Easter Bowl 12s and 14s Recap; USTA Selects Tracy Davies as First General Manager of USA Tennis; Ekstrand Beats Top Seed Brace at W35 in Mississippi; Pareja and Smith Reach WTA, ATP Quarterfinals

I'll have a lot more content coming from last month's three weeks covering major junior events in Southern California, with videos from all finals at the ITF J300 Indian Wells, ITF J300 San Diego and FILA Easter Bowl, as well as a couple of photo galleries for Tennis Recruiting Network. That will be later this month, once I've completed my recaps from the Easter Bowl and the March Aces column for Tennis Recruiting Network. The first recap was published today, with my summary of the 12s and 14s Easter Bowl Championships. Congratulations to all those competing on the final day, who handled a difficult day with few complaints and impressive competitive performances.

The USTA began a search for a new position it created last fall, when General Manager of Player Development Martin Blackman left after 10 years heading Player Development. That new position, General Manager of USA Tennis, was filled today, with long-time USTA administrator Tracy Davies named to "oversee an expanded high performance division that joins Player Development, Pro Circuit, Collegiate, Junior Competition, and International Team Events into a single cohesive department."

I don't know Davies, but am optimistic that her USTA experience and her background as a former collegiate player will assist in what is uncharted territory for the organization in bringing all the various entities under one person's direction.  

Blackman discussed with me back in January what the new USA Tennis General Manager's role might be, which can be found at this TRN article. Let's hope you all see Davies in your sections this summer.

The complete release, with comments from Davies, USTA CEO Lew Sherr, USTA President and Board Chair Brian Vahaly and Billie Jean King Cup captain Lindsay Davenport can be found at usta.com.

Teenagers had great success today at the women's USTA Pro Circuit W35 in Jackson Mississippi, with Stanford recruit Monika Ekstrand, a 17-year-old wild card, taking out top seed Cadence Brace of Canada, a 20-year-old LSU freshman, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in first round action.

Ekstrand will play wild card Alexis Nguyen, last month's ITF J300 Indian Wells finalist, who beat qualifier Kolie Allen(Ohio State) 6-1, 6-3.

Fifteen-year-old qualifier Kristina Liutova of Russia defeated No. 5 seed Martina Okalova(Tulsa) of Slovakia 6-1, 6-3 and will face 2019 NCAA singles finalist Katarina Jokic(Georgia) of Serbia. 

No. 8 Tori Osuigwe, a North Carolina State signee, defeated fellow 18-year-old Mia Yamakita, a qualifier, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 to advance against lucky loser Salma Ewing(USC, Texas A&M), who beat qualifier Marcella Cruz(Vanderbilt, Wake Forest) 6-4, 6-1.

University of Arizona senior Colton Smith has played a grand total of two ATP events, and he has already reached his first quarterfinal at the ATP 250 in Houston. Qualifier Smith, the 22-year-old from Washington, defeated wild card Ethan Quinn(Georgia) 6-3, 6-4, on a surface he never plays on in college and is playing on for the first time this week in the pros.

Now up to 166 in the live rankings, Smith is banking valuable points in the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge; he will face the winner of tonight's match between top seed Tommy Paul and wild card Cristian Garin of Chile in the quarterfinals. 

Another qualifier who got in via a wild card and is now through to the quarterfinals is 16-year-old Californian Julieta Pareja at the WTA 250 in Colombia. There's no question she had a dream draw, facing a local wild card in the first round and a lucky loser in the second, but she's seized the opportunity she was handed. The ITF J300 Indian Wells champion defeated Patricia Tig of Romania 6-3, 7-6(3) and won't face a seed in the quarterfinals. Her opponent will be the winner of tonight's match between Leolia Jeanjean(Baylor, Arkansas, Lynn) and Selena Janicijevic, both of France. 

USTA Women's Pro Circuit Returns at W35 in Mississippi; Pareja and Jovic Win First Round Matches at WTA in Colombia; Smith Advances at ATP Houston; Georgia Women, Wake Forest Men Stay No. 1 in Latest ITA Rankings

After four weeks with nothing on the USTA women's Pro Circuit calendar, competition resumes this week on green clay at the W35 in Jackson Mississippi, the first week of the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge.  Qualifying concluded today, with two juniors, Vanderbilt recruit Mia Yamakita and 15-year-old Kristina Liutova of Russia, advancing to the main draw.

Yamakita defeated No. 7 seed Dilana Rsovac of Australia 6-0, 6-2 in the final round of qualifying, while No. 9 seed Liutova beat former USC All-American Salma Ewing, the No. 5 seed, 6-0, 7-5 to qualify. Other Americans reaching the main draw are Kolie Allen(Ohio State) and Marcella Cruz(Vanderbilt, Wake Forest).

The top seed in the main draw is LSU freshman Cadence Brace of Canada, with Ana Sofia Sanchez of Mexico the No. 2 seed. Wild cards were awarded to ITF J300 Indian Wells finalist Alexis Nguyen, Stanford recruit Monika Ekstrand, Mississippi high school sophomore Briley Rhoden and University of Texas recruit Elizabeth Ionescu. Rhoden lost her first round match today; the other three play their opening matches Wednesday, with Ekstrand drawing Brace.

Julieta Pareja and Iva Jovic, both of whom have won ITF Junior Billie Jean King Cup titles in the past two years, are playing the WTA 250 in Bogota Colombia this week and both have won their opening matches. The 16-year-old Pareja, who won the ITF J300 in Indian Wells last month then got through the qualifying as a wild card in Bogota, won her first WTA main draw match tonight, beating Colombian wild card  Maria Jose Sanchez Uribe 6-1, 6-1. She will play lucky loser Patricia Tig of Romania next, after the 30-year-old Tig defeated No. 4 seed Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-3, 6-3.

The 17-year-old Jovic, who has played the women's US Open, Australian Open and BNP Paribas Open in the past seven months, winning a round in all three, made her debut below the 1000 level today, beating No. 3 seed Alycia Parks 6-1, 6-4. These results will count toward the Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, as do any events on clay at the W35 level and above. Jovic won last fall's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge.

At the ATP 250 in Houston, Arizona senior Colton Smith qualified for the main draw after receiving a wild card and today earned his second ATP main draw victory, beating James Duckworth of Australia 6-2, 6-2. Smith will face 2023 NCAA champion Ethan Quinn(Georgia), a wild card, who beat No. 6 seed Jordan Thompson of Australia 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. It's Quinn's first ATP Top 40 win.

I didn't have time to post last week's ITA Division I Team rankings, but there haven't been many changes the past several weeks, with the Georgia women, with just one loss this season, and the Wake Forest men, who are undefeated, continuing at No. 1. The top spots in singles and doubles have also been unchanged for several weeks. Below are the rankings released today; click on the headings to go to the full ITA rankings.

Women's ITA Division I Rankings, April 1 2025

(last week's ranking in parentheses)

Team:
1. Georgia(1)
2. Texas A&M(2)
3. Michigan(3)
4. Duke(9)
5. Virginia(5)
6. Tennessee(7)
7. North Carolina(4)
8. Oklahoma(10)
9. Auburn(8)
10. LSU(6)

Singles:

1. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

2. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

3. DJ Bennett, Auburn

4. Julia Fliegner, Michigan

5. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin

6. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

7. Elza Tomase, Tennessee

8. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

9. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

10. Amelia Honer, UC-Santa Barbara

Doubles:

1. Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, Virginia

2. Maddy Zampardo and Gabriella Broadfoot, NC State

3. Olivia Center and Kate Fakih, UCLA

4. Avelina Sayfetdinova and Mariia Hlahola, Texas Tech

5. Lily Fairclough and Grace Piper, Southern California

Men's ITA Division I Rankings, April 1 2025

Team:

1. Wake Forest(1)

2. TCU(2)

3. Ohio State(3)

4. NC State(6)

5. Texas(4)

6. Virginia(5)

7. San Diego(7)

8. Columbia(8)

9. Stanford(9)

10. Cal(10)

Singles:

1. Michael Zheng, Columbia

2. Timo Legout, Texas

3. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

4. Colton Smith, Arizona

5. Jay Friend, Arizona

6. Pedro Vives, TCU

7. DK Suresh, Wake Forest

8. Rafael Jodar, Virginia

9. Aidan Kim, Ohio State

10. Ozan Baris, Michigan State

Doubles: 

1. Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted, TCU

2. Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

3. Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen, San Diego

4. Lucas Andrade da Silva and Connon Thomson, South Carolina

5. Stefan Dostanic and DK Suresh, Wake Forest

Dostanic Wins USTA Pro Circuit M25 in Calabasas; Two New ITF Junior No. 1s This Week; Pareja Qualifies for WTA 250 in Bogota; Nava Claims Second Straight Challenger Title

With the FILA Easter Bowl reaching its always frantic conclusion over the weekend, I didn't have time to post any updates on other tournaments of interest, so before I finally get a full night's rest after 23 days on the road, this will be a short review of results I noticed. (I'm sure I missed a lot since last Thursday).

Wake Forest graduate transfer Stefan Dostanic, who played No. 1 for USC as an undergraduate, won his second M25 US Pro Circuit title yesterday in Calabasas California. The 23-year-old from Irvine, seeded No. 7, defeated No. 8 seed Andres Martin(Georgia Tech) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in Sunday's final after taking out 17-year-old Darwin Blanch 6-2, 6-3 in Saturday's semifinals.  Dostanic is currently at a career-high 430 in the ATP live rankings. Top seeds Govind Nanda(UCLA) and Canada's Benjamin Sigouin(UNC) won the doubles title, beating brothers Jayson and Michael Blando(Utah), a wild card entry, 2-6, 7-6(4), 10-1 in the final. Nanda has two Pro doubles title now; Sigouin, who won the doubles title in Calabasas last year, has nine, including two ATP Challenger titles last year.

It was a quiet week on the ITF Junior Circuit, with only six tournaments in total; the highest grade of the six was a J100 in Spain. Americans picked up doubles titles at the J30 in Mexico, with David Bvunzawabaya and Diego Custodio Wagner taking the boys title, their first on the ITF Junior Circuit, and Sophia Filip partnering with Australian Amy Gray for the girls title. Filip and Gray won the unseeded final, beating the Mexican team of 

Azul Lopez Vazquez  and Natalia Perez 6-3, 6-4 in the final for Filip's first ITF Junior Circuit title.  Custodio Wagner and Bvunzawabaya won their unseeded final by defeating Ander Gomez Salas Villegas and Rodrigo Maya 7-6(3), 6-2

4/2/25 CORRECTION:

Apparently there was an error in the March 31st junior rankings posted by the ITF Monday. As of today, Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands and Emerson Jones of Australia are listed No. 1 in the rankings. Maybe it was an early April Fool's joke by the ITF. 

With the dearth of major ITF Junior Circuit events last week it's surprising that today marks the debut of not one, but two, new ITF No. 1 juniors.

Australian Open boys champion Henry Bernet of Switzerland, hasn't played since winning that title, but the 18-year-old has ascended to the top spot, with Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands falling to No. 6.  Jagger Leach is now up to a career-high of No. 2.

Seventeen-year-old Wakana Sonobe of Japan is the new girls No. 1, with the Australian Open girls champion replacing Emerson Jones of Australia, who fell to No. 3.  Like Leach, who won the Indian Wells ITF J300 his month, San Diego ITF J300 champion Kristina Penickova is up to a career-high ranking of No. 2.

Speaking of the ITF J300 in Indian Wells, the girls champion two weeks ago was Julieta Pareja, who received a wild card into qualifying at the WTA 250 in Bogota Colombia. Pareja, whose parents are from Colombia, won two matches to qualify, with the 16-year-old from Southern California drawing wild card Maria Jose Sanchez Uribe of Colombia in the first round. Seventeen-year-old Iva Jovic, who received entry based on her WTA ranking, currently 150, will play No. 3 seed Alycia Parks tonight if the weather improves.

On the ATP Challenger Circuit, Emilio Nava won his second Challenger 75 title in South America in as many weeks, following his win in Paraguay with another in Chile yesterday. The 23-year-old Southern Californian, seeded eighth, defeated qualifier Nicolas Kicker of Argentina 6-1, 7-6(3) and has risen to 164 in the ATP rankings.  

2016 Kalamazoo 18s finalist Vasil Kirkov and partner Matias Soto(Baylor) of Chile won the doubles title, with the top seeds winning their third Challenger title of the year with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 3 seeds Seita Watanabe and Takeru Yuzuki of Japan.

Payne Claims Back-to-Back Titles, Stoot Wins First Gold Ball in FILA Easter Bowl 18s; Latak Joins Sister on Easter Bowl Champions List; Kockinis Rides Serve to 16s Title

©Colette Lewis 2025--

Indian Wells CA--

For Bella Payne everything felt familiar, for Nikolas Stoot the experience was a new one, but the two unseeded 17-year-old left-handers from Florida each came away with FILA Easter Bowl titles Sunday afternoon as a week of heat, dust and wind came at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden to a close.

Payne, the 2024 16s champion, has not lost a set in her 12 victories at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, but the routine wins she was posting en route all week came to end in the first few games of her championship match with No. 9 seed Nadia Valdez.

But trailing 4-1, the desert magic kicked in for Payne.

"I think she came out playing really good tennis and there was not much I could do," said Payne, who was playing her fifth consecutive week, with the first week of that stretch ending with a three-set loss to Valdez in a UTR Pro Tennis Tour event in Atlanta. "I was just staying in the match, trying not to give her any free balls because she definitely wasn't giving me any. Whenever I would win a point, I would have to hit a winner, and it was tough, but I just kept going until I finally got some errors from her."

Down 0-30 serving at 5-all, Payne won the next four points and broke, as Valdez began to struggle with her game. 

At 3-all in the second set, Payne lost track of the score and thought she had been broken, and that mistake proved the boost she needed, taking the final three games.

"I thought it was 15-40 and it was 30-all," said Payne, who has verbally committed to Georgia for 2026. "I lost that point and I was walking and she called 30-40, and I said ok. Winning that next point and getting that game was really what gave me the momentum to win the match."

Valdez was going up against a confident player who had known nothing but success at the Easter Bowl the past two years, and playing in her first USTA Level 1 final, her inexperience showed.

"I played horrible," said the 15-year-old from San Antonio, who took some time to collect herself before posing for the post-match photographs. "I was going for the right shots but I just wasn't executing it, it just wasn't going in. I didn't think I would get this far, so I'm proud of myself either way. It's ok, I've just got to move on."

Payne picked up three wins this week after losses to those opponents during this extending road trip, a turnaround she attributed to her attitude.

"It feels really good to avenge all those matches," said Payne, who joins Emma Navarro as a champion in both 16s and 18s. "I was just really mentally there here I think. After Winter Nats in January I took a mental break because my emotions were all over the place and was super frustrated with my tennis. Then starting with Atlanta I played a bunch of tournaments in a row and they weren't going great, so I was thinking of not playing this, but I'm really glad I got this result."

Stoot was also considering skipping the Easter Bowl, after returning to his home in Miami from the Indian Wells ITF J300, where he won two rounds as a wild card. With a shoulder injury casting doubt on his effectiveness, he took a chance, and with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Tyler Lee, Stoot earned his first USTA ball as the Easter Bowl champion.

"Dad was like you're not playing, and I'm like, let's try it," Stoot said. "I don't know, it's crazy. I definitely felt my level rising throughout every one."

The only set Stoot lost this week was the first set in the second round to No. 8 seed Francisco Salmain, a match that was played over two days due to the stoppage for dangerous air quality due to blowing dust.

"That feels like a California thing," said Stoot, who won that match 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 and managed to close out Lee in straight sets and avoid another particle-filled windstorm that appeared during the late afternoon.

Stoot got off to a quick start but Lee came back from 0-2 down, only to play a poor game serving at 4-5, which gave Stoot the set. The second set was competitive, but Stoot was holding serve easily, while Lee was regularly playing deuce games on his serve.

"I felt like I could go for more on my return game," said Stoot, who has verbally committed to LSU for 2026. "It's a good feeling, I feel more relaxed, more loose."

Lee acknowledged that Stoot's serve was a problem for him, as was Stoot's defense, which wore him down after a week of long singles and doubles matches.

"Every time I would step in he made me feel like I had to go for more than I actually had to," said the 15-year-old from Southern California, who won four three-set matches to reach his first Level 1 singles final, including a quarterfinal victory over top seed Shaan Patel "And maybe I shouldn't split sets with everyone on the way to the finals."

Like Stoot, 16s champion Marcel Latak was playing in his first USTA Level 1 final, but unlike Stoot, the No. 9 seed had to win his gold ball the hard way, coming from a set down to defeat No. 8 seed Tristan Stratton 5-7, 6-1, 6-1. 

Up 3-1 in the opening set, Latak lost four straight games, but Stratton was unable to serve out the set at 5-3. But with Latak serving at 5-6, a five-deuce game went Stratton's way to give him the lead.

Latak took control quickly in the second set, and the 10-minute break couldn't stall his momentum, although Latak had to save a break point serving at 1-1 in the third.

"I told myself on that break point that I just needed to have a big serve there," said the 16-year-old from Chicago. "And once I had that big serve, I won a couple of points in a row, and then the momentum was all on my side, and he was struggling to throw me off, because I was right there in that zone."

"He raised his level a lot in the second and third," said the 15-year-old from New York. "I had a break point in the third, but he stepped it up again. He played really well. His serve got a lot better in the second and third set, he was placing it well. All the shots he was missing in the first, he made in the second and third."

Latak spoke with his father during the 10-minute break between the second and third sets, and he took the advice to heart.

"He told me not to rush myself, because I'll have my chances during the point, if I keep building, I'll get that shorter ball and then I can go for it," Latak said. "If I lost two points, regroup, put a couple of balls in the court, and then go for another one."

Latak also had advice from his sister Thea, who won the Easter Bowl 12s title in 2019. 

"It's not like it was bound to happen, but it feels like a full-circle moment," said Latak, who will play two of the ITFs in Florida in May. "I watched her win her match (7-6(3), 6-3 over Daniela Borruel) and mine was a really tight one today too. She was there basically the whole time too."

No. 9 seed Armina Kockinis pointed to one shot that was key in claiming her second gold ball, with the 2024 Hard Courts 14s champion counting on her serve to get her out of tough spots, as it did in her 6-3, 6-0 win over No. 7 seed Carolina Castro in the final.

"I've been working on my serve a lot and that's what got me through this whole tournament," said the 15-year-old from Southern California, who had two aces in the second game of the match to consolidate the break she got to open the match.

But it was her service game at 4-3 in the first that turned the tide permanently in her favor.

Kockinis needed seven deuces to get out of it, saving two break points, then breaking Castro quickly in the next game to take the set.

"I knew the importance of that game, I was up 30-0, so I knew I had to get that game, I didn't want it to be 4-all," Kockinis said. "I knew I needed to hold serve and thank god that's what I did."

Castro agreed that game was key, as she was starting to feel the effects of the lengthy three-set matches she had played in the second, third and quarterfinal rounds. 

"I had a lot of opportunities that I just didn't take or couldn't take, because she played really, really well," said the 16-year-old from Maryland. "But she had the momentum the entire time and I just couldn't pick up rhythm, and I wasn't my best but I think I played a really good tournament considering all the hours I was on court."

In the doubles finals, one Easter Bowl streak ended but another continued, with Bella Payne suffering her first loss in two years at Indian Wells in the girls doubles final. Payne, who won the 16s doubles title with Ava Rodriguez, lost in the final with Emily Deming in the 18s, with Kenzie Nguyen and Amy Lee earning the 6-3, 6-4 victory in the late afternoon final.

Nguyen and Lee, playing together for the second time after reaching the semifinals at a J200 in the Dominican Republic, broke Payne at 4-all in the second set, but went down 30-40 in the game. Nguyen, serving in that game, was visibly frustrated, but Lee reassured her and they won the next two points to take the title.

"Amy is very caring and very sweet," said Nguyen, a 17-year-old from Southern California. "I'm a little more explosive on court, you could say. So when she comes to calm me down, she always tells me, it's ok, next one, next one, reminds me that we're still in it."

Lee wasn't expecting an Easter Bowl title, but was happy to earn her second gold ball.

"We played a lot better than we thought," said the 17-year-old Southern Californian.

The streak extended was that of Tyler Lee and Brayden Tallakson, who won the 16s doubles title in 2024 and took home the 18s title Sunday evening, in a final, like the girls, that was between unseeded teams.  

William Kleege, who did not make the singles draw and William McEwan, who was the eighth alternate but did get into the draw, caught fire in the doubles, but fell just a few points short of a Cinderella title, with Lee and Tallakson taking a 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-4 decision.

"I've been playing with a different partner for the past two months," said Lee, who now has four gold balls in doubles and last week reached the semifinals of the ITF J300 in San Diego with Justin Riley Anson.  "He found another partner, so we thought, why not run it back?"

"I was a backup for him," said Tallakson, a 17-year-old, also from Southern California. Lee disagreed. "I would not have won this without him." 

After seeing a 4-2 lead in the third set disappear after dropping two straight deciding points, Lee and Tallakson went up 5-4, then earned 15-40 on Kleege's serve. Those two opportunities went by the wayside, but a good Lee return and a putaway by Tallakson put their Easter Bowl winning streak at 10.

Replays of the girls 16s and boys 18s singles finals and the girls 16s and boys 18s doubles finals can be found at the Easter Bowl YouTube Channel.

Results of today's action are below, with the full draws at the USTA tournament website.

B16s consolation final:

Erik Schinnerer d. Sebastian Inaki Godoy 6-3, 6-3

B16s third place:

Keshav Muthuvel[9] d. Alexander Suhanitski[2] 7-5, 6-0

B16s doubles final:

Akshay Mirmira and Boning Wang d. Erik Schinnerer and Nicholas Pedraza[5] 6-3, 5-7, 6-4

B16s doubles third place:

Mason Vaughan and William Zhang d. Peyton Barrett and Anthony Dry 6-0, 6-7(5), 6-2

B18s consolation final:

Ethan Chung d. Yashwin Krishnakumar 6-4, 3-6, 10-4

B18s third place:

Winston Wooin Lee[9] d. Cooper Han 6-2, 1-0, ret.

B18s doubles final:

Tyler Lee and Brayden Tallakson d. William Kleege and William McEwan 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-4

B18s doubles third place:

Andre Alcantara and Rishvanth Krishna[5] d. James Quattro and Nathaniel Suh 7-5, 7-5

G16s consolation final:

Addy Rogin d. Alanna Ingalsbe 6-7(5), 7-5, 10-7

G16s third place:

Carlota Moreno[3] d. Ciara Harding 7-5, 6-4

G16s doubles final:

Carlota Moreno and Addy Rogin[2] d. Kingsley Wolf and Autumn Xu[1] 6-3, 7-6(5)

G16s doubles third place:

Whitney Burke and Kaiden Greer d. Sydney Barnhart and Ariana Morris 6-1, 7-5

G18s consolation final:

Calla McGill[9] d. Hi'llani Williams walkover

G18s third place:

Nicole Weng[9] d. Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann 6-1, 6-4

G18s doubles final:

Amy Lee and Kenzie Nguyen d. Bella Payne and Emily Deming 6-3, 6-4

G18s doubles third place:

Carrie-Anne Hoo and Isabelle DeLuccia[5] d. Chloe Qin and Bella Jacutin-Mariona 6-4, 6-4

Payne and Lee Reach Both FILA Easter Bowl 18s Finals, Latak Hopes to Follow in Sister's Footsteps in 16s Final; 14s USTA Hard Court Champion Kockinis Aims for Another Gold Ball in G16s

©Colette Lewis 2025--

Indian Wells CA--

Bella Payne and Tyler Lee have had decidedly different paths to the FILA Easter Bowl 18s finals, but the unseeded pair will play for two titles at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden Sunday.

Payne, who won the 16s singles and doubles titles last year, has lost only 14 games while extending her winning streak in singles to 11, with her 6-1, 6-2 semifinal win over Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann an especially satisfying one. Earlier this month in the first round of the ITF J100 in Las Vegas, Payne had lost to Drenser-Hagmann 6-2, 6-4, but she learned her lesson and applied it today.

"In Vegas I was definitely overplaying, being very aggressive," said the 17-year-old left-hander from Florida. "She's a very aggressive player as well, and I think I needed to stay more solid and mix it up a lot more with the slices, shorter balls, high and heavy balls and then going big at her. I didn't play very smart in Vegas and she was playing amazing, but today, staying solid was definitely the big changeup."

Payne's opponent, No. 9 seed Nadia Valdez, does not share Payne's affection for the desert, and even after reaching her first USTA Level 1 final with a 6-3, 6-2 win over nemesis Nicole Weng, also a No. 9 seed, she has been slow to warm up to it, even after defeating top seed Thara Gowda in the third round.

"I don't really like this place," said the 15-year-old from San Antonio, who had lost to Weng the last three times they've played. "It's kind of slow and I play on fast courts. I love California, but I don't like this place because I didn't do too well last year. Right now I love it."

Payne and Valdez met recently in the UTR Pro Tennis Tour event in Atlanta, with Valdez winning 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3, but Valdez is right to be wary, as this week Payne has already beaten two players who posted wins over her earlier this month, surrendering just four games in the process.

In contrast to the domination Payne has shown in her last two runs to the final at the Easter Bowl, Lee found himself in a third set for a fourth consecutive match against unseeded Cooper Han Saturday back on Practice Court 12.  After his 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3) win over top seed Shaan Patel in the quarterfinals on the show court, Practice Court 2, Lee found himself thinking about another tiebreaker at 5-all in the second set today, one that did not materialize in his 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 victory.

"He played really solid then, locked in, and I think I just went away," said the 15-year-old from Orange County. "When I went down 5-6, we were just holding serve the entire time and I thought I just need to get to a breaker, because I've been playing breakers pretty well, and I put too much pressure on myself."

With all the experience he's had with the 10-minute break between the second and third sets this week, Lee has developed a routine, getting advice from his coach J.C. Beeson of Veylix  Tennis, and going to the rest rooms.

"I use the rest room to reset mentally," said Lee. "I want to go in the rest room and come out of it a completely different person, a new mindset and a good amount of energy. And I think physically getting off the court and getting back on really helps refresh my mind."

That was evident in the third set today, with Han holding to open the set and Lee reeling off six straight games to set up a meeting with another unseeded finalist seeking his first USTA ball in singles, Nikolas Stoot.

Stoot, who received a last-minute wild card into the ITF J300 FILA International Championships two weeks ago and won two matches, was not certain he was going to return for the Easter Bowl, with an injury his prospects and another cross country trip from his home in Miami also giving him pause. 

"I almost didn't come due to a little shoulder injury," said the 17-year-old left-hander, who trains with Robert Gomez in Coral Gables. "The day before my dad said, you're not going. But we kind of took the chance, and it's feeling good, one hundred percent now."

Stoot's 6-4, 7-6(2) win over the last seeded player in the boys 18s, Winston Lee, took more than two hours, with Stoot fighting back from 5-2 down in the second to avoid a third.

"To be honest I thought, what would Djokovic do," said Stoot, who has verbally committed to LSU for 2026. "I just started to play a little bit smarter, go for higher percentage shots and that started to work. And I started serving a lot better in the tiebreaker as well."

Stoot took control in the tiebreaker by winning both points on Lee's serve after leading 4-2 at the first change of ends. A good first serve that Lee couldn't return gave him the luxury of four match points, and he converted the first, with Lee hitting a forehand well long.

Stoot and Lee haven't played, but they did warm up together Friday. 

"I actually just met him yesterday, we hit for a warmup, but I saw him playing, and he's a really good player," Stoot said. "He hits the ball really clean, really hard, so I'm excited for tomorrow."

As with the 18s, only one of the four finalists in the 16s has any experience in a final, with 2024 14s USTA Hard Court champion Armira Kockinis earning another shot at a gold ball with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 3 seed Carlota Moreno. 

Kockinis got off to a slow start, trailing 0-3, love-40, fighting nerves, but the 15-year-old from La Habra California, who trains at Tier 1, the same academy as Learner Tien and Alex Michelsen, gave herself a pep talk.

"I was like, you know what?, if I go out, I'm not going to go out because of nerves," said Kockinis, a No. 9 seed. "I'm going to go out because she's just better than me. So I said, ok, we're just going to play."

Kockinis admits that with their travel schedules on the ATP Tour, she doesn't see much of Tien and Michelsen, but she can't help but be inspired by them.

"I am able to look up to them," Kockinis said. "Hopefully I can achieve what they have, it's obviously pretty cool."

Kockinis will face friend Carolina Castro, the No. 7 seed, who defeated wild card Ciara Harding 6-4, 6-3 and will win her first USTA ball regardless of her result in Sunday's final. 

"Last year I got eliminated in the first round of the tournament," said the 16-year-old, who trains at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park Maryland. "And now I'm in the finals, it's crazy. It means a lot to me to be here."

Castro said she was relaxed throughout the match, even though Harding, who had eliminated top seed Anna Bugaienko in the first round, was playing well.

"I didn't really feel any pressure, because I know she's good and I know she's playing some really good tennis," said Castro, who will represent Puerto Rico in the Junior Billie Jean King Cup North American/Caribbean qualifying next month in Montreal Canada. "But I have too. I know how she plays, really flat, but also crafty, so I knew I had to get out of her comfort zone, hitting heavy, slicing a lot, coming to the net, and that's what I did."

Kockinis and Castro had warmed up together the past several days, but Castro said that is probably not going to happen on Sunday.

"It should be a good match," Castro said of their first meeting. "She hits really heavy, she's a very good player, very aggressive."

The boys 16s final will feature two players who had their breakthroughs, not today, in making in the championship match, but yesterday, in finally getting out of the quarterfinals of a major USTA tournament. 

Marcel Latak rolled over fellow No. 9 seed Keshav Muthuvel, who had taken out top seed Safir Azam in the quarterfinals, 6-1, 6-1, committing to an aggressive style before the match had even begun. 

"I knew he was more of a counterpuncher, so even in the warmup, I was going to be trying to play quicker, warmup inside the baseline, so I could prepared for what I needed to do in the match today," said the 16-year-old from Chicago. "And it did help a lot. From the first point, I was already pressing him, and it worked."

This week Latak has had the support of his parents and his sister Thea, who won the Easter Bowl 12s title in 2019, when he nervously watched her beat Daniela Borruel 7-6(3), 6-3.

"It's a full-circle moment," said Latak, who was 10 at the time. "I was here, watching her play, when she won. I was so nervous, oh my gosh, and now it's her turn."

Latak said getting the 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 9 seed Rowan Qalbani was a big step. 

"I've been to three quarterfinals in Nationals (Level 1), I think and never won one," said Latak, who reached the semifinals of the prestigious Les Petits As tournament in France in 2023. "Yesterday was probably one of the tighter matches I've played because I was like, this is my moment, I've got to go for it."

No. 8 seed Tristan Stratton had an even more futile record in quarterfinals, but the 15-year-old fought back to beat fellow New Yorker Alexander Suhanitski 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the only semifinal match to go three sets.

"I was in seven quarterfinals before this, Marcel and I were talking about that, 12s, 14s and finally yesterday I broke through to get to semis and even now, to the finals," said the 15-year-old, who trains at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy. 

Stratton had to ride a lot of ups and downs in the final, after losing an early lead in the first set, but after winning the second set, he was right where he wanted to be.

"I felt really good going into the third, because in my first three matches I won all of them in the third set," Stratton said. "So I feel very confident in the third set, and took a lot of confidence going into the third."

Stratton used the 10-minute break between the second and third sets to call his coach back home in New York.

"He's been watching the live stream, so he just told me just keep playing backhand to backhand, because I have a good backhand," said Stratton, who admits he is much more comfortable playing indoors. "He just said trust your game and mix it up, and it worked."

The doubles finals are set for Sunday afternoon, with both Payne and Lee in two championship matches.

Payne and partner Emily Deming, both future Georgia Bulldogs, will face Amy Lee and Kenzie Nguyen for the girls 18s doubles title, with both teams unseeded.

Payne and Deming defeated unseeded Bella Jacutin-Mariona and Chloe Qin 6-2, 6-1, while Lee and Nguyen took out No. 5 seeds Carrie-Ann Hoo and Isabelle DeLuccia 6-3, 6-1.

Lee and Brayden Tallakson won another all-unseeded team match, beating James Quattro and Nathaniel Suh 6-3, 6-2, and will face unseeded William McEwan and William Kleege for the gold ball. McEwan and Kleege defeated No. 5 seeds Andre Alcantara and Rishvanth Krishna 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.  Lee can add to his collection five USTA balls, all them in doubles, with a fourth gold in doubles Sunday.

In the boys 16s doubles final, No. 5 seeds Nicolas Pedraza and Erik Schinnerer will meet unseeded Akshay Mirmira and Boning Wang after Pedraza and Schinnerer defeated unseeded Mason Vaughan and William Zhang 6-4, 6-1 and Mirmira and Wang beat unseeded Peyton Barrett and Anthony Dry 6-4, 6-3.

The only final featuring the top two seeds will be in the girls 16s doubles, with No. 1 Kingsley Wolf and Autumn Xu playing No. 2 Carlota Moreno and Addy Rogin for the title.  Wolfe and Kingsley beat Sydney Barnhart and Ariana Morris 6-4, 6-2, while Moreno and Rogin rolled past Whitney Burke and Kaiden Greer 6-1, 6-0.

The live stream of Practice Court 2 matches, with commentary by Ken Thomas, will be available on the Easter Bowl YouTube channel, with the girls 16s final and the boys 18s final expected to be assigned to that court.

The consolation semifinals and finals are also scheduled for Sunday, along with third place matches in both singles and doubles. 

For all the results, see the USTA tournament page.

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.