Bob Larson's Junior Tennis News | Day 5 at the Easter Bowl

TWO FORMER
EASTER BOWL CHAMPIONS

DO BATTLE AT THE EASTER BOWL

Top-seeded Embree downs Tsay in the
girls’ 18s at Junior Spring Nationals

April 16, 2009, Palm Desert, Calif. —
Two former Easter Bowl champions squared
off against each Thursday at the 42nd
annual Easter Bowl Thursday with 2005
14s champion Lauren Embree outlasting
last year’s 16s winner Ellen Tsay in the
quarterfinals.

The top-seeded Embree of Marco Island,
Fla.,--a finalist in the 18s last
year--knew she just had to stay patient
against the controlled, slowed-down pace
of the unseeded Tsay of Pleasanton,
Calif. The match lasted 2 hours and 41
minutes and was enjoyed by a large crowd
and played on the stadium court on a
gorgeous day at the Rancho Las Palmas
Resort.

Embree dropped the first set 6-3 but
came back to win the next two, 6-2, 6-2.
She next faces good friend Alexandra
Cercone, the No. 9 seeded player from
Seminole, Fla. Cercone beat Beatrice
Capra, the No. 3 seeded player from
Ellicott City, Md., 6-1, 6-4.

“We’ve been playing each other since the
10s—a long time,” said Cercone, who lost
to Embree in last year’s Easter Bowl
second round. “It’s not that hard to
play against her now since we’ve been
doing it for so long.”

Embree had to adjust her game in her
battle against Tsay. “She got a lot of
balls back,” Embree said. “I was out
there longer than I wanted to be.”

The battle for New Jersey is on today in
the other semifinal of the 18s as
second-seeded Kristie Ahn of Upper
Saddle River, N.J., will meet No. 4
Christina McHale of Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.

Ahn, currently ranked No. 323 in the
world with three USTA pro circuit level
titles to her credit, beat unseeded
Shelby Rogers of Charleston, S.C., 6-1,
6-4, while McHale beat No. 8 Nicole
Gibbs of Los Angeles, 6-0, 3-6, 6-2.

The semifinals will be held Friday at 1
p.m. (PST).

Another former Easter Bowl champion
scored an upset in the boys’ 18s Round
of 16. Lawrence Formentera of Colton,
Calif., defeated No. 8 Matthew Kandath
of Gansevoort, N.Y., 6-4, 6-2 to move on
to today’s quarterfinal. “Maybe it’s
something about playing in Southern
California,” said Formentera, who two
years ago won a classic 7-6 third-set
tiebreaker in the 16s. “I was hurt all
of last year and have spent a lot of
time training in Florida. But I like
being back in Southern California.”

Three Southern Californians will play in
today’s quarterfinals in the boys’ 16s
as No. 2 Marcos Giron (Thousand Oaks),
No. 11 Billy Pecor (Ojai) and No. 7
Dennis Mkrtchian (Reseda) all won
matches. Giron’s was the closest as he
downed Boris Bogomolov of Miami, 2-6,
6-4, 7-6 (2), in the match of the day.

THURSDAY’S SCORES

Boys’ 18s Singles (Round of 16)

Lawrence Formentera, Colton, CA def.
Matthew Kandath (8), Gansevoort, NY 6-4,
6-2

Harry Fowler (3), Houston, TX def.
Daniel McCall, Santa Monica, CA 6-3, 6-3

Raymond Sarmiento, Fontana, CA def.
Sekou Coker Bangoura (15), Bradenton, FL
7-5, 6-3

Evan King (4), Chicago, IL def. Sean
Berman (14) Irvine, CA 6-4, 6-3

Frederick Saba, Ft. Lauderdale, FL def.
Clay Thompson, Venice, CA 6-2, 6-2

Johannes Vanoverbeek (10), Boca Raton,
FL def. James Seal (5), Chattanooga, TN
6-2, 6-3

Jordan Cox (6), Duluth, GA def. Junior
Ore (9), Gaithersburg, MD 6-4, 7-6(1)

Tennys Sandgren (2), Gallatin, TN def.
Daniel Kosakowski, Downey, CA 1-6, 6-4,
6-4

Girls' 18 Singles (Quarterfinal Round)

Christina McHale (4), Englewood Cliffs,
NJ def. Nicole Gibbs (8), Manhattan
Beach, CA 6-0, 3-6, 6-2

Kristie Ahn (2), Upper Saddle River, NJ
def. Shelby Rogers, Daniel Island, SC
6-1, 6-4

Alexandra Cercone (9), Seminole, FL def.
Beatrice Capra (3), Ellicott City, MD
6-1, 6-4

Lauren Embree (1), Marco Island, FL def.
Ellen Tsay, Pleasanton, CA 3-6, 6-2, 6-2

Boys' 16 Singles (Round of 16)

Chase Curry, Wichita Falls, TX def.
Keaton Cullimore, Sandy, UT 6-1, 6-3

Jeremy Efferding, Lake Worth, FL def.
Terrell Celestine, Atlanta, GA 6-3, 6-3

Spencer Newman (4), Miami, FL def. Dane
Webb (10), Richardson, TX 6-2, 6-3

Marcos Giron (2), Thousand Oaks, CA def.
Boris Bogomolov, Miami, FL 2-6, 6-4,
7-6(2)

Billy Pecor (11), Ojai, CA def. Ace
Matias, Torrance, CA 6-3, 6-2

Dennis Mkrtchian (7), Reseda, CA def.
Kristofer Yee, Las Vegas, NV 6-4, 6-3

Shane Vinsant (1), Keller, TX def.
Spencer Simon (14), Santa Barbara, CA
4-6, 6-1, 6-3

Evan Song (3), Henderson, NV def. Bjorn
Fratangelo (9), Pittsburgh, PA 6-4, 6-3

Girls' 16 Singles (Round of 16)

Shayne Austin, Oak Park, CA def. Megan
Kurey, Alpharetta, GA 6-0, 6-0

Giuliana Olmos (4), Fremont, CA def.
Tessa Lyons (16), Wallingford, PA 6-4,
6-2

Lorraine Guillermo (6), Walnut, CA def.
Megan Heneghan, Tustin, CA 6-3, 6-2

Belinda Niu (1), Portland, OR def.
Desirae Krawczyk (15), Rancho Mirage, CA
6-2, 6-1

Caroline Price (5), Duluth, GA def.
Jasmine Minor, Mundelein, IL 6-2, 6-1

Kristen Dodge (7), Barrington, IL def.
Ashley Dai (9), Temple City, CA 4-6,
6-4, 6-0

Caitlyn Williams (8), Knoxville, TN def.
Julie Vrabel, Centreville, VA 6-3, 6-2

Whitney Kay (2), Alpharetta, GA def.
Lynda Xepoleas (14), Gold River, CA 3-6,
6-4, 6-0

Girls' 14 Singles (Quarterfinal Round)

Julia Elbaba (1), Oyster Bay, NY def.
Jillian Rooney (8), Canton, MA 6-3, 6-0

Brooke Austin (2), Indianapolis, IN def.
Hannah King (10), Dunwoody, GA 6-1, 6-2

Alyssa Smith (4), Laguna Niguel, CA def.
Spencer Liang (6), Potomac, MD 2-6, 6-4,
6-3

Kimberly Yee, Las Vegas, NV def. Jamie
Loeb (3), Ossining, NY 6-3, 7-5

Boys' 14 Singles (Quarterfinal Round)

Trey Daniel (1), Leawood, KS def. Thomas
Pura (5) Los Angeles, CA 6-3, 7-6(3)

M. Mackenzie McDonald (3), Piedmont, CA
def. Mitchell Polnet, Churchville, PA
6-4, 6-1

Nikko Madregallejo (4), Duarte, CA def.
Ronnie Schneider (6), Bloomington, IN
4-6, 6-3, 6-2

Luca Corinteli, Alexandria, VA def.
Spencer Papa, Edmond, OK 7-5, 6-3