Pan Am Games: US Men Beat El Salvador In First Round Pool Play,
US Women Over Brazil
from DailySquashReport.com
October 19, 2011 - The US Men’s Team fought off a stubborn El Salvador squad and came away with a three match to love victory in yesterday's opening round of preliminary team play at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara.
Top American Julian Illingworth dropped the first game against Ricardo Weisskopf but steadied to a 31-minute four-game win.
Chris Gordon at number two crushed Byron Garcia in a quick three, while Graham Bassett beat Ernesto Molina 11-1 in the fourth.
On the women’s side, #1 Olivia Blatchford struggled, falling to Brazil's Thaisa Serafini in 29 minutes, but Lily Lorentzen pulled out a four-gamer against Mariana Pontalti.
Rising star Maria Elena Ubina of Connecticut won what proved to be the key match for the US, as she dominated Maria Costa in the number three slot in just 16 minutes of action.
Elsewhere, the Canadian men and women were each three-love winners over Chile. The men’s team is comprised of Shahier Razik, Shawn Delierre and Andrew Schnell, while the women’s lineup is Miranda Ranieri, Samantha Cornett and Stephanie Edmison.
The US women take on Argentina today at 11am PST and then Mexico at 5pm.
The US men square off against Mexico at 3pm in a key pool match-up that is quite winnable for the US if Illingworth and Gordon play up to their capabilities.
1st Round Pool Results:
US Men d El Salvador 3-0
Illingworth d Weisskopf 7-11 11-7 11-6 11-5
Gordon d Garcia 11-4 11-5 11-4
Basset d Molina 11-9 9-11 11-7 11-1
US Women d Brazil 2-1
Serafini d Blatchford 11-7 12-10 11-6
Lorentzen d Pontalti 9-11 11-7 11-9 11-7
Ubina d Costa 11-4 11-7 11-8
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