by Simon Daish
The first Brazilian involvement of the tournament would turn out to be the country’s sole match at the Salón Metropolitano with Vitor Ishiy and Bruna Takahashi suffering defeat at the first attempt.
Seeded second for the mixed doubles event, Ishiy and Takahashi were expected to come away from their quarter-final meeting with Jorge Campos and Daniela Fonseca Carrazana with passage to the last four but were left stunned by the 10th seeded Cuban pair, who needed just four games to strike an unlikely victory (11-6, 11-9, 11-7, 17-15).
Defeat for the second seeds, the top seeds, however, didn’t even take to the table for the last eight with Brian Afanador and Adriana Diaz withdrawing as a Covid-19 precaution. The decision was made following the confirmation of a positive test linked to a fellow competitor who is now isolating according to safety protocols.
Consequently, the withdrawal means neither of the top two seeded pairs in Rosario progress to the penultimate stage of the mixed doubles category.
Elsewhere, Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes and Camila Arguelles enjoyed another strong round – the no.3 seeds registered their second consecutive 4-0 victory of the draw, brushing aside the no.8 seeded duo from Dominican Republic, Wu Jiaji and Eva Brito (11-3, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5). Next up for the home favourites is a semi-final encounter with Chile’s Juan Lamadrid and Paulina Vega.
Mexico’s Marcos Madrid and Yadira Silva, fourth seeds, occupy the other semi-final spot following their thunderous 4-0 display against Ecuador’s Alberto Miño and Nathaly Paredes (11-6, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6).
The mixed doubles event concludes in the evening session of play with the final four partnerships fighting over just a single ticket to Tokyo!
