Last Alternate Burnett Ousts Defending Champion Chinlund in Easter Bowl 18s Second Round; Mixed Fortunes for Previous Easter Bowl Champions With Semifinals Set in 12s and 14s

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Indian Wells California--

Evan Burnett was not planning to compete in the FILA Easter Bowl this year. But the redshirt freshman at Texas kept his name on the alternate list, and when he received a text from the tournament that a position in the draw was available to him on Friday, he decided to take it. Four days later, the 18-year-old from Northern California had beaten defending 18s champion Cassius Chinlund 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in his first match ever at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

"My ranking isn't very high; I haven't played many junior tournaments," Burnett said. "So I wasn't planning on playing at all. But on Friday morning we got a text, and I talked to my parents and they said we can make it work. The team was going to be traveling to some away matches this week, since I'm redshirting I don't go to many away matches. So I thought it would be best to come play, get some matches."

Burnett, who attended regular school and wasn't highly ranked nationally when he was younger, didn't envision playing his first match at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Stadium 6, a court used for the BNP Paribas Open just two weeks ago.

"It was a little overwhelming, not like on Practice Court 9 or something," Burnett said. "But it's an amazing setting here, reallly special. I found my groove though, and worked my way into the match, found a good level."

Chinlund, was a No. 9 seed this year, is loud and emotional on the court and can disrupt the concentration of his opponents. But Burnett said the last two months in Austin have helped him prepare for just such a challenge, both physically and mentally.

"The couple of months I've been training there, I feel I've grown a lot mentally, and I used that to my advantage today, to stay really composed, play a mature match," Burnett said. "I feel in the past I would have gotten mad or tired, but I just stayed with it, stayed composed out there, and that's what got me through."

Burnett said Chinlund served well in the first set, but he adjusted in the second, and after the taking that set and conversing with his coach during the 10-minute break before the third, kept his aggressive mindset. Burnett broke in the first game of the third set and led 3-1, but lost the next three games, and three hours into the match the score was 4-4. Chinlund cracked a bit in his next service game, with two double faults to start it and he was broken, given Burnett the opportunity to serve out the match.

But after a difficult overhead winner to set up a match point, Burnett double faulted, and couldn't manage another, with Chinlund breaking on his third break point of the game.

"I just knew I couldn't do anything about it and so I just moved forward," Burnett said. "I got a little tight at 5-4 obviously, double fault on match point, you never like to see that, but I felt I stayed composed, said it was over, and worked on breaking."

Burnett did get a break, crushing a forehand winner at 30-40, and Chinlund fell to the ground as he tried to reach it. He didn't appear to be seriously injured however, getting up after a few moments and walking with no problem to the bench and then after the changeover, to the baseline. 

Burnett started the game with an ace up the T, which Chinlund called out, but Chinlund's call was overruled by the roving umpire on court. Burnett then hit a forehand passing shot winner, and two Chinlund errors later, the three-hour and 30-minute match belonged to Burnett.

"It was a grueling match, it's not too hot, not too bad, but it was a tiring match," Burnett said. "Really long points, really long games, it was tough. I put away a couple of clutch volleys at the end, had to be brave and go for it, and it worked out for me."

In addition to Chinlund and Ian Bracks, the 2023 Boys 16s champion last year who beat the top seed yesterday in the 18s and won again today, four other current or former Easter Bowl champions were in action today at the various site in the desert.

Girls 12s 2023 champion Raya Kotseva made her way to the semifinals of the 14s this year, defeating No. 2 seed Lyla Middleton 6-2, 6-3.

"I love this place," said Kotseva, who has now won 10 straight Easter Bowl matches. "It's amazing, very peaceful and I feel very free when I play here."

Kotseva has not only a lengthy Easter Bowl winning streak going, but so far this year is 22-2, winning the ITF J60 in her home town of Las Vegas earlier this month, and following that with a Level 3 18s title last week, and playing in the older age divisions have helped her improve.

"I've physically gotten stronger, but I've added some strategy to my game too," said the 13-year-old, who represents Bulgaria on the ITF Junior Circuit. "I've changed my forehand a little bit and I'm being more aggressive."

Kotseva, the No. 6 seed, will play unseeded Kingsley Wolf, who defeated Allison Wang 6-4, 6-2. The other girls 14s semifinal will feature unseeded Julia Seversen, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over No. 9 seed Hannah Ayrault, and No. 3 seed Anjani Vickneswaran, who beat 2022 Girls 12s Easter Bowl champion Baotong Xu, the No. 8 seed, 6-3, 6-4.

2023 Girls 14s champion Nancy Lee is the No. 3 seed in 16s this year, and she has advanced to the round of 16s. 2023 Boys 14s champion Roshan Santhosh[9] will not go back-to-back, as he fell to Gray Kelley 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3) in today's second round.

The semifinals for the 12s division are set for Wednesday, with the top two seeds still in the running for the girls title. No. 1 seed Nikol Davletshina defeated No. 9 seed Audrey Dussault 6-3, 6-2 to advance to a meeting with unseeded Isabelle Nguyen, who beat No. 5 seed Anna Scott Laney 6-4, 6-3. No. 2 seed Nadia Poznick defeated No. 7 seed Olivia Lin 6-3, 7-5 and will face No. 9 seed Savannah Schmitz, who beat No. 6 seed Isha Manchala 6-3, 6-4. 

The boys 12s semifinal in the top half of the draw will feature unseeded Nathan Lee, a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 winner over No. 9 seed Beau Bronson Foster, and No. 5 seed James Borchard, who beat No. 4 seed Daniel Gardality 6-4, 6-2.  In the bottom half, No. 3 seed Rex Kulman, who beat unseeded Wyatt Markham 6-1, 6-0, will play No. 2 seed Jiarui Zhang, who defeated No. 6 seed Jason Zhao 6-3, 6-2. Zhang is going for his second straight USTA Level 1 title, after winning the Winter Nationals in January.

In the boys 14s, three of the top 4 seeds are through to Wednesday's semifinals, with top seed Safir Azam playing No. 4 seed Izyan Ahmad, a semifinalist in the 14s last year. Azam defeated Carter Jauffret 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals, while Ahmad beat No. 9 seed Tabb Tuck 6-4, 6-3.

Junior Orange Bowl and Winter Nationals 14s champion Andrew Johnson, the No. 2 seed, blanked No. 9 seed Luca Sevim 6-0, 6-0 and will meet No. 7 seed Akshay Mirmira in the bottom half semifinal. Mirmira beat unseeded Colter Amey 6-3, 6-1.

Girls 18s top seed Capucine Jauffret had another tough match, beating Eva Oxford 6-3, 2-6, 6-0 to advance to the round of 16. No. 2 seed Addison Lanton also had a challenging second round contest, beating Katiana Gonzalez 7-6(9), 6-3.

Girls 16s top seed Bella Payne cruised into the third round with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Reagan Levine, while boys 16s top seed Gus Grumet also advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Ilias Bouzoubaa. 

Live streaming of the matches assigned to Court 2 is available at the Easter Bowl website.