Boys’ and Girls’ 12s Finals Set For Thursday As Delays Caused By Poor Air Quality

Top-seeded James Borchard will try and do his hometown proud on Thursday in the finals of the Boys’ 12-and-under division as the 11-year-old hopes to keep alive the winning tradition of FILA Easter Bowl titles won by players from Thousand Oaks.

In the semifinals played at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden at the 57^th annual event on Wednesday, Borchard toppled Haris Shahbaz of Bowling Green, Ky., 6-2, 6-0, to reach the finals where he will meet No. 3 Udham Singh of Sunnyvale, Calif., who downed No. 2 Evan Fan from Mason, Ohio, 6-4, 6-4.

If he is to pull out the victory and capture the USTA Gold ball, Borchard will likely receive a congratulatory call from his favorite player Marcos Giron, who won the 18s Easter Bowl in 2011 and happens to be from the same hometown as Borchard.

Last year’s Boys’ 12s doubles champion at the Easter Bowl, Borchard said he cheered on Giron at the recent BNP Paribas Open where Giron shocked seeded players Casper Ruud and Alexei Popyrin reaching the Round of 16.

Other players from Thousand Oaks who have won Easter Bowl singles titles in recent years include Sam Querrey (16s in 2004, 18s in 2005) and Claire Liu (18s in 2015 and 2017).

In the Girls’ 12s, the two most dominant players all week have secured their spots in the finals in top-seeded Lucy Dupere (Wake Forest, N.C.) and the No 5-seeded Kareena Cross (Los Angeles).

Dupere has dropped just 11 games in her previous five matches, including a Swiatek-like six bagels and two breadsticks. In the semis she beat unseeded Cataleya Brown (Murietta, Ga.), 6-1, 6-2. Cross beat No. 3 Violetta Mamina (Henderson, Nev.), 6-1, 6-3. If Cross manages to beat Dupere Thursday she will have beaten the No. 1, 2 and 3 seeds to grab the coveted USTA Gold ball.

One boys’ and one girls’ finalist has been determined in the 14s as play was suspended Wednesday because of poor air quality with the resumption of matches to take place Thursday morning. Boys’ 14s top seeded Rafael Pawar (Essex Fells, N.J.), beat No. 6 seed Zesen Wang 6-3, 6-2 (State College, Pa.) and will await the winner of the other semi between No. 8 Arjun Krishnan (San Jose, Calif.) and unseeded Adrian Sharma (Porter Ranch, Calif.).

The third-seeded Allison Wang (San Jose, Calif.) is into the 14s final and will await the winner of Abigail Haile (Los Angeles) and No. 6 Daniela del Mastro (Maple Grove, Minn.).

In the Boys’ 16s, top-seeded Safir Azam (Redmond, Wash.) advanced with a second-round win while No. 2 seeded Alexander Suhanitski (New Rochelle, N.Y.) and Erik Schinnerer (Lewisburg, Pa.) will resume their match on Thursday.

Because of their earlier start time, all but one of the Girls’ 16s matches was completed with some seeded and unseeded players moving on including: No. 3 Carlota Moreno (Knoxville, Tenn.), No. 4 Aarini Bhattacharya (Oakton, Va.), No. 5 Natalie Kha (Chino Hills, Calif.), Ciara Harding (Boca Raton, Fla.), Addy Roggin (Moreland, Ga.), Piper Johnson (Atlanta), Alanna Ingalsbe (Tucson, Ariz.), Kalista Papadopoulos (Riverdale, Md.), and Carolina Castro (Stevensville, Md.).

In the Boys’ 18s, top-seeded Shaan Patel (St. Louis, Mo.) and No. 4 Nav Dayal (Long Beach, Calif.) both won second-round matches, while the No. 6 and No. 7 seeds were beaten by a couple of SoCal players, Benjamin Berger (Laguna Beach) and Tyler Lee (Tustin).

In the Girls’ 18s, top-seeded Thara Gowda (Rochester Hills, Mich.) moved on, as did last year’s 16s champion Bella Payne. No. 2 seeded JoAnna Kennedy also advanced, blanking her opponent, 6-0, 6-0.