Boys 16s Top Seed Kaminski Saves Match Point in First Round Match Tiebreaker Victory; Girls 12s No. 1 Anthony Survives Lengthy Second Set Tiebreaker to Advance to Semifinals

Cramping in the 95-degree heat that forced the Easter Bowl to shorten matches was not the only problem boys 16s top seed Eli Kaminiski was facing Tuesday afternoon at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The physical stress was secondary to the mental battle he was having with himself, as he faced match point against 15-year-old Tristan Ascenzo in a match tiebreaker in first round action Tuesday.

“I won National Indoors (in November) and with those points I was No. 2 seed at Winter Nationals and I lost in the first round,” said the 16-year-old from Fairfax Station Virginia. “I was so nervous, because I can’t go from winning an L1 to losing two times in the first round.”

Ascenzo, the 2025 Junior Orange Bowl champion, was no stranger to Kaminski, who was a teammate of his at the Brewer Cup earlier this month in Mobile, with Kaminski playing 18s and Ascenzo 16s. He said his attempt to downplay the dangerous draw was insincere.

“When I saw the draw I was kind of playing it off, talking to them,” Kaminski said, gesturing to his mother and coach Momin Khan of Aplus Tennis. “It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s a good draw, but in my mind I was panicking.”

After taking the first set, the toll of little outdoor tennis began to cause problems for Kaminski, and although he is much bigger and stronger than Ascenzo, that advantage didn’t show in the second set.

“The thing about him, he might not be the biggest player, but he believes,” Kaminski said. “If you put him on the court with Jannik Sinner, he’s going to think he’s going to double bagel him. I have to give him credit, he played a terrific match. He has a really good balance of being aggressive with his forehand, but not overplaying it, going for stupid shots.”

Ascenzo led throughout the match tiebreaker, up 6-2 and 7-5, but Kaminski fought back to level it at 8.  Serving at 8-all Kaminski hit a big first serve and hit a plus-one backhand that went just wide, giving Ascenzo a match point on serve.

“Normally my backhand is one of the shots I prefer, especially under pressure, but I don’t know I haven’t been feeling it as well recently so I still tried to go for it,” Kaminski said. “I’m already cramping in my abs and my left calf, so I can’t get in a long rally or I’m going to die. I have to take my cuts, but if I miss, I miss, at least I won’t die on court.”

Ascenzo had a chance to put away a shanked ball by Kaminski in the service box, but he netted it, and Kaminski took advantage.

“To be honest, when I hit the forehand and I shanked it, I didn’t think it was going over the net,” Kaminski said. “I was like, second L1 in a row, top 2 seed but I’m out in the first round. But it went over and he missed it. And then I celebrated, I had so much adrenaline that I forgot that I’d had a lucky shank; I was just happy I won the point. But when I replayed it in my head, I got so lucky, so I told him I was sorry.”

Ascenzo made another unforced forehand error to lose serve again, and Kaminski hit an ace to survive.

“That’s one of my favorite serves,” Kaminski said. “Even if I don’t hit as hard, as long as I place it well, it opens up the court so much. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I knew he was going to fall for it. When I’m under pressure, I try to think, not of my weaknesses, but I think of my opponent’s weaknesses. We’re playing on a high bouncing court, my kick serve is probably my best shot, they see me tossing up a kick down match point, they’re like, I’ve got to race as hard as I can to get this, so it opens the court.”

Kaminski plays Zhiyu Yuan, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Brody Barbeau, in the second round Wednesday.

“I hope it’s not as dramatic,” Kaminski said. “I don’t think I could stand it.”

The top seed in the girls 16s breezed into the second round with 6-0, 6-1 win over Taisiya Sorokina, while both 18s No. 1 seeds also won in straight sets. Alexander Suhanitski, who reached the semifinals of the 16s here last year, beat Wesley Cotton 6-1, 6-4, while Ellery Mendell defeated Autumn Xu 6-2, 6-2.

“I feel like I made more mistakes, made more unforced errors in the longer rallies, so I had to change it up a little bit, hit a little harder, a little flatter,” said Anthony, who trains with her mother Elena and coaches at both the Lakeville Athletic Club and Weymouth Club. “I thought it worked pretty well (hitting with more pace). Sometimes, though if she would hit a couple of those I went for too much off of those. But if I could, I would definitely hit harder, keep it lower.”

Chloe Anthony[1] d. Alara Buyukuncu[6] 6-1, 7-6(9)

Valentina Singh-Carvajal[3] d. Lucy Jiang[5] 7-5, 0-6, 10-6

Ayenxavia Calugay[9] d. Lindy Zhou[4] 6-3, 7-5

Cordelia Skye[9] d. Reya Mahadoo[8] 4-6, 6-3, 10-8

Boys 12s quarterfinal results Tuesday:

Dmitriy Flyam[1] d. Keanu Agbulos[8] 6-0, 6-2

Thomas Gamble[3] d. William Zhou[7] 6-2, 6-2

Jesse Goldman[9] d. Benedict Zhong 6-2, 6-4 

Milan Nair[9] d. Jaden Joyner[9] 6-4, 6-4

Girls 14s quarterfinal results Tuesday:

Nadia Poznick[1] d. Gabrielle Alexa Villegas 6-4, 7-5

Nicole Alexandrovich[9] d. Eleanor Armistead[4] 7-5, 6-7(5), 10-4

Isabelle Nguyen d. Andrea Jakovljevic[9] 6-3, 6-0

Violetta Mamina[9] d. Rachel Immordino 7-6(3), 6-3

Boys 14s quarterfinal results Tuesday:

Ishaan Marla[1] d. Jason Zhao[9] 6-1, 6-2

Nathan Lee[3] d. Matthew Finn[8] 6-4, 6-2

Pranav Vignesh[9] d. Tanmay Konduri[6] 6-3, 6-4

Michael Chervenkov[2] d. Jacques Chen[5] 6-0, 6-3 

How the top 8 seeds in 16s and 18s fared Tuesday:

First round doubles action is still underway tonight for 16s and 18s. Draws can be found here.