by Ian Marshall
Furthermore, they advanced in style; just one individual match was dropped on the penultimate day of play. The one hiccup was at the semi-final stage of the men’s event against the United States, following a 3-0 success against Costa Rica’s Daniel Araya and Alfredo Sanchez.
In the opening match of the contest, Sid Naresh beat Diogo Silva (11-4, 11-7, 11-7).
Not the best of starts but from that moment forward they never looked back.
Rafael Turrini overcame Jayden Zhou (11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6), before teaming with Diogo Silva to win the doubles (5-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-5) and then overcoming Sid Naresh to end matters (8-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-5).
Chilean progress
Now the Brazilians meet the Chilean pairing of Nicolas Burgos and Andres Martinez in the final, the duo equally impressive.
A 3-1 penultimate round success was the order of the day against Mexico’s Dario Arce and Juan Jesus Gomez, followed by a 3-0 win in opposition to Cuba’s Eday Gomez and René Mendez.
The one success for the Mexicans was recorded in the doubles when Dario Arce and Juan Jesus Gomez gained a straight games win (11-5, 11-4, 11-9), thus maintaining their status as a most formidable doubles pairing.
More impressive
Impressive performances from Rafael Turrini and Diogo Silva; arguably more impressive from Giulia Takahashi and Laura Watanabe in the women’s event.
Totally focused they recorded a 3-0 quarter-final win against the Dominican Republic’s Esmerlyn Castro and Shary Muñoz prior to posting the same margin of victory in opposition to Cuba’s Daniela Fonseca and Karla Perez.
More exacting
Mexico’s Clio Barcenas and Arantxa Cossio await in the final, their path to the gold medal contest, rather more exacting.
Following a 3-0 success against El Salvador’s Cristina Machado and Gabriela Suarez, a full distance 3-2 margin of victory was the order of proceedings in opposition to Puerto Rico’s Brianna Burgos and Fabiola Diaz.
Mainstay of the success was Clio Barcenas; she beat both Fabiola Diaz (11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8) and Brianna Burgos (9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 4-11, 11-7). Start of the show was Arantxa Cossio, in the vital fifth match of the contest, she overcame Fabiola Diaz (11-9, 10-12, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7).
Wins for Puerto Rico were recorded by Brianna Burgos against Arantxa Cossio (11-5, 11-13, 11-6, 4-11, 11-9) and in the doubles when Brianna Burgos and Fabiola Diaz secured a four games success (5-11, 14-12, 11-7, 11-9).
Play concludes
The finals of both the men’s team and women’s team events will be played on Sunday 5th December, the day play concludes in Cali.
