News & Features

by Colette Lewis, 4 April 2025

Special from Zoo Tennis

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - It was a week to remember for Bella Payne, Nikolas Stoot, Armira Kockinis and Marcel Latak, who aren't likely to forget the heat, wind and poor air quality that accompanied their titles at last week's 57th annual Easter Bowl.

For the unseeded Payne, her 7-5, 6-3 win over No. 9 seed Nadia Valdez in the girls 18s final continued her astounding success at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, where she swept the titles last year in the 16s division. For Stoot, also unseeded, the gold ball he earned with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over unseeded Tyler Lee in the boys 18s final marked his first top three finish at any USTA Level 1 event.

Payne had rolled into the championship match, losing only 14 games in her five victories, including a 6-2, 6-1 win over No. 2 seed JoAnna Kennedy in the quarterfinals. After avenging her loss three weeks earlier to Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann in the semifinals, Payne faced another player who had beaten her in the past month, with Valdez collecting a three-set victory at the UTR Pro Tennis Tour tournament in Atlanta.

Valdez had advanced to her first USTA Level 1 final with two impressive wins, losing only seven games to fellow No. 9 seeds Calla McGill and Nicole Weng in the quarterfinals and semifinals, after taking out top seed Thara Gowda in a 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-4 marathon in the second round.

Valdez started well given the gap in their experience on big stages, breaking Payne twice to take a 4-1 lead. But Payne won the next four games and broke Valdez serving at 5-6 to keep intact her streak of sets won in Easter Bowl singles matches, which now stands at 24.

"I think she came out playing really good tennis and there was not much I could do," said Payne, who was playing her fifth tournament in as many weeks. "I was just staying in the match, trying not to give her any free balls because she definitely wasn't giving me any. Whenever I would win a point, I would have to hit a winner, and it was tough, but I just kept going until I finally got some errors from her."

At 3-all in the second set, Payne lost track of the score and thought she had been broken, and that mistake proved the boost she needed, taking the final three games.

"I thought it was 15-40 and it was 30-all," said Payne, a 17-year-old left-hander from Bradenton, Florida, who is coached by her mother Aurandrea. "I lost that point and I was walking and [the chair umpire] called 30-40, and I said ‘oh, ok.’ Winning that next point and getting that game was really what gave me the momentum to win the match."

Valdez's level dropped after taking the early lead, and going up against a confident player who had known nothing but success at the Easter Bowl the past two years, the 15-year-old from San Antonio struggled in the final three games.

"I played horrible," said Valdez, who is coached by her father Adrian at the San Antonio Tennis Academy. "I was going for the right shots but I just wasn't executing it. It just wasn't going in. I didn't think I would get this far, so I'm proud of myself either way. It's ok, I've just got to move on."

Payne considered not competing at the Easter Bowl after her subpar results continued despite the mental break she took after the Winter Nationals. But the 2026 University of Georgia recruit acknowledged that Indian Wells is magical for her.

"I love the energy here," said Payne, who joins current WTA star Emma Navarro as a champion in both 16s and 18s. "I honestly just love Palm Springs, it's really great to play here. I don't know what it is about this place, but I guess it works for me."

Stoot was also considering skipping the Easter Bowl, after returning to his home in Miami from the Indian Wells ITF J300, where he won two rounds as a wild card. With a shoulder injury casting doubt on his effectiveness, he took a chance on returning to the Coachella Valley two weeks later.

"Dad was like you're not playing, and I'm like, let's try it," said the 17-year-old left-hander, who is coached by Robert Gomez at Tier One Tennis Academy in Coral Gables, Florida. "I don't know, it's crazy. I definitely felt my level rising throughout every [match]."

The only set Stoot lost was the first set in the second round to No. 8 seed Francisco Salmain, a match that was played over two days, with play suspended for dangerous air quality due to blowing dust.

"That feels like a California thing," said Stoot, who came back to win that match 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 and later in the week survived a tough semifinal encounter with No. 9 seed Winston Lee 6-4, 7-6(2).

Lee's path to his first USTA Level 1 final was much rockier, with four straight three-set wins, including a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3) thriller over top seed Shaan Patel in the quarterfinals and a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 victory over unseeded Cooper Han in the semifinals.

Stoot got off to a quick start in the final but Lee came back from 0-2 down, only to play a poor game serving at 4-5, which gave Stoot the set. The second set was competitive, but Stoot was holding serve easily, while Lee was regularly playing deuce games on his serve.

"I felt like I could go for more on my return game," said Stoot, who has verbally committed to LSU for 2026. "It's a good feeling, I feel more relaxed, more loose."

Lee acknowledged that Stoot's serve was a problem for him, as was Stoot's defense, which wore him down after a week of long singles and doubles matches.

"Every time I would step in, he made me feel like I had to go for more than I actually had to," said the 15-year-old from Tustin, California, who trains with J.C. Beeson at Veylix Tennis. "And maybe I shouldn't split sets with everyone on the way to the finals."

Like Stoot, 16s champion Latak was playing in his first USTA Level 1 final, but unlike Stoot, the No. 9 seed had to win his gold ball the hard way, coming from a set down to defeat No. 8 seed Tristan Stratton 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.

Latak had already reached new heights with his 6-2, 6-4 quarterfinal win over No. 9 seed Rowan Qalbani to advance to a USTA Level 1 semifinal for the first time. He breezed past No. 9 seed Keshav Muthuvel, who had taken out top seed Safir Azam 6-3, 6-4 a round earlier, 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals, while Stratton survived a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 semifinal battle with No. 2 seed and fellow New Yorker Alexander Suhanitski.

In the final, Latak took a 3-1 lead in the opening set, before losing four straight games, but Stratton was unable to serve out the set at 5-3. Yet Stratton managed a break with Latak serving at 5-6, with a five-deuce game eventually ending the set in Stratton's favor.

Latak took control quickly in the second set, and the 10-minute break between the second and third sets couldn't stall his momentum, although Latak had to save a break point serving at 1-1 in the third.

"I told myself on that break point that I just needed to have a big serve there," said the 16-year-old from Chicago, who had been training at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, but is now being coached by his sister Thea, and his father Rafael in Chicago. "And once I had that big serve, I won a couple of points in a row, and then the momentum was all on my side, and he was struggling to throw me off, because I was right there in that zone."

"He raised his level a lot in the second and third," said Stratton, a 15-year-old who trains with Paul Koenko at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York. "I had a break point in the third, but he stepped it up again. He played really well. His serve got a lot better in the second and third set, he was placing it well. All the shots he was missing in the first, he made in the second and third."

Latak spoke with his father during the 10-minute break between the second and third sets, and he took the advice to heart.

"He told me not to rush myself, because I'll have my chances during the point; if I keep building, I'll get that shorter ball and then I can go for it," said Latak, a semifinalist at the Les Petits As U14 tournament in France in 2023. "If I lost two points, regroup, put a couple of balls in the court, and then go for another one."

Latak also had advice from his sister, who won the Easter Bowl 12s title in 2019.

"It's not like it was bound to happen, but it feels like a full-circle moment," said Latak, who will play two of the ITF Junior Circuit tournaments in Florida in May. "I watched her win her match (7-6(3), 6-3 over Daniela Borruel) and mine was a really tight one today too. She was there basically the whole time too."

Girls 16s champion Kockinis, like Latak a No. 9 seed, did not drop a set all week, taking out No. 2 seed Kohana Darroch 7-5, 6-4 in the third round, No. 5 seed Natalie Kha 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals and No. 3 seed Carlota Moreno 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals. Her opponent in the final, No. 7 seed Carolina Castro had earned her first appearance in a USTA Level 1 final with a 6-4, 6-3 win over wild card Ciara Harding, who had beaten top seed Anna Bugaienko 7-6(3), 6-2 in the first round.

Kockinis had the advantage in experience, but the 2024 National 14s champion pointed to her serve as the key to collecting her second gold ball with a 6-3, 6-0 decision over Castro.

"I've been working on my serve a lot and that's what got me through this whole tournament," said the 15-year-old from La Habra Heights, California, who had two aces in the second game of the match to consolidate the break she got to open the match.

But her service game at 4-3 in the first set turned the tide permanently in her favor.

Kockinis needed seven deuces to get out of it, saving two break points, then breaking Castro quickly in the next game to take the set.

"I knew the importance of that game, I was up 30-0, so I knew I had to get that game, I didn't want it to be 4-all," said Kockinis, who is coached by Jay Leavitt and Eric Diaz at Tier 1 Performance in Fountain Valley, California, where ATP stars Alex Michelsen and Learner Tien train. "I knew I needed to hold serve and thank god that's what I did."

Castro agreed that game was key, as she was starting to feel the effects of the lengthy three-set matches she had played in the second and third rounds, and the 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-5 battle with No. 4 seed Aarini Bhattacharya in the quarterfinals.

"I had a lot of opportunities that I just didn't take or couldn't take, because she played really, really well," said the 16-year-old from Stevensville, Maryland, who is coached by Paula Coyos at the Junior Tennis Champions Center. "But she had the momentum the entire time and I just couldn't pick up rhythm, and I wasn't my best. But I think I played a really good tournament considering all the hours I was on court."

Kockinis said she's been working to improve her consistency since she won the 14s title last summer.

"I tend to try to pull the trigger a little too early," said Kockinis, who can hit winners by the dozen when at her top level. "I think I've worked on consistency with aggression at the same time, patterns, my serve, just working really hard, and I was able to pull it out."

DOUBLES

In the doubles finals, one Easter Bowl streak ended but another continued, with Payne suffering her first loss in two years at Indian Wells in the girls doubles final. Payne, who won the 16s doubles title with Ava Rodriguez, lost in the final with Emily Deming in the 18s, with unseeded Kenzie Nguyen and Amy Lee earning the 6-3, 6-4 victory in the late afternoon final.

Nguyen and Lee, playing together for the second time after reaching the semifinals at an ITF J200 in the Dominican Republic, broke Payne at 4-all in the second set, but went down 30-40 in the final game. Nguyen, who was serving, was visibly frustrated, but Lee reassured her, and they won the next two points to take the title.

"Amy is very caring and very sweet," said Nguyen, a 17-year-old from Irvine, California. "I'm a little more explosive on court, you could say. So when she comes to calm me down, she always tells me, ‘it's ok, next one, next one,’ reminds me that we're still in it."

Lee wasn't expecting an Easter Bowl title, but was happy to earn her second gold ball.

"We played a lot better than we thought," said the 17-year-old from Beverly Hills, California.

The streak extended was that of Tyler Lee and Brayden Tallakson, who won the 16s doubles title in 2024 and took home the 18s title Sunday evening, in a final, like the girls, that was between unseeded teams.

William Kleege, who did not make the singles draw, and William McEwan, who was the eighth alternate but did get into singles, caught fire in doubles, but fell just a few points short of a Cinderella title, with Lee and Tallakson taking a 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-4 decision.

"I'd been playing with a different partner for the past two months," said Lee, who now has four gold balls in doubles and earlier in March reached the semifinals of the ITF J300 in San Diego with Justin Riley Anson. "He found another partner, so we thought, ‘why not run it back?’"

"I was a backup for him," said Tallakson, a 17-year-old from Irvine, California. Lee disagreed. "I would not have won this without him."

After seeing a 4-2 lead in the third set disappear after dropping two straight deciding points, Lee and Tallakson went up 5-4, then earned 15-40 on Kleege's serve. Those two opportunities went by the wayside, but a good Lee return and a putaway by Tallakson now has their Easter Bowl winning streak at 10 matches.

In the 16s doubles, unseeded Akshay Mirmira and Boning Wang defeated No. 5 seeds Erik Schinnerer and Nicolas Pedraza 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 for the boys title. No. 2 seeds Carlota Moreno and Addy Rogin won their gold balls with a 6-3, 7-6(5) win over top seeds Kingsley Wolf and Autumn Xu.

THIRD PLACE AND CONSOLATION RESULTS:

B16s third place:

Keshav Muthuvel[9] d. Alexander Suhanitski[2] 7-5, 6-0

B16s consolation final:

Erik Schinnerer d. Sebastian Inaki Godoy 6-3, 6-3

B16s doubles third place:

Mason Vaughan and William Zhang d. Peyton Barrett and Anthony Dry 6-0, 6-7(5), 6-2

18s third place:

Winston Lee[9] d. Cooper Han 6-2, 1-0, retired injury

B18s consolation final:

Ethan Chung d. Yashwin Krishnakumar 6-4, 3-6, 10-4

B18s doubles third place:

Andre Alcantara and Rishvanth Krishna[5] d. James Quattro and Nathaniel Suh 7-5, 7-5

G16s consolation final:

Addy Rogin d. Alanna Ingalsbe 6-7(5), 7-5, 10-7

G16s third place:

Carlota Moreno[3] d. Ciara Harding 7-5, 6-4

G16s doubles third place:

Whitney Burke and Kaiden Greer d. Sydney Barnhart and Ariana Morris 6-1, 7-5

G18s third place:

Nicole Weng[9] d. Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann 6-1, 6-4

G18s consolation final:

Calla McGill[9] d. Hi'llani Williams walkover, personal circumstances

G18s doubles third place:

Carrie-Anne Hoo and Isabelle DeLuccia[5] d. Chloe Qin and Bella Jacutin-Mariona 6-4, 6-4

Sportsmanship Award winners:

Boys 18s: Tyler Lee, Tustin, California

Boys 16s: Keshav Muthuvel, Pleasanton, California

Girls 18s: Emily Deming, Fallbrook, California

Girls 16s: Aarini Bhattacharya, Oaktown, Virginia

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About Colette Lewis

Colette Lewis has covered topflight U.S. and international junior events as a freelance journalist for over a decade. Her work has appeared in Tennis magazine, the Tennis Championships magazine and the US Open program. Lewis is active on Twitter, and she writes a weekly column right here at TennisRecruiting.net. She was named Junior Tennis Champion for 2016 by Tennis Industry Magazine.

Lewis, based out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, has seen every National Championship final played since 1977, and her work on the tournament's ustaboys.com website led her to establish ZooTennis, where she comments on junior and college tennis daily.