Second Seed Mandlik Survives Tough Test to Advance at Adidas Easter Bowl ITF; Semifinals Set for 12s and 14s Divisions

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

After spending the first three months of 2019 playing ITF World Tennis Tour events, 17-year-old Elli Mandlik is competing in her first junior event of the year at the Adidas Easter Bowl's ITF Grade B1. As the No. 2 seed, fresh off her first pro title at two weeks ago at the $15,000 tournament in Arcadia California, Mandlik was not anticipating the test she faced in her opening match against Kelsey Mize.

"I looked at her name and thought she was just a regular USTA girl, and I didn't expect it to be that tough first round," said Mandlik, who eventually earned a 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 win. "In the first set she was just playing lights out. I wasn't prepared at all. I was prepared for a rally-type of match and she was just hitting winner, winner, aces everywhere."

Mandlik decided to stay away from the Mize forehand and her adjustment in strategy helped her earn seven straight games after dropping the first set.

"I was trying to hit more to her backhand, because that was her weaker side," Mandlik said. "I put more spin on the ball, so she had to hit over her head, not in her strike zone. And I made her run more for balls."

Mize, a 17-year-old from Tulsa Oklahoma, was down break points serving at 0-1 in the third set, but she saved them and got her rhythm back. She had a break point with Mandlik serving at 3-all in the third, but Mandlik saved it with an ace, then immediately hit another and went on to take a 4-3 lead.

"I thought my serve had been working, not at the beginning of the match, but since then, and I thought, it's working so just use it," Mandlik said. "At 3-3, I said just hit it as hard as you can, and it worked. I rely on my first serve in tight spots, because my second serve is pretty weak at times. I think I have a loose motion and I just go and swing and so in tight situations, I know I can rely on it."

Mandlik broke Mize in the next game, but her serve wasn't there for her in that game and Mize broke back. With Mize serving at 4-5, Mandlik won the first three points, but Mize saved all three and then another, with a combination of Mandlik errors and two forehand winners from Mize. On her fifth match point, Mandlik finally converted, with Mize sending a forehand long to end it.

Mandlik said coming back to play juniors was "very tough, because you have a lot of expectations. But I was just thinking every match is to improve, so if you lose, you lose. It's tough to go from pro to juniors, because it's a totally different game style. But today, it was maybe more like a pro match, I would say."

Mandlik, who reached the Easter Bowl ITF quarterfinals last year, is back both to maintain her junior ranking for this summer's junior slams and to have a crack at the two new WTT wild cards that the USTA has promised to the winner.

"I want to play all the grand slams, keep my ranking for that," Mandlik said. "And the wild cards if you win it, I wanted to get those as well. There's a $25K and a $60K."

Top seed Hurricane Tyra Black had less drama in her win, beating qualifier Malaika Rapolu 6-2, 6-1. After six seeds, including No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri, lost in the boys ITF first round Monday, the girls only had one go out today in their first round action, with Ellie Coleman beating 2018 semifinalist Gabby Price, the No. 12 seed, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.

The boys played their first round of doubles Tuesday afternoon, with top seeds Martin Damm and Toby Kodat and No. 2 seeds Adam Neff and Spizzirri winning their matches in straight sets.

The second round of 16s singles saw top seeds Nadejda Maslova and Aryan Chaudhary get through in straight sets, but girls No. 2 seed Misa Malkin lost to Reese Brantmeier 6-2, 6-4. Brantmeier, who is 14, was on the USA's third-place World Junior Tennis team last summer in the Czech Republic and has been playing more in the 18s than in the 16s since then. She is definitely a player who could have been seeded in the 16s draw. The boys 16s lost their second seed, Luke Casper, before the tournament began.

The semifinals of the 12s and 14s are scheduled for Wednesday morning at Indian Wells, with all four No. 1 seeds still in the hunt for the title.  Today's quarterfinal results are available below, with full draws at the TennisLink site. Live streaming can be found at Easterbowl.com

Boys' 12 Singles (Quarterfinal Round)
Maxwell Exsted (1) (Savage, MN) def. Vincent Yang (9) (Kirkland, WA) 7-6(4); 7-6(4)
Abhishek Thorat (13) (Lithia, FL) def. Abhinav Chunduru (4) (Plano, TX) 4-6; 6-3; 10-6
Darren Huang (3) (Whitestone, NY) def. Ritwik Hota (Leesburg, VA) 6-4; 6-2
Cooper Woestendick (2) (Olathe, KS) def. Joseph Hobbs (6) (Virginia Beach, VA) 6-1; 6-3

Boys' 14 Singles (Quarterfinal Round)
Aidan Kim (1) (Milford, MI) def. Garen Spicka (14) (Las Vegas, NV) 6-4; 6-1
Juncheng Shang (12) (Naples, FL) def. Brayden Michna (6) (Taylor, TX) 7-6; 1-6; 6-0
Lucas Brown (3) (Plano, TX) def. Kurt Miller (7) (Los Gatos, CA) 5-7; 6-4; 6-1
Learner Tien (15) (Irvine, CA) def. Nicholas Godsick (11) (Chagrin Falls, OH) 7-5; 4-6; 6-3

Girls' 12 Singles (Quarterfinal Round)
Thea Latak (1) (Darien, IL) def. Olivia Manson (Chicago, IL) 6-2; 3-6; 10-7
Emily Deming (4) (Fallbrook, CA) def. Natasha Rajaram (7) (Cupertino, CA) 6-2; 6-4
Annika Renganathan (14) (Sammamish, WA) def. Bianca Molnar (10) (Ladera Ranch, CA) 4-6; 6-3; 10-7
Daniela Borruel (Buena Park, CA) def. Adriana Sciara (Mountain Brk, AL) 6-1; 6-3

Girls' 14 Singles (Quarterfinal Round)
Stephanie Yakoff (1) (Fort Lee, NJ) def. Alexia Harmon (8) (Las Vegas, NV) 5-7; 6-3; 6-3
Tsehay Driscoll (3) (La Canada Flintridge, CA) def. Liv Hovde (12) (McKinney, TX) 6-4; 6-3
Qavia Lopez (15) (Grand Rapids, MI) def. Natalie Block (4) (Plantation, FL) 6-2; 6-4
Ria Bhakta (2) (Saratoga, CA) def. Madison Weekley (10) (Alamo, CA) 6-1; 6-1