Blokhina and Michelsen Take Different Routes to ITF Easter Bowl Titles Sunday at Indian Wells Tennis Garden
©Colette Lewis 2022--
Indian Wells CA--
Alex Michelsen played flawless tennis, Alexis Blokhina stepped up when it counted and both 17-year-olds left the Indian Wells Tennis Garden with FILA Easter Bowl ITF championship trophies and their first Grade 1 titles. Michelsen, the No. 8 seed, ended the 18-match ITF junior circuit win streak of No. 2 seed Nishesh Basavareddy 6-2, 6-3, while Blokhina defeated No. 3 seed Reese Brantmeier 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4).
The drama built throughout the girls final, as both Blokhina and Brantmeier worked through their nerves in the opening set. Blokhina came from 0-40 down serving at 2-3 to hold and then broke to take a 4-3 lead, then broke again for the set, the first set Brantmeier had surrendered all week.
In the second set Brantmeier took a 4-2 lead, with her forehand, which was shaky in the first set, starting to click. But her first serve percentage stayed low, making for long games, if not long points, with Blokhina breaking back to make it 4-all. A straight-sets victory was just two games away, but Blokhina lost her serve and Brantmeier got a rare easy hold to even the match.
Brantmeier broke to open the third set, but Blokhina stepped into the second serves she was seeing and broke right back. Up 4-2 in the third, Blokhina couldn't hold that lead, but she held at 4-all, hitting a huge backhand winner at 40-30 to take a 5-4 lead, forcing Brantmeier to hold to stay in the match.
Blokhina's speed forced Brantmeier to hit another volley which went awry at 15-30, setting up two match points. Blokhina missed a backhand long and then shanked a forehand to keep Brantmeier alive, and a relieved Brantmeier hit a huge overhead to claim the game.
"The thing that got me through it, losing those two match points, was that she could have been in the same position and I could have gotten out of them, because we're both great players and that's what I need to expect," Blokhina said. "I thought if you got to that position once, you can do it again, so I kept fighting, focusing on my footwork and not thinking about the scoreline."
Blokhina was the beneficiary of three unforced errors by Brantmeier to open the tiebreaker, and although it was just a one mini-break advantage, Blokhina held on to it, giving her three match points, the first two on Brantmeier's serve. Blokhina didn't get the first, missing a return long, but she came up with a deft lob winner over Brantmeier, who was coming to the net, to secure the championship.
"In the tiebreaker it was good that I had a little bit of a jump start with a couple of free errors," said Blokhina, who trains with Marcus Fluitt when she is home in Plantation Florida, and the USTA's Michael Joyce when she travels to the Lake Nona campus.
"When I was up 6-3, I had three points where I could swing a little bit more. At 6-4, she hit a slice that bounced weird and I barely got it over the net. I knew if I lobbed forehand, her overhead was very good throughout the match, so I just tried to go backhand, so if she even got it back, I would have the next ball. I didn't even realize it landed in until I saw her face....the rush of emotion throughout the whole match came out then."
Brantmeier, who was playing her first junior event since the US Open last September, said she came to this tournament to get competition and match play and she accomplished that, although falling a match short of the title.
"Obviously I'm disappointed with the result, but I thought it was a great fight," said the 17-year-old from Whitewater Wisconsin. "I was down in a lot of spots that I got myself out of, but Alexis played really well."
Brantmeier, who is heading to Chapel Hill North Carolina Monday for her official visit, after signing a national letter of intent with the Tar Heels last month, said her serving was a problem throughout the match.
"I think my first serve percentage was really low, and with her style of game, that set me up for some long points, which is not my game plan going into matches," Brantmeier said. "That made it tough for me to dictate the first couple of shots, which I'm usually looking to do."
Brantmeier's volleys also were not up to her usual standards, but she credited Blokhina for much of that.
"The shots that I was hitting that were maybe winners in the past matches she was getting to and making me play extra balls," said Brantmeier, who will return to playing USTA Pro Circuit events in the next few weeks. "She made it tough. She just came up with some good shots when she needed them in the end."
Blokhina's mother, father and younger brother Nathan, who warmed her up for today's match, were in attendance. While she had the support of her parents throughout the match, her brother took refuge in the lounge after believing he was bad luck whenever she lost a game.
Blokhina is also heading to her official visit Monday, with the Stanford signee having a second USTA gold ball to show her future coaches and teammates.
"I'm going to visit the team and I bet the coaches are going to be thrilled about this," said Blokhina, whose only previous gold ball came from the USTA Clay Courts 14s doubles.
"If I played like that every time, I'd be very, very happy," said the 6-foot-4 right-hander from Aliso Viejo California. "Nothing went wrong at all. I served well, forehand was good, backhand was good, touch shots were good, volleys, everything just felt amazing. It was one of those days when everything came together. I needed it, because Nishesh has been playing unreal lately."
Michelsen took a 3-1 lead in the first set and got a second break to close it out, needing four set points in the last game. The final one was a crowd pleaser, with Michelsen showing off some excellent defense and some great hands to counter Basavareddy's drop shots, eventually sliding a volley down the line for a winner.
Basavareddy failed to take advantage of his only break point of the match in the first game of the second set, with Michelsen sending a blistering backhand winner down the line to save it.
"I think on this day, he went to my backhand too much," said Michelsen, who trains at the Top Tier Tennis Academy in Irvine California. "It's usually not that good. My forehand felt really good today too, but I definitely missed a few more forehands than backhands."
Basavareddy, who had won two ITF junior tournaments in Brazil last month, the first after qualifying, would have liked to extend his winning streak, but admitted that Michelsen was the better player today.
"He definitely outplayed me, but one thing I could have done was serve a little bit better," said the 16-year-old from Carmel Indiana. "But he's so aggressive on his return and on service games, and overall he just played really good today. I definitely made more unforced errors than normal, but I think he just put a lot of pressure on me, getting to a lot of extra balls. I missed a few too many shots on bigger points and games when I could have put some scoreboard pressure on him, but he got to a lot of balls and put on a lot of pressure, so that played a part."
Michelsen got the only break he needed in the fourth game of the second set and although Basavareddy saved two match points serving at 2-5, Michelsen was not to be denied when serving for the championship at 5-3, hitting two winners and two good first serves to finish the match at the same level he displayed to start it.
After a first round loss in San Diego last week, Michelsen knew he needed a title here to assure himself a spot in the upcoming junior slams, and he spent the extra time he had during the girls final to mentally handle that pressure.
"I feel like I blocked out everything," said Michelsen, who is now planning to play the French Open Junior Championships. "I knew I needed the points, knew I needed all these things, wild card that comes with it, yadda, yadda, yadda. I was sitting over there for like an hour and a half while the girls match finished, just shutting it out, just getting ready for the match and I just came out firing, and everything went well, physically and mentally."
With his singles and doubles championships, having won the latter with good friend Sebastian Gorzny Saturday, Michelsen is the first boy since Donald Young in 2006 to take both titles. And with Michelsen's gold ball in singles, Tier One Academy in Irvine claimed four of them in the event, with Parashar Bharadwaj taking one in boys 16s singles and Gray Kelley winning another in boys 14s doubles.
Although Michelsen needed a title today to secure his spot in the junior slams, Basavareddy had already done that with his two titles in Brazil. He is planning to play both the Grade A in Milan and the French junior championships later this spring, with a Challenger wild card playoff next week in Lake Nona and $15Ks in Florida next on his schedule.
Archived matches from the Easter Bowl, including both of today's finals, are available on demand at the tournament's YouTube channel.
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