Tournaments

2018 Pan American Junior Championships

Tournament News
2018 Pan American Junior Championships

Clean sweep guaranteed, mixed blessings for United States

14 Jul 2018

One day earlier both the Boys’ Team and Girls’ Team titles had been secured by the United States; one day later on Friday 13th July at the 2018 Pan American Junior Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the eight players who had all been part of that success, made sure that a further title was to be added.

The talented group provided all four Mixed Doubles semi-finalists; furthermore, North America fielded six of the eight quarter-finalists with Canadian pairs being prevalent; the only Latin American combinations to reach the last eight were from Argentina.

An unexpected semi-final place for Rachel Sung in partnership with Nikhil Kumar (Photo: Rémy Gros)

by Ian Marshall, Editor

Kanak Jha and Amy Wang, the top seeds, advanced as expected, as did Sharon Alguetti and Crystal Wang, the no.3 seeds; the surprise pairings were Nicholas Tio and Rachel Sung the no.12 seeds, alongside Nicholas Nikhil Kumar and Rachel Yang, the no.14 seeds.

Impressively, Kanak Jha and Amy Wang booked their place in the semi-finals courtesy of success against Canada’s Edward Ly and Joyce Xu, the no.16 seeds (11-5, 11-5, 12-10), the third round winners in opposition to Puerto Rico’s Francisco Matias and Adriana Diaz, the no.6 seeds (11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8).

Similarly, at the quarter-final stage, Sharon Alguetti and Crystal Wang showed no charity; they accounted for Argentina’s Santiago Lorenzo and Muriel Rajmil, the no.9 seeds (11-9, 12-10, 11-3), a partnership in form. One round earlier they had beaten the host country’s Mariano Lockward and Esmerlyn Castro, the no.19 seeds (11-5, 11-9, 11-7), the second round winners in opposition to Chile’s Nicolas Burgos and Claudia Infante, the no.5 seeds (7-11, 11-6, 11-7, 5-11, 11-8).

Semi-final places as status anticipated, for their compatriots, the performances were quite a revelation.

Nikhil Kumar and Rachel Yang, safely through to the third round, caused a major upset by beating Brazil’s Guilherme Teodoro and Bruna Takahashi, the no.2 seeds (11-9, 11-9, 11-5), prior to recording a quarter-final success in opposition to Canada’s Jeremy Hazin and Ivy Liao, the no.8 seeds (11-6, 11-6, 11-8).

Somewhat differently, Nicholas Tio and Rachel Sung took full advantage of the demise of the no.4 seeds. Not the best of days for Brazil, Eduardo Tomoike and Livia Lima experienced a second round defeat at the hands of Peru’s Adolfo Cucho and Claudia Flores Suarez, the no.32 seeds (6-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9).

Delight for Peru but progress was abruptly ended by Nicholas Tio and Rachel Sung (11-5, 11-5, 11-3) who, then in a similarly imposing manner, accounted for Argentina’s Martin Bentancor and Camila Kaizoji, the no.7 seeds (11-7, 11-7, 14-12) to reserve their place in the penultimate round.

At the semi-final stage Kanak Jha and Amy Wang meet Nicholas Tio and Rachel Sung; Sharon Alguetti and Crystal Wang oppose Nikhil Kumar and Rachel Yang.

The Mixed Doubles event will be played to a conclusion on Saturday 14th July.

2018 Pan American Junior Championships Kanak Jha Amy Wang Nikhil Kumar Sharon Alguetti Rachel Sung Crystal Wang Nicholas Tio Rachel Yang

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15 Jul 2018 2018 Pan American Junior Championships

No results found.

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Day 5 - ITTF - PanAm Junior Championships