Latak and Thorat Claim Adidas Easter Bowl 12s Titles; Shang Captures Boys 14s, Driscoll Sweeps Girls 14s; Jackson Beats Top Seed Black, Yepifanova Upsets No. 2 Mandlik in ITF Third Round

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

Eleven-year-old Thea Latak's first Easter Bowl in 2018 was a disaster, when she and her family drove from Chicago to the Coachella Valley only to suffer first round losses in the singles, doubles and consolation draw. This year, Latak returned as the top seed, and she erased those bad memories with the title, beating unseeded Daniela Borruel 7-6(3), 6-3.

In contrast, 12-year-old Abhishek Thorat's first Easter Bowl couldn't have gone much better, with the No. 13 seed taking the title, beating No. 2 seed Cooper Woestendick 6-4, 6-1 Thursday morning at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Latak had her share of close matches, twice coming from a set down to win in pressure-packed match tiebreakers, which serve as third sets in the 12s divisions.

Against Borruel, Latak took a 4-2 lead in the first set, but saw three set points slip away serving for it at 5-4, 40-0.

"I didn't want to get nervous and down on myself, so I kept on trying to keep calm and getting it back," said Latak, who got the only hold of serve in the first set tiebreaker to go up 2-0, and that was enough to take the hour-long set.

Latak took an early lead in the second set and led most of the match, again going up 4-2, losing the break, but breaking back to earn a 5-3 lead and the opportunity to serve for the match. Borruel saved the first match point with a forehand winner, but missed a forehand volley to give Latak a second. Borruel approached the net after a short volley, but Latak sent up a lob that Borruel could not handle to secure the title.

Borruel said that although she was disappointed with the result, she was happy with her strategy.

"I liked how I played," said the 12-year-old from Buena Park California. "I was coming up to the net, trying to finish the points. She was pretty consistent and when I came up, she would pass. Her serve was pretty good and I could have done a bit better on my returns."

Borruel, who has recently begun attending the First Break Academy in Carson, California, admitted she was nervous at the start of the match.

"I was pretty nervous, trying to get my rhythm," Borruel said. "But by the third game, I loosened up and just started playing better, going for my shots a little bit more."

Latak said the aggressive play by Borruel didn't bother her, and she was pleased with how she handled the pressure of being a top seed.

"I loved how everyone tried their hardest when they played me, gave their best effort," said Latak, who trains with Jack Sharpe at the Hinsdale Racquet Club. "That made me want to give the best effort that I can, and helped me realize I could do things I didn't think I could do, could handle that I'm the 1 seed."

Thorat took out top seed Maxwell Exsted 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals and ran out to a 5-0 first-set lead against Woestendick, but he was not about to relax.

"I came in here playing pretty good and I know that Cooper's a great player and he's going to adjust, he's going to find a way to come back," said the Tampa resident. "So I just needed to stay focused, stay in it."

Woestendick did indeed come back, winning four straight games before Thorat final held on his third opportunity for the set.

"He played a good service game," said Woestendick. "It was hard to keep up with him. Abhishek hit huge and hit bigger than me."

Woestendick had saved three match points in his three-hour and 40-minute win over Darren Huang in the semifinals Wednesday afternoon, and he admitted that took its toll.

"I wasn't moving fast at all, I couldn't really move as well," Woestendick said. "But Abhishek played a great match."

Thorat admitted that his nerves came not from the crowd and the chair umpire but rather knowing his match was being live streamed.

"If I don't play good, and it's getting recorded, I can't let people see that," said Thorat, who trains at the Brandon Sports and Aquatic Center with Paul Segodo and Alex and Andrew Golub. "After I started swinging and hit the ball, it gets better."

Thorat again jumped out to a big lead in the second set, and this time he kept his distance, closing out Woestendick 6-4, 6-1.

Thorat doesn't have any immediate plans to celebrate, but is looking forward to an Alaskan family cruise in May.

Boys 14s champion Juncheng (Jerry) Shang has an even longer trip ahead, as he is China-bound with another gold ball in tow. The 2018 USTA National 14s Hard Court champion defeated Lucas Brown 6-3, 6-3 Thursday afternoon in a battle between two hard-hitting 14-year-olds.

No. 12 seed Shang played nearly flawless tennis in the opening set, getting the first break to go up 3-2 and closing out No. 3 seed Brown with a second break to end the set.

A tall left-hander who is comfortable finishing at the net, Shang appeared to be cruising when he had points to take a 4-0 lead in the second set, but Brown held, got his first break of the match, then held again to get right back in it.

"I was kind of tight," Shang admitted. "At 3-0 l had many break points, then he broke me. He did a great job on my serve, he was coming in a lot."

Shang said he was pretty confident that he could get through that challenge and he did, breaking Brown at love to go up 5-3 and serving it out.

"When I was down 3-0, I said, if I'm going to win this, I've got to play really, really well," said Brown, who trains with private coach David Miller in Plano Texas. "So I just started going after it. Unfortunately you can't really play that way for more than three games apparently. After three games, all those shots that were going in started flying out."

Despite being the higher seed, Brown had no illusions that the player across the net from him today was an underdog.

"He pops in every now and then and just wrecks everybody," Brown said. "I wouldn't really call him a 12 seed."

Shang was happy to put the memory of last year's second round Easter Bowl loss out of his mind.

"I'm more experienced now," said Shang, who lives and trains at the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Naples Florida with coach Victor Camargo. "I was kind of nervous in the beginning, but I got my confidence after the first set, and he was missing a lot."

Shang, who came to the United States three years ago, will head back to China in the coming weeks to play ITF junior events there before returning for the USTA National Championships this summer.

The only three-set final of the day was in the girls 14s, with No. 3 seed Tsehay Driscoll coming back to defeat No. 2 seed Ria Bhakta 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.

At age 13, Driscoll is already playing in her fourth Easter Bowl, but after two first round and one second round loss, this title was especially sweet.

"I didn't want to make a fourth time in a row having a bad tournament,"  said Driscoll, a Southern Californian who trains with former NCAA champion Cecil Mamiit at the Burbank Tennis Center. "I was way more determined than the other years, to do really well this year."

After losing her first set of the tournament and squandering a 3-1 first set lead, Driscoll made some adjustments.

"I adjusted and I was really determined," Driscoll said. "I played the next two sets using my brain a lot. I've always loved coming to net, I feel more comfortable at net. I don't like when I'm behind the baseline like six feet."

Bhakta had saved five match points in a grueling semifinal battle with Qavia Lopez Wednesday, but she didn't feel that played any role in the final stages of the match.

"Toward the end of the match you're always going to feel tired, at the end of three sets, nothing unusual," said reigning 14s Winter National champion Bhakta, who trains with her father Raj in Saratoga California. "It was a good match. She played really well, but next time I play her it may be different."

Driscoll's gold ball count reached four with the singles title, and she added a fifth in the doubles final. She and partner Madison Smith, the No. 2 seeds, defeated top seeds Natalie Block and Lara Smejkal 6-2, 7-5 in the final. Driscoll also took home the Sportsmanship Award.

Although the 12s and 14s finals took center stage, upsets abounded in the third round of the ITF Grade B1, with girls top seed Hurricane Tyra Black and girls No. 2 seed Elli Mandlik and boys No. 2 seed Tyler Zink all bowing out.

Zink lost to qualifier Ronald Hohmann 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, and No. 4 seed Toby Kodat was eliminated by No. 13 seed Jacob Bullard 7-6(8), 6-3.

No. 13 seed Emma Jackson, who beat Black 6-4, 7-6(2), managed to overcome the disappointment of failing to serve out the match at 5-4 and 6-5.

"I was very discouraged; I had two match points," said Jackson, a 16-year-old from Illinois. "I was just, I can't get frustrated now, I have an opportunity. I didn't want it to go longer, because it was starting to get really hot and the wind and dust were kicking up. I just wanted to get it over with."

Jackson won the final five games of the first set, after getting accustomed to Black's unconventional forehand.

"I started out 1-4 down," Jackson said. "I thought I just have to be patient with her. I've never really played someone who uses only a slice forehand, so I just tried to stay as positive and focused as I could in the moment. In the tiebreaker, I played like I wanted it, and she just made some errors and I used them."

No. 16 seed Alexandra Yepifanova has been working on her court positioning recently and she put those lessons to good use in her 6-3, 6-4 win over Mandlik.

"For me, what I've been trying to improve on, my goal, is really stepping into the court," said the 16-year-old from Florida. "Taking the ball on the rise and just moving quicker inside the court. But also stepping back, realizing where the ball is and where I should be in court. I think I've been doing a pretty good job of that the past couple of days. All three of my matches were against really good opponents and could have gone either way, but because I was focused on playing quicker, the score went my way."

Fourteen-year-old Robin Montgomery, seed 14th, beat No. 4 seed Savannah Broadus 6-4, 6-2 and Ellie Coleman defeated No. 7 seed Chloe Beck 7-5, 7-5.

The 12s and 14s doubles champions were also crowned with the results in the photo captions.

G12s:  Rebecca Kong (San Diego, CA)/Daniela Borruel (Buena Park, CA) def. Thea Latak (Darien, IL) / Natasha Rajaram (2) (Cupertino, CA)  6-3; 6-1

B14s: Lucas Brown (Plano, TX /Aidan Kim (1) (Milford, MI) def. Waleed Qadir (Greenville, NC)/Cooper Williams (4) (New York, NY) 6-3; 6-2 

G14s: Madison Smith (2) (Bountiful, UT)/Tsehay Driscoll (La Canada Flintridge, CA) def. Natalie Block (Plantation, FL/Lara Smejkal (1) (Boca Raton, FL) 6-2; 7-5
  

B12s: Abhinav Chunduru (Plano, TX)/Prathinav Chunduru (2) (Plano, TX) def. Andrew Ena (Rego Park, NY)/Mark Krupkin (4) (Millburn, NJ) 7-5; 6-4 

Adidas Easter Bowl Sportsmanship Winners:

Overall Jackie Cooper Torey Fretz Sportsmanship winner: Kelsey Mize

Boys’ 12s: Heath Waters

Girls’ 12s: Natasha Rajaram

Boys’ 14s: Learner Tien

Girls’ 14s: Tsehay Driscoll

The 16s semifinals are set for Friday, with today's quarterfinals results below:

Boys' 16 Singles (Quarterfinal Round)
Aryan Chaudhary (1) (Santa Clara, CA) def. Gabrielius Guzauskas (6) (Hinsdale, IL 2-6; 6-3; 6-4
Samir Banerjee (3) (Basking Ridge, NJ) def. Victor Lilov (16) (Raleigh, NC) 6-1; 3-6; 7-5
Thomas Paulsell (4) (Seattle, WA) def. Jake Sweeney (Fayetteville, AR) 6-4; 6-2
JJ Tracy (9) (Hilton Head Island, SC) def. Adit Sinha (North Brunswick, NJ) 6-1; 6-1

Girls' 16 Singles (Quarterfinal Round)
Vivian Ovrootsky (9) (San Jose, CA) def. Sophia Fornaris (14) (Pinecrest, FL) 6-0; 6-2
Gracie Epps (Norman, OK) def. Emma Charney (Prospect, KY) 6-1; 1-6; 6-2
DJ Bennett (10) (Belleview, FL) def. Julia Fliegner (3) (Clarkston, MI) 3-6; 6-0; 6-1
Daniella Benabraham (12) (New York, NY) def. Reese Brantmeier (Whitewater, WI) 6-1; 6-2

Complete results at the TennisLink site.