by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
However, for four other players, who started the day as the highest rated in their respective groups, there were defeats.
Colombia’s Angie Umbacia, after beating Ecuador’s Eunice Galvez (11-4, 12-10, 11-6), suffered at the hands of Cuba’s Lizdainet Rodriguez (6-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-6, 11-7); similarly, there were defeats for Rachel Yang of the United States, Canada’s Alicia Cote and Argentina’s Agustina Iwasa.
However, similar to Angie Umbacia with one match remaining in each group, players finishing in first and second positions advancing to the main draw, the door to the knock-out rounds is still open. The problem all four face is they have completed their initial phase matches and matters are now out of their hands.
Rachel Yang was beaten by Guatemala’s Mabelyn Enriquez (12-10, 11-7, 11-3) but recovered to overcome Mexico’s Gladys Blanqueto (11-9, 11-5, 11-5). Meanwhile, Alicia Cote accounted for Peru’s Paola Mori (12-10, 11-5, 11-5), before losing to El Salvador’s Emme Arias (11-6, 13-11, 12-10). Similarly, Agustina Iwasa defeated Janina Nieto, like Paola Mori from Peru (11-3, 11-4, 15-13), prior to experiencing defeat at the hands of the Dominican Republic’s Esmerlyn Castro by the very narrowest of decisions (10-12, 11-7, 11-4, 10-12, 11-9).
Play in the qualification stage concludes on Friday 15th September.
The top eight listed players – Zhang Mo (Canada), Adriana Diaz (Puerto Rico), Wu Yue (United States), Gui Lin (Brazil), Bruna Takahashi (Brazil), Crystal Wang (United States, Paulina Vega (Chile), Lisi Castillo (Cuba) – all receive direct entries to the main draw.
