My Conversation with Former South Carolina Star Gira Schofield on High Performance Coaching; Easter Bowl Wild Cards, Qualifying Draws for ITF Grade B1; Osuigwe and Gauff Lose Second Round Matches at Miami Open

When I was in Mobile for the USTA National Spring Team Championships earlier this month I noticed more young women serving as coaches than in previous years. One of them was Gira Schofield, who I remembered from her outstanding collegiate career at South Carolina from 2005-2009, and I took the opportunity to talk with her about how she found her way into coaching. She spoke of her passion for coaching teenage girls and how that developed from her own experiences as a junior and a collegian in this article for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

The two main courts for Easter Bowl at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden

The Easter Bowl begins Saturday with the first round in singles and doubles for 12s and 14s divisions and the first round of qualifying for the ITF Grade B1.  The wild cards are as follows:

Boys 12
Nelson Alapi
Nathan Hernandez
Shashwat Srivasta

Boys 14
Andrew Delgado
Mitchell Lee
Kaylan Bigun
Santiago Muhala

Boys 16
Noelle Ampong
Ryan Morgan
Ethan Quinn

Boys ITF
Aidan Mayo
Zachary Svajda
Bruno Kuzuhara
Robert Cash
Pierce Rollins
Aditya Gupta
Micah Braswell
Jeffrey Fradkin

Girls 12
Morgan Shaffer

Girls 14
Ginger Foster
Emmi Kolyszko
Ariana Pursoo
Linda Ziets-Segura

Girls 16
Krystal Blanch
Lizanne Boyer
Reese Brantmeier
Clervie Ngounoue

Girls ITF
Katja Wiersholm
Maxi Duncan
Carson Tanguilig
Rachel Gailis
Kimmi Hance
Jaedan Brown
Allie Gretkowski
Abigail Desiatnikov

The qualifying draws for the ITF Grade B1 did not fill, with six byes in the boys qualifying and 11 byes in the girls qualifying.  Two rounds are scheduled for Saturday, with the final round of qualifying on Sunday.

All the American teens are out now after the second round at the Miami Open.  Amanda Anisimova lost to No. 21 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-3, 1-6, 6-4; Coco Gauff fell to No. 14 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-3, 6-2 and tonight, Whitney Osuigwe went out to No. 25 seed Danielle Collins 7-6(5), 6-0.  Osuigwe had two set points serving for the first set at 5-4, but Collins saved them and came up with the key points in the tiebreaker. Osuigwe wasn't able to recover from that disappointment and Collins rolled through the second set.

Canadian teen Bianca Andreescu rolled on, with the BNP Paribas Open champion defeating No. 32 seed Sonya Kenin, the last player to beat her, 6-3, 6-3.