Townsend and Andrews Win Junior Grand Slam


Two-time reigning Easter Bowl doubles champions Gabby Andrews and Taylor Townsend have captured their first Grand Slam Junior Title by winning the Australian Open in Melbourne.

 


















Both just 15 years old, the pair pulled off a dramatic 5-7, 7-5, 10-6 [super tiebreaker] win in one hour, 44 minutes over Irina Khromacheva and Danka Kovinic.

 
"When I got into locker room. I was like 'What just happened?' 'It was like a dream come true," said Townsend, who lives and trains at the USTA Training Center Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla. "Winning the doubles topped it all off."

 

The left-handed Townsend had a busy day as she defeated fellow American and former Easter Bowl singles champion Krista Hardebeck 7-6 (3), 6-4, in the girls' singles semifinals to earn herself a final-round match up with Russia's Yulia Putinseva.


2012 EASTER BOWL

DATES ANNOUNCED

April 8-15, 2012

For the past 45 years the Easter Bowl has been synonymous with junior tennis. This year is gearing up to be the biggest and best Easter Bowl yet and once again is under the direction of Bryan Fineberg of Creative Tennis Marketing Inc. The Easter Bowl has a wonderful history and lineage and has bee played in New York, Arizona, Florida and California and once again returns this year to the luxurious Rancho Las Palmas Resort in picturesque Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Name a Grand Slam champion from the U.S. over the past 40 years and chances are they got their start under tournament founder Seena Hamilton’s watchful eye at the Easter Bowl. McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi, Chang, Austin and Davenport all played at the Easter Bowl, the only nationally televised junior tennis tournament. There is simply no junior tournament like it. Since its inception in 1968 when Harold Solomon beat Jimmy Connors, the Easter Bowl has provided not only first-rate hospitality to players and parents, but also seminars and surveys that  bring the game’s most important issues to public attention.

No junior tournament in the world gets the press coverage the Easter Bowl receives each April and this year will be no different.

 

2011 Easter Bowl Singles Winners

Photos by Bob and Dave Kenas

Boys’ 18s Singles Finals
Marcos Giron, at right, Thousand Oaks, CA def.
Mac Styslinger (7) Birmingham, AL 6-1, 7-5
Girls’ 18s Singles Finals
Kyle McPhillips (13), at right, Willoughby, OH def
Gabrielle Andrews (9) Pomona, CA 6-4, 6-4
Boys’ 16s Singles Finals
Gage Brymer (8), at right, Irvine, CA def.
Ronnie Schneider (2) Bloomington, IN 6-1, 3-6, 6-2
Girls’ 16s Singles Finals
Caroline Doyle (17), at left, San Francisco, CA def.
Kimberly Yee (4) Las Vegas, NV 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Boys’ 14s Singles Finals
Ernesto Escobedo (7), at left, West Covina, CA def.
Henrik Wiersholm (1) Kirkland, WA 6-4, 6-1
Girls’ 14 Singles Finals
Maria Shishkina (5), at left, Bradenton>, FL def.
Katerina Stewart (8) Miami, FL 6-1, 6-4
WATCH BENEATH THE SURFACE
 
Hour-long Easter Bowl TV program. Send us your thoughts and comments through the Easter Bowl Facebook and Twitter pages.