Tiafoe to play in Easter Bowl final, Sun sets on Fenty’s title run

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Jordi Arconada (third from left) finished second in 18s doubles

Francis Tiafoe will compete for the ASISC Easter Bowl ITF Tennis Championships this afternoon, his second straight ITF final.

On a day where temperatures cooled into the 80s at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, No. 1 ranked Tiafoe cruised through his semifinal, defeating No. 13 Robert Levine 6-2, 6-2 with little trouble. In the final, he will face unseeded Nathan Ponwith, who beat JTCC’s Aron Hiltzik 7-6(5), 6-4 in the semifinals. After a competitive first set, Hiltzik sustained a shoulder injury that made the task of coming back near impossible.

Tiafoe and Ponwith go back a few years, having been part of a USTA delegation that traveled to Europe as 13-year-olds, playing in the prestigious Les Petits As World Championships. The two faced off in the semifinal, with Tiafoe emerging a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 winner en route to winning the championship. Ponwith was the only player to win a set off of him that tournament.

In 18s doubles, No. 1 Jordi Arconada fell short in his bid for another ITF doubles title, settling for second place after a 2-6, 6-1, 7-10 loss in a third set tiebreaker to No. 2 Tommy Paul and Henrik Wiersholm. Paul and Wiersholm also won at last week’s International Spring Championships in Carson.

JTCC will have another finalist today with unseeded doubles team Caleb Chakravarthi and Evan Zhu winning their semifinal 8-6 to advance to the boys 16s doubles final against Mark Vasat and Brenden Volk. This is the second straight tournament the two have played together and this already marks their best finish as a duo.

A surprise semifinalist on Day 5 of the Easter Bowl, 14-year-old Andrew Fenty, could not overcome the No. 1 ranked player in Boys 14s singles, coming out of the gate strong before fading away, losing 6-1, 6-7(3), 3-6 to Steven Sun.

In other quarterfinal action involving JTCC players: No. 1 RJ Fresen and No. 3 William Woodall both lost their boys 14s doubles quarterfinals, No. 6 Nadia Gizdova was defeated in girls 16s doubles, and No. 3 Hailey Baptiste came up short in girls 12s doubles.

Results of JTCC players from yesterday are below. To find more information about the 18s tournament, including draws and the daily order of play, visit the tournament website. For the 12s, 14s, and 16s results, visit here.