INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (April 10, 2014)
– What a difference a year has made for 15-year-old Sofia Kenin, the ITF Girls’
18s No. 1 seeded-player in this week’s ASICS Easter Bowl.
As an unseeded player in the Girls’
16s at this event last year in the first round, Kenin of Pembroke Pines, Fla., lost
to Ena Shibahara of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., in straight sets. On Thursday
in one of the best matches of the iconic 47th annual tournament
being played at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Kenin rallied for a 2-6, 7-6
(5), 7-6 (6) win on a day that saw the temperatures reach into the high 90s.
“I knew it was just a year ago that I
lost to her, and a lot has changed,” said Kenin, who is ranked No. 37 in the
world ITF rankings. “I just tried to stay with it and she missed a volley at
6-6 (in the third-set tiebreaker) and so I said let’s get this point at 7-6 and
close it out quickly.”
Kenin won a three-setter on Wednesday
and was watched closely by current UCLA women’s coach Stella Sampras-Webster.
Revenge was also fresh on the mind of
Robert Loeb of Hilton Head Island, S.C., who just two weeks ago lost in
straight sets to Boys’ 16s ASICS Easter Bowl top-seeded player Evan Zhu of
Greenbelt, Md., in Mobile Ala.
But on Thursday, Loeb, like Kenin, was
able to reverse things as he pulled out a 6-4, 6-4 win over Zhu. Later in the
day, Loeb beat Conrad Russell, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the second round.
“I wish there were a couple of days
more in this tournament and you only had to play one match a day,” said Loeb
after beating Zhu.
In another upset on the day, Los
Angeles’ unseeded Michael Genender beat Sameer Kumar of Carmel, Ind., 3-6, 6-3,
6-4, in a Round of 16 Boys’ 18s match. Kumar turned an ankle during the third
set, which allowed Geneder to take control and win the match. But it wasn’t
easy. “I thought he was cramping but he turned his ankle and had to call for
the trainer,” he said. “I abandoned my game. It’s tough because you don’t want
to miss and you focus on what he’s doing and not on your game.”
Genender advances to the quarterfinals
where he’ll face No. 13-seeded Robert Levine on Friday.
“I lost in the first round in
Claremont and Carson the past two weeks,” Genender said. “I knew I was close but
that I just had to get a few matches under my belt.”
The big matchup everyone has been
look forward to on Friday in the Boys’ ITF 18s involves top-seeded Francis
Tiafoe of College Park, Md., and No. 7 Taylor Fritz of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
The two square off not before 10:30 a.m. on Stadium Court.
In their last meeting in the finals
of the Tulsa ITF event back in October, Tiafoe and Fritz were knotted at 3-all
in the first set before Tiafoe reeled off nine straight games to win, 6-3, 6-0.
“I woke up in the morning and I was
like, ‘Wow, this isn’t happening today,’ ” Fritz said of that final. “I felt so
bad that morning. I played four really good matches before that and I was
playing some of my best tennis ever. But I was going to bed a little bit later
each night. I wasn’t responsible enough off the court at all and that hurt me.”
He doesn’t mind meeting Tiafoe in a
quarterfinal match. “I don’t pay much attention to it,” he said. “It is what it
is. If I want to win the tournament I have to beat the best player in the
tournament. It doesn’t make any difference if it’s going to be the quarters,
the semis or the final.”
Jean Thirouin of Houston was named
the winner of Wednesday’s Jackie Cooper-Tory Fretz Sportsmanship Award selected
by the tournament staff and presented with a medal and free pair of ASICS
shoes. Winners for the week include Nicole Kalhorn and Reilly Olpeka.
Sponsors include: ASICS, Laurel
Springs School, Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the Dent Tennis Academy, Tennis
Warehouse, TennisPlayer.net Digital Magazine, the tennis website 10sBalls.com,
USTA, The Old Spaghetti Factory, SCTA and Mind Matters.
To keep up with all the ASICS Easter
Bowl news, visit the website at www.easterbowl.com
and check out the tournament on Facebook (www.facebook.com/EasterBowl) and
Twitter (@easterbowl). For more information on ASICS, check out: www.ASICSAmerica.com and follow on
Twitter @ASICSAmerica.
Thursday’s
Scores
Boys'
18 Singles (Round of 16)
Blumberg, William (Greenwich,
CT) def.
Opelka, Reilly (Palm Coast, FL)
6-3, 6-1
Fritz, Taylor (7) (Rancho Santa Fe,
CA) def.
Kodali, Anudeep (11) (Durham, NC)
6-0, 6-1
Ponwith, Nathan (Scottsdale, AZ) def.
Nava, Eduardo (Woodland Hills, CA)
7-6(1), 6-4
Hiltzik, Aron (Wilmette, IL) def.
Boyd, Kalman (8) (Rancho Santa Fe, CA)
7-5, 6-4
Smith, Logan (3) (Carlsbad, CA) def.
Chamdani, Adrian (Santa Clara, CA)
6-2, 6-3
Genender, Michael (Los Angeles,
CA) def.
Kumar, Sameer (5) (Carmel, IN)
3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Tiafoe, Francis (1) (College Park,
MD) def.
Thirouin, Jean (Houston, TX) 6-1,
7-6(2)
Levine, Robert (13) (Bedford,
NY) def.
Arconada, Jordi (4) (Rio Piedras, PR)
6-3, 6-4
Girls' 18 Singles
(Round of 16)
Daniell, Andie (Douglasville,
GA) def.
Arconada, Usue (2) (Rio Piedras, PR)
6-4, 7-6(5)
Ho, Jessica (12) (Tampa, FL) def.
Smith, Gabrielle (Henderson, NV)
4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Swan, Katie (11) (Wichita, KS) def.
Pedraza, Raquel (6) (Claremont, CA)
6-3, 7-6(6)
Kenin, Sofia (1) (Pembroke Pines,
FL) def.
Shibahara, Ena (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA)
2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(6)
Gordon, Michaela (7) (Saratoga,
CA) def.
Aney, Jessie (Rochester, MN) 6-2,
6-2
Bellis, CiCi (4) (Atherton, CA) def.
Nelson, Alexis (Saint Paul, MN)
6-0, 6-3
Dilorenzo, Francesca (New Albany,
OH) def.
Dolehide, Caroline (Hinsdale, IL)
6-0, 6-0
McCarthy, Kaitlyn (8) (Cary, NC) def.
Day, Kayla (Santa Barbara, CA)
6-0, 6-1
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