by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Presently listed at no.249 on the Women’s World Rankings, after having accounted for Bulgaria’s Krasimira Yovkova in her opening contest the previous day (11-7, 7-11, 10-12, 12-10, 11-5, 11-8), she excelled expectations to overcame Russia’s Ekaterina Guseva, listed at no.124 and the highest rated player in the group (11-4, 9-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-1, 11-7).

Success for Melanie Diaz who is the eldest of four sisters; Gabriela, Adriana and Fabiola being the next in the age order, the exploits of Adriana being well known. All are guided by their father, Bladimir whilst mother, Marangely is a lawyer.

“I felt a little nervous as this was the first time I had the opportunity to qualify to the main draw, I´ve never been able to achieve that in the past and I was really looking forward. Guseva is a very good player and I have never beaten her before, this may be the most important victory of my career so far. I am feeling confident and at the same time very excited to see who will be my next opponent. Thanks to the special connection that I have with my father who is also my coach, I feel that I have improved a lot mentally and together with Adriana we are a very united table tennis family. ” Melanie Diaz

Success for Melanie Diaz, for younger sister, Adriana, 16 years old, her campaign starts on Friday 29th April; she is the no.16 seed.