Ten of 12 Wild Cards, Six Qualifiers Advance to Second Round of FILA International ITF J300 at Indian Wells; Antonius Wins First ITF Junior Circuit Singles Title in France

©Colette Lewis 2024--

Indian Wells CA--

While the seeds at the FILA International ITF J300 in Indian Wells don't begin play until Tuesday after first round byes, the wild cards took center stage, with all six boys wild cards and four of the six girls wild cards posting victories on a spectacular day for tennis in the Coachella Valley.

After a long day of travel, I didn't get onsite until midafternoon, with the Tennis Garden packed with fans enjoying the pro matches on nearly every stadium, with the action enhanced by the temperatures in the upper 70s, sunny skies and a light breeze.

The junior tournament, which began at 10 a.m., is being played on a combination of practice and stadium courts, and I watched one of the two wild cards who didn't advance on Stadium Court 9 after I got settled in the media center. Anna Frey, who reached the semifinals of a $15K last week in Canada as a qualifier, led  Nadia Lagaev of Canada 6-2, when I arrived, but Lagaev, a 16-year-old lefthander, broke early in the second and breezed to a 6-1 second set. Frey, a 16-year-old from Utah, displayed the more powerful shots, but Lagaev's defense and consistency were the biggest weapons on the court in the third set and she took a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.

I then made my way to the practice courts as the sun began to set, to chat with the USTA coaches, including USTA head of women's tennis Kathy Rinaldi, who were watching 14-year-old wild card Welles Newman play qualifier Aishi Bisht of India. Bisht served for the second set at 5-4, but as dusk advanced and the sweatshirts and jackets were donned, Newman broke back and forced a tiebreaker. Trailing 3-0 in the tiebreaker, Newman locked down her game, winning the last seven points to claim a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory on unlighted practice court 15. 

The other girls wild cards to advance Monday are Elizabeth Ionescu, Maggie Sohns and Alexis Nguyen.  The six US boys wild cards reaching the second are: Lachlan Gaskell, 2023 semifinalist Rudy Quan, Jack Satterfield, Vihaan Reddy, Mitchell Lee and Abishek Thorat. Thorat was the last match to start and he did not finish until after 8:30 p.m., with a move to a lighted court necessary to finish off a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over qualifier Danny Yassine of Canada.

The qualifiers, most of whom played three matches on Saturday and Sunday, were at it again today, and four girls made it four victories in three days, as did two boys.

Fourteen-year-old Christina Lyutova of Russia was one of the four girls qualifiers to win, beating Annika Penickova 6-2, 6-1, joining Bianca Molnar, Gabriella Mikaul and Alyssa Ahn in the second round. 

Las Vegas J60 champion Nischal Spurling continued his winning streak, adding a tenth straight win in the past eight says with a 6-1, 7-5 decision over Jacob Olar. Canadian Mikael Arseneault was the other boys qualifier to advanced to the second round. 

Boys top seed Kaylan Bigun is in action first thing Tuesday, taking on Calvin Baierl on Stadium Court 8, while girls top seed Teodora Kostovic of Serbia follows Bigun on that court against wild card Ionescu.

The first round of doubles begins Tuesday, with Great Britain's Viktor Frydrych and Tianhui Zhang of China the top seeds, and Australian Open boys doubles champions Cooper Woestendick and Max Exsted seeded No. 2.

Shannon Lam and Thea Frodin are the top seeds in the girls doubles, with Mia Slama and Ariana Pursoo seeded No. 2.

The seeded doubles teams get a bye and do not play until Wednesday.

I had already covered last week's ITF Junior tournaments in Las Vegas and Brazil, but I did want to note the other singles title for an American last week, with unseeded 14-year-old Michael Antonius winning his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title at a J30 on indoor clay in France. Antonius, the reigning Les Petits As champion, defeated unseeded Jordan Lee 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals and unseeded Marc Aurele Desmoulins Ricot of France 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 in the final.