INDIAN WELLS, March 21, 2026 (by Steve Pratt)
Finishing a grueling three-week stretch of International Tennis Federation events in Las Vegas, Tucson and San Diego, 16-year-old Armira Kockinis arrives in the Coachella Valley this weekend with her sights set on a repeat winning performance at the 58th Annual Easter Bowl Presented by adidas.
Last year in the Girls’ 16s singles final at the USTA Level 1 Junior Spring National Championships being played once again at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Kockinis of La Habra Heights, Calif., used her big serve in a dominating performance to capture her second career singles USTA Gold ball having previously won the 14s Hardcourts.
“I think last year I learned that to win a tournament like that you have to take it one match at a time and have a lot of patience and self-belief,” said the 16-year-old high school sophomore Kockinis. “I think my game has improved this year by adding more variety along with consistency.”
Kockinis reached the semifinals of the J200 in Las Vegas and the quarterfinals as a qualifier at last week’s J300 in Tucson before falling in the second round at this week’s ITF J300 North American Championships in San Diego.
“It’s been a lot, for sure,” Kockinis said. “I’m going to try and see if my body can hold up.”
She told ZooTennis.com’s Colette Lewisin San Diego that her legs were holding up OK and that she’s been trying to play smarter and use more variety in her shots.
In the Girls’ 18s, Kockinis will have her hands full with top-seeded players like Calla McGill from Alexandria, Va., who is headed to play at the University of Virginia next year, and Ellery Mendell from Watkinsville, Ga., who will play for Ohio State.
Last year’s Easter Bowl Boys’ 16s singles champion Marcel Latak from Darien, Ill., will also make the return trip to the desert after playing Tucson and is still alive in the San Diego ITF and will play in the semifinals of the singles on Saturday. The 17-year-old won the USTA Hardcourt 16s Nationals at Kalamazoo last year and received a wild card into the US Open Juniors.
Others to watch in the Boys’ 18s include Omar Rhazali from Stamford, Conn., Northern California’s Yashwin Krishnakumar and San Diego’s David Wu, a Torrey Pines High senior headed to Harvard next year, and San Diego’s Ilias Bouzoubaa, who sailed through USTA Winternationals unseeded in doubles and came home with a silver ball.
The boys’ and girls’ 12s and 14s begin on Saturday with the finals set for Thursday. The 16s and 18s will start on Tuesday with the finals on Sunday.
EXPECTED TOP-SEEDED PLAYERS:
Boys 16s: Eli Kaminski (Fairfax Station, Va.). Lennart Hammargren (Bradenton, Fla.), Piotr Gradzki (Ridgewood, N.Y.); Girls’ 16s: Sylvana Jalbert (Mount Airy, Md.), Vanessa Cruse, (Saint Augustine, Fla.), Avita Beitler (Scandia, Minn.)
Boys’ 14s: Ishaan Marla (Mason, Ohio), Michael Chervenkov (Canton, Ga.), Nathan Lee, (Tustin, Calif.). Also watch out for James Borchard, who won the Boys’ 12s singles and doubles last year; Girls’ 14s: Nadia Poznick (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Anna Kapandze (Staten Island, N.Y.), Ava Chua (Brooklyn, N.Y.).
Boys’ 12s: Dmitriy Flyman (Hallandale Beach, Fla.), Yifan Nie (Great Neck, N.Y.) and Thomas Gamble (Newport Beach, Calif.); Girls’ 12s: Chloe Anthony (Lakeville, Mass.), Summer Yang (McLean, Va.) and Valentina Singh Carvajal (Morristown, N.J.).
One of the nation’s largest and most prestigious junior tennis tournaments, the Easter Bowl includes 18s, 16s, 14s and 12s for both boys and girls with gold, silver and bronze balls handed out for top finishers in all eight singles and doubles divisions.
Easter Bowl matches will once again be live-streamed on www.EasterBowl.com with more information to come. The Easter Bowl Tournament Director is Indian Wells Tennis Garden Director of Tennis Jai Nettimi.
