INDIAN WELLS, March 30, 2026 (by Steve Pratt)
The final point secured, Ellery Mendell raised her arms let out a loud scream – the 2026 Easter Bowl Girls’ 18s singles titles was all hers.
The 16-year-old Mendell from Watkinsville, Ga., had lived up to her No. 1 seeding in beating unseeded Yilin Chen from Poway, Calif., 6-2, 6-4, as the 58th Annual Easter Bowl Presented by adidas came to a close on Sunday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
After she had given all the hugs to her father and several friends, had signed the draw board and taken the last trophy shot, Mendell sat and exhaled. She was asked how it felt to be the Easter Bowl champion and having her name added to a long list of tennis greats, and most recent champions on the pro tour like Emma Navarro, Claire Liu and Taylor Townsend.
“It feels so awesome and I’m really proud of myself,” Mendell said. “I’m really proud that I get to have my name on the same list as all those players.”
Alyson Shannon from Plano, Texas, took home the 3rd-4th match and the Bronze ball. In doubles, the Georgia pairing of Chloe Zigliara and Sadira Ouyang won the Gold with a 7-6 (1), 6-4 win over Silver ball winners Santa Monicia Raina Miae Kim and Maryland’s Carolina Castro.
In the Boys’ 18s singles final, unseeded wild card Rishvanth Krishna from Irvine beat Arcadia’s Peter Jorniak, 6-4, 6-2. “I was nervous when the match started but I relaxed as the match went on,” said Krishna, a high school junior who has committed to play for Rice University in Houston. “I served really well today and was finding my forehand.”
Said Jorniak, also unseeded and a junior at Arcadia High. “I’ll look back at this as a very big accomplishment. I’ll practice a couple of things when I get home that I can do better at because there’s always something you can improve on.”
Joseph Nau and Marcel Latak, the No. 2 seeded team, took home the Boys’ 18s doubles Gold balls with a three-set win over the SoCal pairing of Matteo Huarte (Tustin) and Liam Alvarez (Long Beach). The Bronze balls went to Justin Riley Anson from Laguna Niguel and Andre Alcantara from Las Vegas.
In the Boys’ 16s singles final, unseeded wild card Anay Kulkarni from the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, Ariz., came back to beat No. 3 Piotr Gradzki from New York, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. “I had a lot of highs and lows and I’m really grateful I was able to pull through,” said Kulkarni, who was cheered on all week by his father Vijay Kulkarni and is coached by Casey Was back home.
Asked what his father told him on the 10-minute break after the players splits sets, Anay said, “Mainly we just talked about keeping the energy up. Focusing on my serve and my return and making sure I’m not giving anything away. Just going out and fighting for every ball and having fun.”
Gradzki admitted to thinking about winning that Gold ball after winning the first set. “I was thinking too much ahead,” he said. “I wasn’t in the moment, and it just runs away from you.”
“In the third set, he just got me physically,” Gradzki said. “I just felt the fatigue got to me today.”
In the Boys’ 16s doubles final, Arjun Krishnan from San Jose and Garin Arun from Arizona beat Karthik Thumu from Fremont, Calif., and Carson Kuchar from South Carolina, in three sets. Carson is the son of PGA golfer Matt Kuchar. The Minnesota pairing of Ethan Turnnen and Dylan Warn won the Bronze.
In the Girls’ 16s singles, it was a battle for Maryland supremacy with No. 4 Shristi Selvan from Laurel, Md., beating her good friend and fellow 15-year-old and No. 1 seed Sylvana Jalbert from Mount Airy, Md., 6-1, 7-5, to capture her second straight USTA Gold Ball having won the Winternationals in January.
“She’s one of my best friends and I can tell when she’s nervous and that she would put more pressure on herself,” Selvan said. “She’s No. 1 in the country and has all these sponsorships, which she deserves. She’s such a great player, but I think that because I knew she was going to put pressure on herself, I just laid back.”
Selvan said her improved serve was the difference. “That’s been the weakness and I would double fault or they would slap my second serve for a winner. We’ve been working on it for a lot of months.”
Selvan added: “I’m just so happy. To have lost here in the first round last year, to winning the tournament this year, it’s just such a huge honor.”
Selvan later played in the doubles final with her and partner Emery June Martin from Los Angeles, and the No. 5 seeds beat Alexandra Grilliot from Indiana and Boca Raton’s Nikol Davletshina, 6-2, 6-3, giving Selvan a doubles Gold ball performance in 2026. The No. 2 sees Kingsley Wolf from Pacific Palisades and Adelyn Gross from St. Louis won the Bronze.
2026 EASTER BOWL SPORTSMANSHIP WINNERS
Boys’ 18s: Hunter Nelson, Lincoln, Neb.
Girls’ 18s: Chloe Zigliara, Murietta, Ga.
Boys’ 16: JiHyuk Im, Irvine, Calif.
Girls’ 16s: Tanvi Pandey, Irvine, Calif.
Boys’ 14s: Michael Chervenkov, Canton Ga.
Girls’ 14s: Violetta Mamina, Henderson, Nev.
Boys’ 12s: Jaden Joyner, Tarzana, Calif.
Girls’ 12s: Cordelia Skye, West Hollywood, Calif.
ABOUT THE EASTER BOWL
Nearly every American men’s and women’s Grand Slam champion since the first tournament began in 1968 has competed in the Easter Bowl, a true pipeline to the professional ranks, including past winners and International Tennis Hall of Famers John McEnroe, Tracy Austin, Pam Shriver and Jennifer Capriati. Recent past Easter Bowl champions include current pro stars, Fritz, Jenson Brooksby, Frances Tiafoe, Marcos Giron, Brandon Nakashima, Sofia Kenin, Taylor Townsend, Tommy Paul, Alex Michelsen, Emma Navarro and Iva Jovic, to name a few. Recent Australian Open winner Madison Keys and two-time 2025 Grand Slam finalist Amanda Anismova are also counted among Easter Bowl alumni.
The iconic junior tournament started by Seena Hamilton in 1968 is considered the Super Bowl of junior tennis. Longtime Easter Bowl Chairman Emeritus Lornie Kuhle took over the event 14 years ago and was responsible for moving it to the Tennis Garden. There are few other junior tennis tournaments in the United States that possess the same rich history as the Easter Bowl. The tournament started in New York City and has been played in Florida, Arizona and California.
