Glozman Claims Second Straight FILA Easter Bowl Title, Chinlund Earns First Gold Ball; An and Bracks Capture 16s Championships

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Indian Wells CA--

The final day of the 55th annual FILA Easter Bowl at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden produced no April Fool's jokes, just perfect weather and exciting finals in the 16s and 18s divisions.

Repeat champions are rare at the FILA Easter Bowl, particularly in consecutive years, but top seed Valerie Glozman overcame her nerves and a determined opponent in No. 5 seed Aspen Schuman 7-6(4), 6-3, adding the 18s title to her championship in 16s last year.

Glozman and Schuman both had multiple break point chances in the first set, but neither could capitalize. Glozman had two set points with Schuman serving at 4-5, and another at 5-6, but Schuman held firm to reach the tiebreaker. Schuman went up 2-0, but double faulted to give the mini-break back and there were no more breaks until 5-4, when Schuman lost her serve. On set point number four, Glozman finally converted, with Schuman sending Glozman's return long to end the 77-minute set.

"I was really nervous before the match, and I feel this whole tournament I've been able to deal with my nerves relatively well, but it was the finals, on a big stage and I definitely felt a little tight on my shots," said the 16-year-old from Seattle. "I couldn't quite commit to a game style. So it was a mental battle in the first set."

In contrast to the opening set, the games went quickly in the second, with Glozman building a 5-0 lead. But serving for the match, she failed to convert two match points, and after Schuman held for 5-2, Glozman again saw a match point come and go, with Schuman breaking again for 5-3, but she was unable to hold in the next game, despite a 30-0 lead, and Glozman had survived.

"I really stepped it up in the beginning of the second set," Glozman said. "It was a miracle that I could pull out the first set and so I decided to just play my practice game, just rip the ball, and I was connecting on all of them. I gave myself permission to miss a few, so I could relax a little bit. And I went up 5-0, but that's when the nerves came back again and she definitely stepped it up and put more pressure on me. She's a great player and she never gives up, so it's always a tough battle."

Despite the big occasion, Schuman said she was able to channel her emotions positively.

"I wouldn't say I was that nervous to be honest," said the 15-year-old from Menlo Park California, who had lost to Glozman two weeks ago in the first round of the ITF J300 during the BNP Paribas Open. "I think I was just really excited. I love competing and fighting and I just wanted to play as long as I could. Valerie's a great player and a great person and she's always fun to compete with and against."

Glozman is the first player since Cici Bellis in 2013-2014 to win the 16s and 18s in back-to-back years.

"It was an amazing opportunity and I'm glad I could pull it out today," said Glozman, who returns to school Monday, and whose only certain tournament this summer is the Nationals in San Diego, where she reached the final last year.

In contrast to Glozman, No. 5 seed Cassius Chinlund had never been past the semifinals in a USTA Level 1 tournament, but that lack of experience didn't show Saturday, as the 16-year-old left-hander defeated UCLA red shirt freshman Emon van Loben Sels 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Chinlund trailed 3-1 in the final set, but reeled off the last five games of the match, with a 40-30 point in the 3-2 service game on van Loben Sels' serve a key to his comeback.

"I was trying to break at 3-2 and honestly, I was down 30-40 and I hit a shank that somehow dropped in, there was a lot of luck that played into that break," Chinlund said. "He's a great player and he was forcing a lot of stuff, so if he went up 4-2, I don't know what would have happened. It takes a little bit of luck to win these. "

Chinlund, a Los Angeles resident, said he has been coming to the BNP Paribas Open for nearly a decade, and to play on one of the Stadium courts was a dream come true.

"Ever since I was old enough, 7 or 8, I've been coming out here, getting autographs, seeing my idols play," said Chinlund, who trains with Alex Sarkissian, the former Pepperdine All-American. "To win a match on this court, it's unreal. I remember seeing Ivo Karlovic play--he won the match, off a huge serve, and he signed the towel and threw it to me. I think I still have the towel, the autograph's washed off, but I still have the towel."

Van Loben Sels, who was playing the Easter Bowl this week while UCLA is on spring break, said that playing a tournament with daily matches did take a toll on him physically.

"I started cramping a little yesterday after my match, and I just couldn't hold up today," said the 18-year-old from Sacramento. "I didn't feel super ready for it, but I had to give it my all and it didn't go my way."

Van Loben Sels knew that Chinlund would be loud and talkative on court, and he had a plan to deal with it.

"I knew it was coming and before the match my coach and I agreed for me to just stay professional and not react to what he's saying," van Loben Sels said. "I think I was pretty good at that the whole time, and sometimes when he started screaming it pumped me up too. It could have backfired on him, but it happens."

Van Loben Sels is planning to play the 18s in Kalamazoo, as his 19th birthday isn't until December, while Chinlund will be entering in the 16s, in hopes of winning the US Open Junior wild card that goes to the champion.

The girls 16s final looked as if it would be the first to finish, when No. 3 seed Alanis Hamilton served for the match against No. 8 seed Claire An at 6-2, 5-3. But the 15-year-old from Arkansas earned only one point in the game, then also lost her next service game as the unforced errors began to pile up. An couldn't serve out the set at 6-5, but she dominated the tiebreaker to even the match. At 5-3 in the third set, it was An who was unable to serve out the championship, but she broke Hamilton to claim the title 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-4, in a final that took three hours and 20-minutes to complete.

An won five of her matches this week in three sets, coming from a set down in four of them, but rather than view that as a reason for fatigue, An put a positive spin on those tough matches.

"Since the second round I've been splitting, going to thirds, so today I think I was mentally prepared for that," said the 16-year-old, who trains at the Evert Academy with Jacopo Tezza. "I think that actually helped me in the third, to regain my focus and motivation."

An, who won the National G12s in 2019, has found titles harder to come by recently.

"I came into this tournament with zero expectations, and it's been a while since I played a USTA tournament, especially of this calibre," An said. " The past few months I've been playing ITFs and it was difficult for me to get it going, so this tournament means the world to me now. It's about time."

An and Hamilton are very close friends, and had talked of playing each other in the final.

"At the beginning of the tournament, we were actually joking about meeting in the final, and then it actually happened, which to be honest, we could have never expected," An said. "It was a very respectful match, very competitive, so I give her all the credit she deserves."

Hamilton, who played three consecutive three-set matches to reach the final, said she had trouble finding her form all week.

"Since the beginning of the week, I just haven't been feeling great," said Hamilton, who will represent the USA in the Junior Bille Jean King Cup North American qualifying later this month in Orlando. "Overall I'm just a little tired from the past three weeks. It's always difficult playing someone you know, then playing one of your closest friends is really tough. I knew it was going to be a battle, so I tried to stay focused, fought as hard as I could. She played really well and she deserves it."

While An's gold ball ended a long drought, the Easter Bowl delivered a first one to No. 4 seed Ian Bracks, who took the boys 16 title over No. 9 seed Braedan Gelletich 7-6(4), 6-4. Bracks trailed 3-0 to open the championship match, but shook off his nerves when it mattered.

"He was playing really well, it was a little bit of nerves on my end, but he was playing some great tennis," the 16-year-old from Tulsa Oklahoma said of his slow start. "It really came down to just a couple of points. I had a high service percentage and stayed solid from the baseline, throwing in a little variety. He was a great player, fought really well."

Gelletich found himself playing Bracks' game and not his own after he relinquished his 3-0 lead. 

"He started just hitting high balls, pushing, and I just started playing his game," said the 16-year-old from New York. "I should have just stayed with mine, stayed patient and wait for the right ball."

Gelletich, although disappointed in the result of the final, said the experience he gained at the Easter Bowl was significant.

"I started off a little bit shaky in the beginning, but started getting better, more confident," said Gelletich, who is planning to play the 16s at the Clay Courts and Kalamazoo. "I think it was a great tournament, learning how to get better."

Bracks said he was not as consistent as he would have liked, but isn't going to argue with the result. 

"There were ups and downs," said Bracks, who is coached by Matias Marin of Tucker Tennis Academy. "Overall, every match got a little bit better. Everyone's tough to beat so you have to be solid all the way through. "I've got a couple of silvers, a couple of bronzes, so it's good to finally get a gold."

The doubles champions were also determined Saturday, with the 18s producing a surprising champion and an unexpected one.

Top seeds Maddy Zampardo and Susanna Maltby have won a gold ball in every tournament they've played as a team, collecting their fourth Saturday afternoon with a 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4 victory over No. 3 seeds Ava Esposito Cogan and Caroline McGinley.

"We haven't lost a match together yet, and I think it's because we have so much fun," said Maltby, a 17-year-old from Illinois. "It's fun, and we look forward to playing doubles. ."

"I thought throughout the whole tournament we've played well from the first match," said Zampardo, an 18-year-old from Michigan. "I just feel like we complement each other's games well, kept each other positive."

"They played a great match," said Maltby. "We just had to find our rhythm, but we got through it."

Two weeks ago, neither of the boys champions knew if they would be playing the Easter Bowl, but once Krish Arora and Parashar Bharadwaj received wild cards into singles the week before, they decided to play together for the first time. After a 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-1 victory over No. 2 seeds Declan Galligan and Kale Mize they proved worthy of the opportunity they received.

"I thought we had a chance to make a deep run, because we're good," said Bharadwaj, who won the 16s singles title last year. "His serve is good, his forehand is good and we both compete really hard."

During the 10-minute break between sets, Bharadwaj was determined to change the dynamic of the match.

"I knew what the issue was," said Bharadwaj. "We weren't closing the middle enough. It was a two-and-a-half hour doubles match, and it should not go that long. Way too many extended rallies. In the 10-minute break, that's all I said to him. We have to close the middle, and that's what we did. In the first two games, I hit two volley winners he hit a volley."

"We both were saying that to each other in the first set, we have to close and finish, but no one really did it," Arora said. "In the third set we just said, you know what? there's no other way."

The 16s girls doubles title went to Hamilton and partner Kayla Chung. The No. 2 seeds defeated the unseeded team Bella Payne and Elena Zhao 6-2, 6-4 in the late afternoon final.

The No. 2 seeds also won the 16s boys doubles title, with Andre Alcantara and Xavier Calvelo defeating No. 5 seeds Winston Lee and Aniketh Poruri 6-2, 7-5 Saturday morning.

On-demand matches from throughout the week, including the 18s singles and boys 18s doubles finals can be found at EasterBowl.com.