The USTA Southern California section has always prided itself on its doubles prowess and just last month the all-time great Bryan Brothers handed out awards at the BNP Paribas Open recognizing the section’s top standings winners from the 2024 Bryan Bros. Doubles Race. 

In the same Coachella Valley setting, SoCal’s top players recently converged at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for the playing of the 57th annual FILA Easter Bowl, a USTA Super National where Gold, Silver, and Bronze Balls were handed out for the top three finishers in the Boys’ and Girls’ 12s-18s divisions. And once again this year, SoCal players dominated the hardware distribution. 

Tyler Lee of Tustin led the way in the Boys’ 18s doubles, capturing the title and subsequently a Gold Ball, alongside Irvine’s Brayden Tallakson. The SoCal duo beat San Diego’s William Kleege and Colorado’s William McEwan in a hotly contested, 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-4 victory. The win marked Lee’s sixth overall USTA ball in doubles and his fourth Gold. Earlier in the day, Lee got his first national ball in singles, finishing as the runner-up after falling to Miami’s Nikolas Stoot in straight sets, 4-6, 2-6. Unseeded in singles, 15-year-old Lee walked away with a Silver Ball.

Lee is one of the few players who played all three top events on the junior calendar the past three weeks, including the ITF J300 at Indian Wells, otherwise known as the FILA International Junior Championships and San Diego. “I lost fairly early in the first two, so I’ve had a fair amount of time to recover,” Lee said.

While Lee was unable to pull off the amazing double Gold Ball day, on Thursday during the 12s and 14s finals, Thousand Oaks’ James Borchard did just that as the 11-year-old No. 1 seeded singles player beat No. 3 Udham Singh of Sunnyvale, California, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

“I was a little nervous at the start of the match,” Borchard said. “I took my time and was patient and so happy I pulled through.” 

Just three weeks ago at the BNP Paribas Open after he had been accepted to play in the prestigious 12-and-under IMG Future Stars event to be held at the end of April in Athens, Borchard was shocked to open his iPad and see American No. 1 Taylor Fritz had sent him a congratulatory shout out on Instagram.

Borchard and his partner, Evan Fan of Ohio, later stormed their way to the doubles title. As the No. 3 seeds, they outplayed the No. 5 seeds from Texas–Mateo Vicens and Keita Iida–in a battle for a Gold Ball, claiming the 12s doubles championship in style, 6-1, 7-5. 

Like Borchard, Los Angeles’ Kareena Cross appeared in both the 12s singles and doubles finals assuring herself two USTA balls. Unseeded duo Cross and Gabrielle Alexa Villegas of New York delivered a stunning run to the Gold Ball in doubles, taking down the No. 1, 3, and 5 seeds along the way. They began their upset streak in the round of 16 by defeating the No. 5 seeds, followed by a statement win over the top-seeded team in the quarterfinals. In the final, they clinched the title with a hard-fought 6-4, 7-6(9) victory over Georgia’s Nicole Blanco and Florida’s Inie Toli. Earlier in the day, the No. 5 seeded Cross faced top-seeded Lucy Dupere from North Carolina, in a close singles final. Despite a fierce fight, Cross fell 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, securing a well-earned Silver Ball. 

The No. 5 seeds also won the Girls’ 14s doubles title with Moorpark’s Madeline Cleary and Anya Arora of Irvine beating the No. 2 seeds Olivia de Los Reyes from New York and Emery Combs from South Carolina in straight sets, 7-6(2), 6-4. Cleary trains with Borchard and his father Quinn Borchard at the Sunset Hills Country Club. 

In the Boys’ 14s doubles final, unseeded Indra Vergne from West Hills and North Carolina’s Siddhant Dua beat the No. 4 seeds Karan Shanker of Ohio and North Carolina’s Trishiv Premanand 6-3, 6-1 to win the Gold Ball. 

The Girls’ 18s doubles final showcased an exciting clash of SoCal talent, as singles champion Bella Payne teamed up with her future Georgia Bulldog teammate, Emily Deming of Fallbrook. They gave it their all, but ultimately fell short against the dynamic duo of Amy Lee from Beverly Hills and Kenzie Nguyen from Irvine, who claimed the win 6-3, 6-4 for a Gold Ball. Despite the tough loss, Bella and Emily walked away with a well-earned Silver Ball, a testament to their incredible skill and determination.

In the Girls’ 16s singles finals, Armira Kockinis of La Habra Heights, used her big serve to beat Carolina Castro from Maryland, 6-3, 6-0, and added another Gold Ball to her collection having won the Girls’ 14s Hardcourts last year. 

“Honestly, I still can’t believe [I won],” said Kockinis, who is coached by Jason Leavitt and Eric Diaz from Tier-1 Performance in Fountain Valley, the same place where American ATP men’s players Alex Michelsen and Learner Tien train. “I’m able to look up to them and I want to be like them one day,” she said. “What they’ve done is obviously pretty cool.”

In the Girls’ 16s doubles final, it was a thrilling showdown between the top seeds and the No. 2 seeds, Carlota Moreno from Tennessee and Addy Rogin from Georgia. Kingsley “Kiki” Wolf of Pacific Palisades and Autumn Xu of Texas, the No. 1 seeds, fought hard but came up just short, falling 6-3, 7-5 (5). Despite the tough loss, they walked away with a well-deserved Silver Ball!

Bronze Balls were earned in impressive fashion by some of the region’s top players. In the Boys’ 16s doubles, William Zhang from Irvine and Mason Vaughan from Texas took out Peyton Barrett of San Marino and Anthony Dry from North Carolina 6-0, 7-6(5), 6-2. In the Boys’ 18s doubles, Irvine’s Rishvanth Krishna and Nevada’s Andre Alcantara secured  third place with a hard-fought 7-5, 7-5 victory over Nathaniel Suh of Orange and James Quattro of Texas. Meanwhile, Nicole Weng from South Pasadena claimed a well-deserved Bronze Ball in the Girls’ 18s singles, overcoming Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann from Michigan 6-1, 6-4. 

In the Boys’ 14s singles, Adrian Sharma from Porter Ranch was vying for a Bronze Ball but was sadly forced to retire during the 3-4 Playoff match against No. 6 seed Zesen Wang from Pennsylvania, with the score at 0-3. Similarly, in the Girls’ 14s singles, Abigail Haile from Los Angeles was also in contention for a Bronze Ball but had to retire at 1-3 in the first set of her 3-4 Playoff match against Florida’s Molly Widlansky. Both players displayed incredible resilience and determination throughout the tournament.

Capping off a strong showing for SoCal players, Ladera Ranch’s Sydney Barnhart and Laguna Beach’s Ariana Morris teamed up in the Girls’ 16s doubles and delivered an impressive run, coming just shy of a Bronze Ball after a hard-fought battle against Georgia’s Whitney Burke and South Carolina’s Kaiden Greer, 1-6, 5-7.

SoCal players honored to win Sportsmanship Awards came in the 18s as Tyler Lee and Emily Deming took home the trophies for not only their outstanding shot-making on the court, but their exemplary attitude, as well.