The Pan America World Championships qualification event got underway yesterday as 32 players attempted to reach the quarter finals at the Missouri Athletic Club in St Louis.
The women’s draw saw only one upset on the opening day of action as USA’s Riva Bhagwati defeated No.6 seed Laura Tovar in a five-game thriller to move into the last eight. 17-year-old Bhagwati is ranked more than 100 places below Tovar but showed no sign of that deficit as she took a huge 2-0 lead to place one foot in the quarter finals. Tovar showed her quality to fight back to equalise at 2-2. Tovar tried her best to use her experience to get her over the line but Bhagwati found more in the final game to win 11-9 in the decider.
The 17-year-old will now take on top seed Margot Prow in the next round. Prow is the favourite to book her ticket to Cairo but had to dig deep to find a way past Paraguay’s Fiorella Gatti. After dropping the opening game, Prow moved ahead to lead 2-1, looking confident in her pursuit of a spot in the quarters. Gatti bounced back to take the fourth game but Prow was too strong in the final game, running out to an 11-7 victory.
The rest of the seeds progressed in the women’s event comfortably, with Diana Garcia and Lucie Stefanoni recording emphatic wins in 16 and 20 minutes.
Two upsets took place in the men’s event with Paraguay’s Francesco Marcantonio recovering from 2-1 down to beat No.8 seed Juan Torres in 66 minutes. Marcantonio lost the third game 11-9 but responded well to win 11-8, 11-9 in the next two games to earn his spot in the quarter finals.
Colombian No.3 seed Ronald Palomino lost out in the first round, losing to USA’s Salim Khan in four games. Palomino won the opening game 11-6 but after losing the second 11-4, found himself in a battle in game three, which he eventually lost 14-12, giving Khan a 2-1 lead. The American took advantage of that and came through the fourth game 11-8 to move into the next round.
Khan joins USA teammates Shahjahan Khan and Nicholas Spizziri after they beat Taylor Carrick and Matias Lacroix, both 3-0.
The quarter finals get underway at 12:00 (GMT-6) live on SQUASHTV.
Results: Women’s RD1
[1] Margot Prow (BAR) bt Fiorella Gatti (PAR) 3-2: 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7 (57m)Riva Bhagwati (USA) bt [6] Laura Tovar (COL) 3-2: 11-3, 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 11-9 (50m)
[8] Lucie Stefanoni (USA) bt Giselle Delgado (CHI) 3-0: 11-3, 11-6, 11-7 (20m)
[3] Caroline Fouts (USA) bt Maria Paula Moya (ECU) 3-0: 11-1, 11-6, 11-6
[4] Diana Garcia (MEX) bt Vahbiz Bulsara (CAN) 3-0: 11-4, 11-2, 11-4 (16m)
[7] Danielle Ray (CAN) bt Mary Fung-A-Fat (GUY) 3-1: 11-3, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8 (29m)
[5] Lucia Bautista (COL) bt Darlyn Sandoval (GUA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-3, 11-9 (22m)
[2] Laila Sedky (USA) bt Elisabeth Ross (USA) 3-1: 11-7, 4-11, 17-15, 11-3 (34m)
Results: Men’s RD1
[1] Shahjahan Khan (USA) bt Taylor Carrick (BER) 3-0: 11-4, 11-5, 11-5 (25m)[5] Nicholas Spizzirri (USA) bt Matias Lacroix (CHI) 3-0: 11-3, 11-3, 11-6 (32m)
[7] Alejandro Enriquez (GUA) bt Sebastian Salazar (MEX) 3-1: 4-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-4 (71m)
Salim Khan (USA) bt [3] Ronald Palomino (COL) 3-1: 6-11, 11-4, 14-12, 11-8
[4] Jeremias Azaña (ARG) bt Dillon Huang (USA) 3-1: 15-13, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7 (60m)
Francesco Marcantonio (PAR) bt [8] Juan Torres (COL) 3-2: 11-7, 5-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9 (66m)
[6] David Baillargeon (CAN) bt Connor Turk (CAN) 3-0: 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 (34m)
[2] Leandro Romiglio (ARG) bt Cesar Salazar (MEX) 3-1: 7-11, 4-1 ret. (21m)
Draw: Women’s QF
[1] Margot Prow (BAR) v Riva Bhagwati (USA)[3] Caroline Fouts (USA) v [8] Lucie Stefanoni (USA)
[4] Diana Garcia (MEX) v [7] Danielle Ray (CAN)
[2] Laila Sedky (USA) v [5] Lucia Bautista (COL)
Draw: Men’s QF
[1] Shahjahan Khan (USA) v [5] Nicholas Spizzirri (USA)Salim Khan (USA) v [7] Alejandro Enriquez (GUA)
[4] Jeremias Azaña (ARG) v Francesco Marcantonio (PAR)
[2] Leandro Romiglio (ARG) v [6] David Baillargeon (CAN)
