Chinlund, Glozman win boys', girls' 18s titles at famed Easter Bowl in Indian Wells

Sixteen-year-olds Cassius Chinlund and Valerie Glozman are the first USTA national 18s champions of 2023 after they triumphed this past weeked at the FILA Easter Bowl, held at the famed Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California. 

The two champions are at different stages in their junior tennis careers: Chinlund, a sophomore at Campbell Hall School outside Los Angeles, had his best-ever run at a USTA Level 1 tournament by taking home the boys' 18s singles title, while 18s girls' singles champion Glozman won her second consecutive Easter Bowl after winning the 16s title last year.

The fifth-seeded Chinlund knocked of No. 7 seed and UCLA freshman Emon van Loben Sels of Sacramento in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 final between Californians to earn his biggest-ever title. Chinlund, named the boys' player of the year by the Los Angeles Daily News as a freshman, told local news station KESQ that he was thrilled to win triumph at a tournament that he grew up attending.

"I've grown up coming to this tournament every year and just seeing these guys battle it out," Chinlund said, "and then to play on a stadium court in the finals and win it, its always been my dream."

Glozman, ranked third in the USTA's under-18 girls' singles rankings at age 16, was also the 18s national runner-up last year as a 15-year-old—an achievement which earned her a qualifying wild card for the 2022 US Open. As the top seed in this year's Easter Bowl, the Bellevue, Wash. native knocked off another 15-year-old, No. 5 seed Aspen Schuman from Menlo Park, Calif., in the final, 7-6(4), 6-3. 

The No. 1 seeds also won the doubles title; Susanna Maltby of Glen Ellyn, Ill. and Maddy Zampardo of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., beat third seeds Ava Esposito Cogan (Branford, Conn.) and Caroline McGinley (Essex Falls, N.J.), in three sets, 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-4.

The Easter Bowl is the first of five national championships that will be played this year, the crown jewel of a circuit that more than 120,000 players compete in annually, in age divisions from 10-and-under through 18-and-under. It counts John McEnroe, Tracy Austin, Jennifer Capriati and Andy Roddick among its former champions.