by Simon Daish
The no.9 seed travelled to Rosario as a major player in the qualification race and is anticipated to take the challenge to the category favourites, however, Paula Medina was made to work hard in her opening round contest.
Facing opposition in the form of Paraguay’s Leyla Gomez, a player seeded eight positions below, six games were required to find a winner in a tight affair. Gomez did well to stay within touching distance, but in the end it was Medina who took the plaudits (11-5, 6-11, 11-3, 5-11, 11-3, 11-3).
Over on table 2 the margins were even narrower with no.13 seed Monica Munoz and no.18 seed Chelsea Edghill playing out a full distance thriller (11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 4-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9)!
Whatever the Mexican player did her Guyanese rival would replicate: the opening two games went to Munoz and Edghill responded by taking the following two – Munoz moved in front again only for Edghill to recover. Down to the decider and with no more room for error, Munoz stood up to the task to claim her passage to the Round of 16.
Guatemala’s Lucia Cordero also accounted for Guyanese opposition with the no.16 seed outclassing Natalie Cummings 4-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-7, 11-8). 10th seeded Paraguayan entry Lucero Ovelar was the fourth player to advance on the night after she saw off Trinidad and Tobago’s Rheann Chung (12-10, 5-11, 13-11, 11-5, 11-6).
The women’s singles draw resumes on Wednesday 14th April.
