe in the second round Wednesday.

After dropping the first set today against Boning Wang, boys 16s top seed Safir Azam was having flashbacks to last year's Easter Bowl 14s, where, also as the No. 1 seed, he had to save match points in the first round.

It wasn't quite that dramatic today, but he did need to work hard to post a 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory.

"I never seem to get the first round win in straights," said the 15-year-old from Washington, who reached the semifinals in 2024. "Last year, the same thing happened, I lost the first set and came back. This time I didn't face any match points, last year I saved four. After losing that first set, I kind of had that deja vu, and I didn't want to be in that position again."

Azam travels to Orlando regularly to train with the USTA, so he said he is accustomed to the heat. 

"The conditions are a lot worse than this," said Azam, who has won the last two USTA Level 1 Boys 16s titles with the Indoors in November and the Winter Nationals in January. "It's the same heat, with humidity, so this is definitely easier when you have that experience with Orlando."

As for being a No. seed 1, which he has a lot of experience with, Azam doesn't care for it.

"It's not fun, everyone's out to beat you, I hate being No. 1," said Azam, who faces Peyton Barrett Wednesday. "I just want to stay low profile. I'd prefer to be unseeded."

The top seeds in the 18s had no trouble in their first round matches, with Shaan Patel, the 18s Winter National champion,  defeating Troy Kudrjavtsev 6-1, 6-1 and Thara Gowda beating Jariahlyn Rhoades 6-3, 6-2.

But the upset of day in the boys 18s came on remote Practice Court 19, with Max Pettingell defeated No. 2 seed Drew Fishback 6-1, 7-5.

Fishback struggled with his game in the opening set, but took a 3-1 lead in the second only to watch the Auburn redshirt freshman come back to take six of the last eight games. 

Pettingell, who reached the Clay Court quarterfinals last summer, joined Auburn last fall, and he credits the last six months of training there as a key to his improvement.

"I'm really happy with the training I'm getting there," said the 18-year-old from Sarasota Florida. "We all get along really well there, everyone just wants to improve and get better. It's great to have a group of guys like your family to be the best that you can and it's really improved my level."

Pettingell didn't hold back in the rallies, even when trailing 1-3 in the third, as Fishback began staying in points longer and eliminating his unforced errors. But with not much match play to draw on, Pettingell had to keep believing that the style he had been practicing would prevail in the end.

"I was moving forward, hitting some big balls, just trying to play that college style that my teammates inspire me to play," Pettingell said.

Getting his first serve in was also a strategy he executed perfectly in the later stages of the second set.

"I was trying to make every first serve that I could, I was probably serving upwards of 80 percent," Pettingell said. "I just tried to be bold, be brave and take it to him. And to all the juniors out there, your coaches aren't lying when they tell you to make first serves. It's a massive part of the game and it's really under-appreciated."

After Fishback had held at love to stay in the match serving at 4-5, he couldn't duplicate that in his next service game, with the unforced errors that he eliminated in the second set reappearing at the worst possible time and he was broken at love. 

Pettingell will face Brayden Tallakson in the second round Wednesday. 

2024 Girls 16s Easter Bowl champion Bella Payne extended her winning streak with a 6-1, 6-1 win over No. 5 seed Chloe Qin, and  No. 3 seed Carrie-Anne Hoo was beaten by Amy Lee 6-4, 6-3.

The 12s singles semifinals are set for 10 a.m. Wednesday, with the 14s scheduled for noon. Temperatures expected to be slightly cooler Wednesday, although still in the mid-90s. Below are the results of the today's quarterfinals.

B12s

James Borchard[1] d. William McGugin[5] 7-6(1), 6-4

Haris Shahbaz[9] d. Keita Iida[9] 6-3, 6-4

Udham Singh[3] d. Chris Deng[7] 6-2, 6-0 

Evan Fan[2] d. Keita Iwata[6] 1-6, 6-1, 6-0

B14s

Rafael Pawar[1] d. Dylan Meineke[5] 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(4)

Zesen Wang[6] d. Carter Jauffret[9] 7-6(6), 6-2

Arjun Krishnan[8] d. Indra Vergne 6-1, 3-6, 6-3

Adrian Sharma d. Joshua Dolinksy[7] 6-2, 7-5

G12s

Lucy Dupere[1] d. Alisa Shifrin 6-0, 6-0

Cataleya Brown d. Skylar Mandell 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5

Violetta Mamina[3] d. Inie Toli[8] 6-4, 6-4

Kareena Cross[5] d. Gabrielle Alexa Villegas[2] 7-6(2), 6-1

G14s

Molly Widlansky[9] d. Emery Combs[9] 6-2, 6-2

Allison Wang[3] d. London Evans[7] 6-1, 6-4

Abigail Haile[9] d. Nikol Davletshina 6-3, 2-6, 6-3

Daniela del Mastro[6] d, Olivia Lin[2] 6-2, 6-2

The USTA Pro Circuit remains in California this week, with qualifying complete at the $25,000 men's tournament in Calabasas.

Pepperdine is well represented in the draw, with freshmen David Fix and Lasse Poertner and junior Maxi Homberg qualifying today, and sophomore Edward Winter already in the main draw on his own ranking. Winter defeated No. 2 seed Charlie Broom (Dartmouth, Baylor) of Great Britain 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in the first round today.

Darwin Blanch is the draw on his ranking, with wild cards going to Noah Johnston, Ian Mayew, Auburn freshman Alex Frusina and Ryan Nuno(Azusa Pacific). Americans qualifying today are Ron Hohmann(LSU, Michigan State) and Keshav Chopra(Georgia Tech).

Bakersfield $25K champion Johannes Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain is the top seed.

In last week's ITF Junior Circuit results for Americans, Maxwell Exsted won the doubles title at the J300 in Spain with partner Karim Bennani of Morocco. The No. 3 seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Niels McDonald and Jamie Mackenzie of Germany 1-6, 6-4, 10-8 in the final. 

At the J30 in Puerto Rico, 15-year-old Rowan Qalbani swept the titles, with the No. 8 seed defeating No. 3 seed Rodrigo Guijarro Martin of Spain 6-3, 6-4 in the singles final. He partners with Nick Mertgens of Germany for the doubles title, with the top seeds beating the eighth-seeded American team of David Bvunzawabaya and Pedro Vargas 6-1, 6-3 in the championship match.

Combs Saves Match Points, Ousts Top Seed Cleary to Reach FILA Easter Bowl 14s Quarterfinals; All Four No. 4 Seeds Lose in Third Round as Desert Heat Approaches 100 Degrees

©Colette Lewis 2025--
Indian Wells CA--

By the time Boys 12s top seed James Borchard took the court at 12:30 p.m. for his third round match against Jungmin Lee, the temperature at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden was already 95 degrees. With cloudless skies and almost no wind, spectators were seeking any shade they could find, officials were suggesting ice bags from the trainers when players checked in for their matches, and three-hour matches were the norm, with everyone moving slower to conserve energy.  Borchard limited his time on court, with a relatively quick 6-2, 6-1 victory, but when the 14s took the courts around 2:30 p.m. the temperature had risen to 97, where it stayed the remainder of the afternoon.

Three of the girls 14s matches didn't finish until 6 p.m. or later, at which time the first Easter Bowl No. 1 seed was eliminated when No. 9 seed Emery Combs beat Madeline Cleary 7-5, 1-6, 7-5.

The match was a classic example of an exceptional defender playing an aggressive attacker and Cleary came exceedingly close to counterpunching her way to a victory. Down 2-0 in the third set, Cleary won five straight games, with Combs struggling with her first serve and Cleary's defense. Down 0-30 in her 2-5 service game after a double fault, Combs found her form, winning the next six points. Cleary, who had made no unforced errors in the five previous games, donated a couple when trying to serve out the match to go down 15-40. She got the game back to deuce but Combs forehand came through for her in the next two points, forcing an error and putting away a short ball to get back on serve.

Combs still had to hold serve to extend the match and Cleary applied pressure with some great defense to earn two match points at 15-40.  After struggling with her first serve throughout the set, Combs made two big first serves at the most opportune time, with Cleary unable to get either one back in play. Closing out the game with a backhand winner, Combs had the momentum and Cleary began to feel the pressure, double faulting and making a rare unforced error on the way to being broken at love. 

After an ace to go up 30-15, Combs double faulted, but she hit consecutive forehand winners, to complete the comeback.

A flushed Combs admitted that the heat was different from what she is used to in South Carolina, but that wasn't the reason she was playing to finish points quickly.

"That's just how I play," said the 2025 Les Petits As semifinalist, who was playing her first competitive tournament since she suffered an injury in France at the end of January. "I'm a very aggressive player looking to come in. When I was down, just prayed, told myself I have the game to win and she has all the pressure, and that really helped me at that point."

Combs also thought their contrasting paths to the third round might have made a difference at the end. Cleary had not lost a game in her first two matches, while Combs had to come from a set down both days.

"The injury could have had something to do with that, but the first two girls that I played, I was nervous, first of all, and they brought their best games," Combs said. "They played great tennis and there wasn't much I could do. I just had to stay calm and fight through it. She hasn't dealt with that in this tournament and in the third set I definitely had an advantage. I'm used to it, I just played two third sets already."

Combs will face No. 9 seed Molly Widlansky, who had the shortest girls 14s third round match of the day, beating No. 9 seed Ania Zabost 6-1, 6-3.

USTA Winter Nationals 14s champion London Evans, seeded No. 7, won a marathon match with unseeded Alicia Londono, before escaping with a 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(6) victory. She will face No. 3 seed Allison Wang, who also was pushed to the limit before getting past No. 9 seed Anya Arora 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, in a match that was moved to Stadium Court 4. The heat lengthened matches to the point where three courts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden that had been reserved for practice were added to get main draw matches on court.

All four No. 4 seeds were eliminated from the main draw today, all in straight sets. No. 9 seed Abigail Haile beat girls 14s No. 4 Anna Scott Laney 7-6(4), 6-2 and in the boys 12s, Haris Shahbaz, a No. 9 seed, defeated No. 4 Jason Ye 6-2, 6-3. In the boys 14s, Carter Jauffret, a No. 9 seed, beat Mason Menyhart 6-3, 7-5, and in the girls 12s, unseeded Cataleya Brown defeated Danielle Han 6-3, 6-1.

Boys 14s No. 2 seed Aayush Vartak lost to unseeded Adrian Sharma 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.

Indra Vergne in final game under the lights

One third round match went so late that the lights were turned on Practice Court 8 for the conclusion of the boys 14s contest between Om Chitale and Indra Vergne. As the crowd gathered, standing five deep behind the court as the FILA player party DJ provided musical accompaniment, Vergne emerged with a 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 win, breaking in the last game of the four-hour and 20-minute match (which did include breaks between the first and second sets (5 min for heat) and second and third sets (standard USTA rules).

The boys 14s and girls 12s quarterfinals will be played at Palm Valley Country Club Tuesday, with the girls 14s and boys 12s at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

The 16 and 18s begin play Tuesday, with the temperatures expected to exceed 100 degrees. See my post from Sunday for a list of seeds.

Draws and all results from Monday are available at the USTA tournament site.

FILA Easter Bowl quarterfinals Tuesday:

B12s (Indian Wells)

James Borchard[1] v William McGugin[5]

Haris Shahbaz[9] v Keita Iida[9]

Chris Deng[7] v Udham Singh[3]

Evan Fan[2] v Keita Iwata[6]

B14s (Palm Valley CC)

Rafael Pawar[1] v Dylan Meineke[5]

Carter Jauffret[9] v Zesen Wang[6]

Arjun Krishnan[8] v Indra Vergne

Joshua Dolinksy[7] v Adrian Sharma

G12s (Palm Valley CC)

Lucy Dupere[1] v Alisa Shifrin

Cataleya Brown v Skylar Mandell

Inie Toli[8] v Violetta Mamina[3]

Kareena Cross[5] v Gabrielle Alexa Villegas[2]

G14s (Indian Wells)

Emery Combs[9] v Molly Widlansky[9]

Allison Wang[3] v London Evans[7]

Nikol Davletshina v Abigail Haile[9]

Daniela del Mastro[6] v Olivia Lin[2]

FILA Easter Bowl Boys 14 Top Seed Pawar Takes Charge To Advance in Three Sets, 2024 12s Champion Davletshina Returns Seeking 14s Title; Monday Claims Bakersfield $25K Title; Challenger Title for Nava, Osuigwe Wins W50; Eala Shocks Keys at Miami Open

©Colette Lewis 2025--

Indian Wells CA--

Upsets have been few at the FILA Easter Bowl, with the top four seeds in the 12s and 14s divisions advancing to Monday's round of 16 matches at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden (Boys 14s No. 3 seed Gadin Arun withdrew). But Rafael Pawar, the No. 1 seed in the boys 14s draw, needed three sets to advance over wild card Johan Lee Sunday afternoon when the temperatures had topped out in the mid-90s.

Pawar, who hadn't dropped a game in the first round, found himself down a set when Lee took the tiebreaker 8-6. But the eighth grader from New Jersey made the adjustments he needed and cruised through the final two sets 6-1, 6-0.

"I definitely started attacking more," said Pawar, who is moving to Florida to train next month. "I was hitting a lot of shots off my back foot. He was getting a lot of balls back and doing a really good job of pushing me back. I tried to attack on a lot of balls but he was hitting with a lot of depth and spin countering my game in the first set, but I changed the way I was playing."

Pawar is making his Easter Bowl debut this year, and has never been the No. 1 seed at a USTA Level 1 tournament until this week. 

"It feels great," Pawar said of his position at the top of the draw. "There's definitely some nerves, but I try to push through them and get the dub."

Pawar cited a couple of reasons for not making the trip to Indian Wells in the youngest age division.                                      

"In the 12s, I don't think my ranking was high enough to get in," Pawar said, agreeing that he had improved a lot in the last two years. "Also, I live on the East Coast, so it's a far tournament, across the country."

Pawar will face unseeded Louden Muha in Monday's round of 16.

While Pawar is competing in his first Easter Bowl, 11-year-old Nikol Davletshina is already playing in her third, winning the 12s title last year as a 10-year-old. 

Davletshina added the IMG Academy and Junior Orange Bowl 12s titles to her resume last December, but turned her focus to the 18s division the past two months, winning two Level 5s in Florida, with that jump in divisions part of the reason she isn't seeded this week.

"I was a little bit surprised not be seeded, but not really," said the left-hander from Lake Worth. "I only played 14s a little bit. But some of the seeds, I was very surprised by them."

Davletshina is attempting to complete the back-to-back championships that Raya Kotseva, last week's ITF J300 San Diego finalist, won in the 12s and 14s in 2023 and 2024, although Davletshina is more than a year younger. 

"I'll try to do that, but there's some tough matches, and next match I play a tough opponent," Davletshina said. 

That will be Soo-Ah Byun, who advanced to the third round when Teaghan Jou An Keys retired at 2-6, 7-5.

Top seed Madeline Cleary has yet to lose a game, blanking her first two opponents, but she will be tested Monday, when she faces No. 9 seed Emery Combs. Combs, who reached the Les Petits As semifinals in January, is returning to competition this week after suffering an injury in that semifinal. Although she needed comebacks in each of her wins this weekend, beating Karissa Chang 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 today, Combs will be a formidable test for Cleary.

In the 12s, boys top seed James Borchard defeated Sushant Pothula 6-2, 6-4 to set up a third round match with Jungmin Lee and girls top seed Lucy Dupere beat Summer Yang 6-2, 6-2 to earn a meeting with No. 9 seed Daniella Yogumyan.

The 16s and 18s don't begin until Tuesday, but the draws are now up at the USTA tournament site, with the seeds listed below.

Boys 16s:

1. Safir Azam

2. Alexander Suhanitski

3. Mangus Weng

4. Maddoz Bose

5. Lixing Jiang

6. Joseph Nau

7. Mason Vaughn

8. Tristan Stratton

9. Gurjot Singh

9. Keshav Muthuvel

9. Marcel Latak

9. Rowan Qalbani

9. Sebastian Inaki Godoy

9. Ilias Bouzoubaa

9. Ryan Bedwick

9. Jesse Yang

Girls 16s:

1. Anna Bugaienko

2. Kohana Darroch

3. Carlota Moreno

4. Aarini Bhattacharya

5. Natalie Kha

6. Sophia Budacsek

7. Carolina Castro

8. Anjani Vickneswaran

9. Lyla Messler

9. Kara Garcia

9. Kalista Papadopoulos

9. Whitney Burke

9. Julia Seversen

9. Kavya Kongara

9. Sasha Miroshnichenko

9. Armira Kockinis

Boys 18s:

1. Shaan Patel

2. Drew Fishback

3. Joshua Lamm-Bocharov

4. Nav Dayal

5. Blake Anderson

6. Nicholas Patrick

7. Andre Alcantara

8. Francisco Salmain

9. Nolan Balthazor

9. James Quattro

9. Arnav Bhandari

9. David Wu

9. Winston Wooin Lee

9. Prathinav Chunduru

9. Elliot Wasserman

9. Nathan Germino

Girls 18s:

1. Thara Gowda

2. JoAnna Kennedy

3. Carrie-Anne Hoo

4. Catherine Rennard

5. Chloe Qin

6. Karlin Schock

7. Blair Gill

8. Ashley Kurizaki

9. Nadia Valdez

9. Calla McGill

9. Nicole Weng

9. Emily Deming

9. Reagan Levine

9. Addison Lanton

9. Yilin Chen

The USTA Pro Circuit's $25,000 tournament in Bakersfield California concluded today with Great Britain's Johannus Monday, the former University of Tennessee All-American winning his second $25K title of the year and the sixth since he completed his eligibility last May. The 23-year-old left-hander, seeded No. 1,  defeated No. 6 seed Alex Rybakov(TCU) 6-2, 6-4 in today's final. He is inching closer to Roland Garros qualifying, with his ATP live ranking at a career-high 253.

The doubles title also went to the top seeds, with former Georgia Tech teammates Andres Martin and Keshav Chopra defeating unseeded Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor) and Ty Gentry(Oregon) 1-6, 6-1, 10-6 in the final.

Emilio Nava won his third Challenger title today at the 75 in Paraguay. The unseeded 23-year-old beat four seeds, taking out top seed Thiago Monteiro of Brazil in the final 7-5, 6-3, with his ATP live ranking moving to 204 with the title.

Whitney Osuigwe won her first women's ITF World Tennis Tour title in her third final of the year at the W50 in the Dominican Republic. The 22-year-old from Florida, seeded No. 4, defeated unseeded Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico 6-2, 7-5 in the final. Like Nava, Osuigwe is moving back up the rankings and now at 185, will be competing in the Roland Garros qualifying. 

With all the junior tennis I've been covering, I'm falling behind on the Miami Open, but there were several notable results today.

Wild card Alexandra Eala of the Philippines, the 2022 US Open girls champion, followed up her win over Jelena Ostapenko in the first round with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Australian Open champion Madison Keys[5] today. Eala, who turns 20 in May, will play No. 10 seed Paula Badosa next.

One of the players Eala beat in her run to the US Open girls championship was Mirra Andreeva of Russia, who saw her Masters 1000 winning streak snapped today by Amanda Anisimova. Anisimova, the No. 17 seed, defeated No. 11 seed Andreeva 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3. Anisimova and Jessica Pegula[4] are the Americans remaining in the bottom half of the women's draw, while defending champion Danielle Collins[14], Ashlyn Krueger and Coco Gauff[3] are alive in the top half. 

The top half of the men's draw plays their third round matches Monday, but there are two Americans through to the round of 16 in the bottom half: Sebastian Korda[24] and Brandon Nakashima[31].