Three Californians Win Singles Titles at 44th Annual Easter Bowl

Three Californians won singles titles on the final day of the 44th annual Easter Bowl USTA Junior Spring National Championships on Sunday. UCLA-bound Marcos Giron, who comes from the same Southern California city as one of America’s top pros, Sam Querrey, won his 18th consecutive match to capture the ITF boys’ 18s title in a 6-1, 7-5 straight-set win over Alabama’s Mac Styslinger at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort. Coincidentally, Thousand Oaks’ Giron became the first boy since Querrey to win both the Carson International Spring Championships and Easter Bowl titles, a feat accomplished by Querrey in 2005.

“That would be unbelievable to have the same career as Sam,” Giron said. “To be number 20 in the world wouldn’t be so bad. Let’s see how this summer goes and then at UCLA. But I’m ready to start playing some Challengers right now. I couldn’t be more confident. I’m just so happy to go back-to-back: Carson and Easter Bowl. They’re such great tournaments with so many good players.”

It’s been an amazing run for the 17-year-old Giron, who was a 16s runner-up here two years ago. For the third consecutive weekend Giron was handed a trophy surviving three tough 64-player draw events. Giron said he will now focus his attention on finishing some school work before he begins preparations for the European junior circuit where he will try and play the French Open and Wimbledon events.

Styslinger, who trains at the IMG/Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Fla., made it close in the second set despite not serving well. It was something he said he didn’t do well all tournament.

“My serve was just giving me problems all day,” Styslinger said. “I’m just going to go home and work on my first serve. I’ve been here for two weeks and I’ve won a lot of matches and lost just two singles matches so that’s pretty good. I can’t complain about anything.”

Styslinger said he might play a USTA Challenger event in Sarasota, Fla., next week. Giron is headed to the 111th Ojai Valley Tournament where he’ll square off against some of SoCal’s top men’s open players.
Giron admitted fitness was a key ingredient to his success on Sunday.

“It really pays off in the end,” he said. “When your coach is yelling at you to go harder, go harder; this is when it pays off."

Gage Brymer of Irvine, Calif., won the Boys 16s final and his second career gold ball having won the 14s WinterNationals two years ago. He beat the number two-seeded Ronnie Schneider, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

“It’s great to win the Easter Bowl because of all the greats who have come through here,” said Brymer, who is coached by his father Chuck at the Woodbridge Tennis Club.

Like Giron, Brymer is also headed to The Ojai where he’ll play for University High in the boys’ CIF division. But first it’s a week off for Spring Break where he says he’ll spend most his time at the beach in Newport skim boarding with friends.

Indianapolis’ Schneider had a great tournament, which included several come-from-behind wins. “Gage played great today,” he said. “I had to do everything I could to win and I came out really flat in both the first and third sets.”
After winning the first game of the match, Brymer reeled off six straight games to win the set. After taking the second set, Schneider lost the first eight points of the third set and could never recover.

“He was a rock out there,” said Schneider. “What do I take from this tournament? I know I can beat any of these guys. I know I can beat Gage. I fought hard out there. It just wasn’t happening out there today.”

In the Girls 16s final, San Francisco’s Caroline Doyle fought off a tough Kimberly Yee of Las Vegas to win her first gold ball, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. It was Yee’s second straight Easter Bowl final as she played in last year’s 14s championship. Later in the day, Doyle also won the doubles with partner Katrine Steffensen.

“It’s starting to sink in,” said Doyle. “It feels good.”

The unseeded Doyle, playing in just her second USTA National event, credited her move to Boca Raton and the work of her coach Kathy Rinaldi at the USTA Training Center Headquarters. Rinaldi was on hand to witness both titles Sunday.

“I definitely had it in my mind before the tournament that I could win but you never really expect it to happen,” she said. After coming up short three times, the fourth time turned out to be the charm for Kyle McPhillips.

McPhillips, the number 13 seed, won the ITF Girls 18s Division championship on Saturday with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the number nine seed Gabrielle Andrews at the 44th Annual Easter Bowl USTA Junior Spring National Championships taking place at Rancho Las Palmas Resort.

Andrews, a Pomona, Calif. native, had beaten McPhillips in their three previous matches, but the Ohio native was able to get the monkey off her back to win her second consecutive Easter Bowl.

“Usually the third time is the charm but for me it turned out to be the fourth time,” McPhillips said smiling. “I’m so relieved right now.”

McPhillips, who won the Girls 16s titles last year in both singles and doubles, was up 5-4 in the second set and faced seven match points on her serve before pulling out the victory in 100-plus degree weather.

“I got a little lucky in that last game it was pretty intense and nerve-racking, McPhillips said. “She did a good job of hitting winners down the line but I did a good job of staying calm. Overall, I thought I served well and kept the ball in play and my focus was there the entire match unlike in the past.”

Andrews, who won the Girls 14s Easter Bowl title last year, was disappointed in the result but spoke highly of McPhillips’ play. Andrews was trying to be the first player since Zenda Leiss to win a girls’ 14s title one year and a girls’ 18s title the next. Leiss did it way back in 1973 and ’74.

“From the warm up I could tell she was confident and she didn’t make a lot of unforced errors and was very consistent,” Andrews said. “She was just too good today.”

The tournament was a success for Andrews, who moved up to the 18s at just 14 years of age after finishing 2010 as the number one 18s player in the USTA rankings.

“I thought I played really well all week and I think it proved I can hang with the 18s,” Andrews said. “It was a great accomplishment to the reach the finals at such a prestigious tournament. I’m looking forward to coming back next year.”

McPhillips was pleased to win back-to-back titles at the Easter Bowl. It was only the fourth time in Easter Bowl history that a Girls 16s champion came back the next year to win a Girls 18s title the next as Caroline Stoll (’76-77), Andrea Berger (’86-87), and Stephy Halsell (’93-’94) were the only other players to accomplish what McPhillips did on Saturday.

With the victory, McPhillips earned a spot as a wild card in the main draw of the U.S. Open junior tournament.

Boys 18s Singles Finals
Marcos Giron def. Mac Styslinger (7), 6-1, 7-5

Boys 16s Singles Finals
Gage Brymer (8) def. Ronnie Schneider (2), 6-1, 3-6, 6-2

Boys 16 Singles Third Place
JC Aragone (17) def. Gregory Garcia (4) 6-4, 6-4

Boys 16s Singles Consolation
Nikko Madregallejo (5) def. (3) Luca Corinteli, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0(10)

Boys 14s Singles Finals
Ernesto Escobedo (7) def. Henrik Wiersholm (1), 6-4, 6-1

Girls 18s Singles Finals
Kyle McPhillips (13) def. Gabrielle Andrews (9), 6-4, 6-4

Girls 16s Singles Finals
Caroline Doyle (17) def. Kimberly Yee (4), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3

Girls 16s Singles Third Place
Jamie Loeb (1) def. Spencer Liang (2), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4

Girls 16s Singles Consolation
Olivia Sneed (17) def. Katrine Steffensen (3), 2-6, 6-3, 1-0(7)

Girls 14 Singles Finals
Maria Shishkina (5) def. Katerina Stewart (8), 6-1, 6-4

Boys 18s Doubles Finals
Mitchell Krueger & Shane Vinsant (2) def. Emmett Egger & Mac Styslinger (4), 6-2, 7-5

Girls 16s Doubles Finals
Caroline Doyle & Katrine Steffensen (3) def. Olivia Sneed & Madison Westby (9), 6-3, 6-2

Girls 16 Doubles Third Place
Mariana Gould & Gabrielle Smith (9) def. Spencer Liang & Jamie Loeb (1), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4