Paulo Rocha in form in Santos |
06/13/2012
No current World Ranking owing to an absence from international play, the host nation’s Paulo Rocha was the player to cause the major upset on the opening day of play, Wednesday 13th June, in the qualification stage of the Men’s Singles event at the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Brazil Open in Santos.
A Brazilian to the cause of an upset in the first phase of the Men’s Singles competition; in the counterpart Women’s Singles event, the mantle fell on India to cause the surprise.
The player to upset proceedings and attract the attention was Shamini Kumaresan.
Two Notable wins
At the Guatemala Junior and Cadet Open in 2009, where he was a Junior Boys’ Singles semi-finalist, Paulo Rocha accounted for colleague Eric Mancini in his opening match in the group (11-4, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 12-10), before concluding his group stage matches with victory over Argentina’s Adriel di Salvo (11-9, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8).
Main Draw Place Booked
Two fine wins means that Paulo Rocha has booked his place in the main draw; for Eric Mancini and Adriel di Salvo the odds are not in their favour of further progress.
Three “Lucky Loser” places are drawn at random from the players finishing in second place in their respective groups; progress depends on lottery.
World Ranking
Eric Mancini currently stands at no.404 on the Men’s World Rankings, Adriel di Salvo is at no.909.
Not terminal
Meanwhile, in the first phase of the Women’s Singles event, Shamini Kumaresan hit form.
Presently listed at no.246 on the Women’s World Rankings, she accounted for Mexico’s Yadira Silva, named at no.233, in four straight games (14-12, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9).
However, the defeat is not terminal, the players finishing in first and second places in each group progress to the main draw.
Form Continued
Shamini Kumaresan continued her good form to beat Brazil’s Lais Toma (11-4, 11-3, 11-5, 11-5), whilst Yadira Silva resigned defeat to history and overcame Karin Hayama, also from Brazil (11-7, 11-4, 11-13, 12-10, 14-12), to keep her hopes alive.
Each player still has one match in the group to play; Yadira Silva plays Lais Toma, Shamini Kumaresan confronts Karin Hayama.
Leading Names Progress
Two upsets but there were no more with the leading names on duty in the first stage of proceedings emerging unscathed.
In the Men’s Singles evet Ryan Jenkins of Wales, Belgium’s Lauric Jean, India’s Soumyadeep Roy all made fine starts as did Brazil’s Hugo Calderano.
Similar
Similarly, in the opening matches in the first stage of proceedings in the Women’s Singles event there were few problems for the elite quartet.
Lily Zhang of the United States, Poland’s Kinga Stefanska, India’s Mouma Das and Brazil’s Ligia Silva all remained unbeaten.
Conclusion of First Stage
The first phase matches conclude on Thursday 14th June.
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