Pezzota’s revenge brings second Guampa
Top seed Robertino Pezzota won the second clash between him and Leonel Cardenas in two weeks, gaining revenge for the Resistencia final in which the young Mexican had triumphed.
Today the story was different, Pezzota had a run of shorter matches, 10 games to reach the final compared to 14 for Cardenas.
The match it self was a seesaw, but in the last two games the more experienced Pezzota was more in mental control of the game. The fifth though had an exiting ending, Pezzota leading 10-4 saw the Mexican coming back up to 9-10 to the excitement of the crowd.
With authority Pezzota closed the game and match to lift for the second time the beatiful trophy of the Paraguay Open, “The Guampa”.
Semis : Top two set up repeat showdown
The Paraguay Open will feature the repeat final of the previous tournament of the Tour de las Americas in Resistencia last week with the clash of a young Leonel Cardenas against the experience of Robertino Pezzota.
Both went thru their encounters in different fashion, Pezzota beating in straight games the youngest player of the draw (17) Yehia Elnawsany who got frustrated as the match went by, specially with the change of pace of the argentinean.
Cardenas though, had a different scenario, 7-9 down in the fifth it looked like Stewart was going to be the young challenger in the final but after a hard rally and a few “vamos” shouts from the Mexican, the score turned around and was Cardenas who took the last point and the pass to the final.
The match will be livestreamed by TigoSports thru his youtube channel from 19:00 local time (Spanish comments of Ernesto Gallardo and Esteban Casarino. Belen Saavedra court side interviews)
Quarters
Top seeds Robertino Pezzota and Leonel Cardenas remain on course in Asuncion after surviving contrasting quarter-finals – Pezzota despatched Miled Zarazua in straight games while Cardenas needed all five to see off Brazil’s Diego Gobbi.
They’ll both face unexpected opposition after unseeded Egyptian youngster Yahia Elnawsany beat third seed Edgar Ramirez in four games and Scotland’s Rory Stewart took out fourth seed Endo Tomataka from Japan in three tough games.
Round Two
There was just one upset as the eight seeded players joined the action in Round Two in Asuncion, Egypt’s Yahia Elnawsany ousting seventh-seeded Englishman Alex Noakes in straight games. He’ll face Colombian third seed Edgar Ramirez for a place in the semi-finals.
There will be at least two semi-finalists from the Americas in this latest “Tour de las Americas” event with top seed Robertino Pezzota taking on Mexico’s Miled Zarazua and second seeded Leonel Cardenas, aiming for a second straight title after victory in Resistencia last week, meeting Brazilian Diego Gobbi.
A non-American is sure to feature in the last four with Japan’s Tomataka Endo meeting Scot Rory Stewart.
11 up in Asuncion
The 11th Consecutive Paraguay Open started with eight first round matches. Esteban Casarino tells us more …
History:
The event had an earlier version from 1987 to 1991, with winners such a s Sabir Butt and Gary Wait (Can), Anders Whalsted and Fredrick Johnson (Swe). Also other names that played in Asunción back then were David Campion, Robert Owen and Neil Harvey (Eng), John Nimick (USA). It use to be played at the Yacht and Golf Club Paraguayo, a beautiful resort on the Paraguay River coast.
After many years it was brought back, as a corner stone for the “Tour de las Americas” in 2009.
We saw that young players from our region needed matches and points to get into the PSA World Tour and to do so they had to travel away, being that very costly, both financially and emotionally. So, we decided to star trying to get some events on our region again as they were in the previous decades.
So around 2008 we spoke a lot with Rafa Alarcon (Bra) and Gerardo Porras (El Salvador) and started rolling the ball. After 11 years we can proudly say there have been around 50 events in 6 countries and so many players went by, we are really happy with it.
The Club:
The Club Internacional de tenis is a multisports club, it was founded in 1981 and officially opend in 1983. It features 29 tennis courts (8 indoor), 6 Squash courts, 3 Football fields, Basketball, Volleyball, gim, saunas, 2 restaurantes and 2 “caffes”. It has aprox. 13.000 members and its one of the largest in Latinamerica.
The Trophy:
It is a “Guampa, the recipient made of a horn with silver edges, used to drink the traditional infusion “Tereré” when cold or “Mate” when hot. It is a big tradition in the central region of South America, different versions are also tradition in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.
It is something people can have alone but its better if shared with friends and family, it replaces the Té or Coffe, thou they also have those in the region, the the “tereré” is the prefered on the hot wheather.
The original trophy stays with the club and have the winners name on the base of it, both finalist receiving a copy to take with them.
Past winners:
Rafa Alarcón (Bra) 3 times
Adrian Waller (Eng)
Shawn Delliere (Can)
Jamie Haycocks (Eng)
Robertino Pezzota (Arg)
Arturo Salazar (Mex)
Leandro Romiglio (Arg)
Alfredo Avila (Mex)
