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.