41st Easter Bowl begins Sunday

Seena Hamilton and the Easter Bowl are back again this year for the 41st edition. The event is a USTA National Championship for boys’ and girls’ 14s and 16s and for the past three years has been an ITF B1 event in boys’ and girls’ 18s. Last year, Hamilton, who runs her own public relations and event marketing consulting firm in New York, received a USTA award for her contributions to the game of junior tennis.

The tournament, which begins Sunday and concludes April 13, is being hosted by the Rancho Las Palmas Resort in Rancho Mirage for the second year in a row. “Not many people know this tournament started on the clay courts in New York,” Hamilton said. “Once the U.S. Open moved to the hardcourts, all the kids wanted to play on hardcourts so we moved to Florida.” The Easter Bowl has been also been played in New Jersey, Arizona and California.

It was a former New Yorker who won big last year as Gail Brodsky, formerly of Brooklyn and playing out of the Weil Academy in Ojai, won the girls’ 18s over another New Yorker, Nadja Gilchrist of Rochester.

Unseeded Lawrence Formentera of Colton had the tournament of a lifetime, winning the boys’ 16s with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 win over No. 1 seed James “Bo” Seal in the most riveting match of the tournament. Formentera beat the No. 1, 2 and 3 seeds on his way to his first gold ball and national title. Before beating Seal, Formentera beat No. 3 Walker Kehrer, of Pacific Palisades, 6-1, 7-6, in the round of 16. That victory was followed by a 7-5, 6-3 win over No. 7 seed Andre Dome in the quarterfinals. Formentera’s string of upsets continued ins the semis with a victory over No. 2 seed Evan King. “Even if I didn’t have a good point, I just kept doing what I was doing,” Formentera said after the final. “I just kept going for it, kept going for my shots.”

Doubles winners included: Boys 14's: Nick Chappell/Shane Vinsant; Girls 14's: Lauren Herring/Grace Min; Boys 16's: Kehrer/Kyle McMorrow; Girls 16's: Alexandra Cercone/Jacqueline Kasler.

Ryhne Williams, the No. 5 seed from Knoxville, Tenn., took the boys’ ITF 18s title with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Johnny Hamui of Wesley Chapel, Fla.

The Easter Bowl’s history is deep and loaded with familiar names. Jimmy Connors lost to Harold Solomon in the boys’ 16 final at the inaugural event held in 1968. Other past winners include John McEnroe (boys’ 18s in 1976) and Tracy Austin (girls’ 14s in 1976). In 1988, Jennifer Capriati won the girls 16s, and Andy Roddick took the boys’ 16s 10 years later.