by Ian Marshall, Editor
Paraguay’s Marcelo Aguirre and Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro, the respective third and fourth seeds, both departed in round two. Marcelo Aguirre was beaten by Vitor Ishiy, the no.10 seed, like Gustavo Tsuboi from Brazil (9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8); Thiago Monteiro experienced defeat at the hands of Argentina’s Gaston Alto, the no.12 seed (6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9.
Good form in round two; that good form continued in the quarter-finals. Vitor Ishiy overcame Ecuador’s Alberto Miño, the no.7 seed (11-7, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5); Gaston Alto ended the hopes of Mexico’s Marcos Madrid, the no.5 seed (11-7, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5).
Comprehensive wins
Conversely for Kanak Jha and for Gustavo Tsuboi there were no such problems. Kanak Jha beat Puerto Rico’s Brian Afanador, the no.9 seed (15-13, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8), prior to ousting Brazil’s Eric Jouti, the no.6 seed (11-5, 11-7, 11-7, 12-10). Similarly, Gustavo Tsuboi prevailed against Chile’s Juan Lamadrid, the no.11 seed (7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 4-11, 11-5, 11-9), prior to halting the aspirations of Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes, the no.8 seed (7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 4-11, 11-5, 11-9).
At the semi-final stage Kanak Jha meets Gaston Alto; Vitor Ishiy opposes Gustavo Tsuboi.
Top four progress
Casualties in the men’s singles event as play advanced to the later stages, in the counterpart women’s singles event it was as status advised; the United States being very much in evidence. Lily Zhang, the no.2 seed, accounted for Chile’s Valentina Rios, the no.13 seed (11-6, 11-1, 11-4, 11-6) and Brazil’s Bruna Alexandre, the no.27 seed (11-6, 11-5, 118, 11-3) to reserve her last four place. Similarly Wu Yue, the no.4 seed, overcame Caroline Kumahara, the no.16 seed and like Bruna Alexandre from Brazil (11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-7), before ending the hopes of Mexico’s Yadira Silva, the no.9 seed (11-8, 11-7, 10-12, 9-11, 12-10, 11-6).
Defeats for Brazil but there was notable success; Bruna Takahashi, the no.3 seed, accounted for both Crystal Wang of the United States, the no.26 seed (13-15, 5-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5) and Puerto Rico’s Melanie Diaz (11-7, 11-7, 11-13, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9).
Hard fought wins, it was the same from Canada’s Zhang Mo, the top seed. She accounted for Amy Wang of the United States, the no.14 seed, by the very narrowest of margins (11-3, 7-11, 10-12, 11-9, 4-11, 11-3, 12-10), prior to registering success in opposition to Brazil’s Jessica Yamada, the no.19 seed (5-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6, 5-11, 11-3).
Semi-finals
In the semi-final round Zhang Mo meets Lily Zhang, Bruna Takahashi opposes Wu Yue.
Play in Asuncion concludes on Sunday 8th September.
