by Ian Marshall

In the boys’ singles, very much the names to note were Chile’s Eusebio Vos, Mexico’s Juan Jesus Gomez and Sid Naresh of the United States, all remained unbeaten, all accounted for the leading name in their respective groups.

Eusebio Vos headed the list, he beat Mexico’s Sergio Cano, the third highest listed on first phase duty (9-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-9).

Disappointment for Mexico but in the guise of Juan Jesus Gomez, there was unexpected success, he accounted for Ecuador’s Neycer Robalino (11-6, 7-11, 11-13, 16-14, 11-6); similarly, Sid Naresh overcame Guatemala’s Sergio Carrillo (11-4, 13-11, 11-8).

Neycer Robalino and Sergio Carrillo commenced play the fifth and sixth highest rated players on group stage duty; for both, as with Sergio Cano, it was only one defeat, second position the outcome and thus progress to the main draw.

Lower down the order there were unexpected first places for Colombia’s Daniel Guete, Brazil’s Richard Pinheiro and Puerto Rico’s Pablo Figueroa.

Amongst the leading names, there were top spots as anticipated for Ecuador’s Diego Piguave, Jayden Zhou of the United States and Peru’s Adrian Rubinos alongside Brazil’s Henrique Noguti and Chile’s Jeremias Paredes.

Likewise, in the under 19 girls’ singles, the Dominican Republic’s Dahyana Rojas, Canada’s Nicole Cai, Puerto Rico’s Alondra Rodriguez and Joanna Sung of the United States all attracted attention.

All caused upsets, all remained unbeaten as group first places were secured.

Dahyana Rojas beat Canada’s Joyce Xu, the third highest in group stage action (11-8, 10-12, 11-6, 11-7); Nicole Cai accounted for Macarena Montecino (6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-6, 13-11).

Impressive, even more impressive, Joanna Sung overcame Jerusalen Flores in straight games (11-5, 11-4, 11-6), Alondra Rodriguez prevailed in a similar manner against Ecuador’s Mylena Plaza (11-4, 11-2, 14-12)

Macarena Montecino was the fifth highest rated in the group stage, followed immediately by Jerusalen Flores and Mylena Plaza; alongside Joyce Xu it was their only defeat, thus second place was secured.

Further down the list there were surprise first places for Puerto Rico’s Gabriella Vazquez, Ecuador’s Alejandra Vientimilla and Angie Tan of the United States.

Canada’s Sophie Gauthier, Mexico’s Marbella Aceves and Arantxa Cossio duly topped their groups as expected; a situation that applied also to Puerto Rico’s Fabiola Diaz.

Attention now turns to play in the under 19 boys’ doubles and under 19 girls’ doubles.