ITF Grade B1 Easter Bowl Begins Monday with Boys Singles, Girls Doubles; Team USA 2018 Awards Reception; Ritschard Wins Calabasas $25K; Leustian Claims Another ITF Grade 4 Title in Puerto Rico

©Colette Lewis 2019--
Indian Wells, CA--

Sunday was a busy day at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, with the completion of qualifying for the ITF Grade B1 event, the Adidas player party and the annual Team USA Coaches Reception, as well as second round matches in singles and doubles in the 12s and 14s divisions.

The boys who advanced to the ITF main draw after winning third and final round matches in qualifying are: Quinn Vandecasteele, Ron Hohmann, Muhammad Dossani, Saiprakash Goli, Presley Thieneman, David Lins, Sachin Das and Dominik Jakovljevic.  Seven of these eight will play their fourth match in three days on Monday, with only Muhammad Dossani having a bye in the first round.  The girls first round singles will be played Tuesday, although the girls are scheduled to compete in doubles on Monday.  The eight girls qualifiers are Nikita Vishwase, Camille Kiss, Malaika Rapolu, Victoria Hu, Lara Schneider, Kiana Graham, Margaret Polk and Anastasia Sysoeva.

The top four seeds in the boys 12s and 14s and the girls 14s all advanced to the third round, but the girls 12s lost their No. 2 seed Thalia Smith, who fell to Daniela Borruel 7-5, 6-1, and their No. 3 seed Kinley Vanpelt, who was beaten by Valerie Gomez 6-4, 6-1. Top girls 12 seed Thea Latak had to come from a set down, but she did advance with a 4-6, 6-2, 10-6 win over Paisha Douglas.  Complete results from the 12s and 14s can be found at the TennisLink site.  The 16s begin play on Monday, with both boys and girls in first round action.

Registering for the Adidas Player Party

The Adidas player party attracted hundreds of players and parents for food, music, games and gifts. Each player received a T-shirt, bag and towel, while choosing from the food offerings of a Salad Bar, Slider Bar and Nacho Bar. The Shave Ice tent was a popular stop for dessert, and the ping pong tables were busy throughout the evening.

While the players were enjoying their get-together, the USTA hosted its sixth annual Team USA Coaching Award reception.  The recipients honored for 2018 are:
Developmental Coach of the Year: Joseph Gilbert
Coaching Legend Award: Jose Higueras
Developmental Program of the Year: Lakes Tennis Academy
Player Development Section of the Year: Southern California

USTA head of men's tennis Kent Kinnear was on hand to distribute the awards, and although Higueras was not able to attend, Gilbert, Trevor Kronemann (representing So Cal) and Dave Licker (representing Lakes) made brief acceptance speeches before answering questions from the audience.

Kent Kinnear, Joseph Gilbert, Trevor Kronemann, Dave Licker

Elsewhere in Southern California, at the $25,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event in Calabasas, former Virginia star Alexander Ritschard came from 5-2 down in the third set and saved three match points in his 6-2, 0-6, 7-6(5) win over No. 2 seed Stefan Kozlov. Ritschard, 25, had won three consecutive $15K tournaments last year, but this is his first title at the $25K level. The unseeded Ritschard defeated top seed Liam Broady of Great Britain in semifinals on Saturday.

The doubles title went to No. 3 seeds Sekou Bangoura(Florida) and Boris Arias(LSU) of Bolivia, who beat Great Britain's Jack Findel-Hawkins(North Florida) and Ryan Peniston(Memphis) 6-2, 6-2 in the final.

Stefan Leustian, who is in action against wild card Pierce Rollins tomorrow in the ITF Grade B1 here in Indian Wells, won his second straight ITF Grade 4 title Saturday in Puerto Rico. The 17-year-old top seed defeated No. 12 seed Fnu Nidunjianzan of China 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 in the final. Leustian won the Grade 4 in Panama the previous week.