Notícia

HUMBERTO AND ERIC PLAYING WELL IN VALENCIA

Por CBTM

Matters in the Boys' Team event at the Venezuelan Junior Open on Thursday 1st March 2007 went very much according to plan.

Top seeds Eric Mancini and Humberto Manhani of Brazil imposed their authority on proceedings as did second seeds Emil Santos and Juan Antonio Víla of the Dominican Republic.

However, the team to raise the eyebrows was Spain.

Playing in Group Six, Alvaro Robles and Ferran Brugada won a closely fought duel against Colombia, the team that had started proceedings as the favourites to win the group being led by the highly rated Juan Restrepo.

Both boys lost to Juan Restrepo but wins against David Umbacia and a doubles success ensured victory. Colombia finished the group in second spot beating Jean-Claude Celementina and Ray-Giorgio Benabela of the Netherlands Antilles and thus qualified for the second stage.

A hiccup for Colombia but there were no problems for the four highest seeded teams who all emerged as group winners.

Brazil
Top seeds Brazil beat the Venezuela `B' team of Antonio Ascaso and Rafael Correa before overcoming Sweden's Michael Van Rosen and Simon Linderoth; both matches being won by the three-one score line.

Against the Venezuelan's the reverse came in the doubles when Antonio Ascaso and Rafael Correa beat Eric Mancini and Lucas Tatani, whilst against Sweden it was Humberto Manhani who suffered.

Eric Mancini was the backbone of Brazilian success. Humberto Manhani lost to Simon Linderoth in the second match of the proceedings but two wins from Eric Mancini and with Humberto Manhani a doubles success, a well earned victory was secured.

Hard Fight
Similarly, second seeds Juan Antonio Víla and Emil Santos were made to fight hard for their top place in the group section of the competition. They beat the Trinidad and Tobago team of Kris Frank, Kerwin Small and Terell Abbott by three matches to nil but in their second encounter when they faced Cuba it was a different story.

The contest went the full distance. Jorge Campos was the young man to cause the eventual winners problems. He beat both Antonio Víla and Emil Santos but two defeats for Pedro Romero and a Dominican Republic success in the vital doubles saw the latter association emerge victorious.

No Last Match
A tough test for the second seeds but for the third, fourth and fifth seeded teams life was not quite so fraught; no deciding matches were needed.

Third seeds Jing Yang and Shen Qiang of Canada recorded a three-nil win over the Netherlands Antilles duo of Michael Dalnoot and Michael Van Baren before accounting for the host nation's Doming Cordero and Cecilio Correea by three matches to one.
Sheng Qiang succeeded in both his singles contests and partnered Jiang Yang to doubles success; the one Venezuelan victory came in the opening encounter when Domingo Cordero accounted for Jiang Yang.

Puerto Rican Cause Problems
Meanwhile, fourth seeds Australia's Trent Carter and Peru's Roberto Torres made an impressive start by beating Venezuela's Ciro Finol and Juan Perez by three matches to nil but against Elvin Rivera and Carlos Gracia of Puerto Rico it was a tougher experience.

They won by three matches to one with Puerto Rican success coming from Carlos Gracia who overcame Roberto Torres in the second context of the fixture. However, victory for Trent Carter over Ciro Finol, a doubles win and success by the narrowest of five game margins for Roberto Torres against Elvin Rivera secured victory for the fourth seeds.

French in Fast Lane
A few nervous moments for Trent Carter and Ciro Finol but there were no heartaches for the French duo of Clement Drop and Paul Lavergne.

They beat the Venezuelan `D' team of Jondreth Millan, Emmanuel Colmenarez and Arny Quiroz by three matches to nil before handing out the same treatment when faced with Joel Slit and Jeremias Sotelo of Argentina.

The top two teams in all six groups progress to the knock-out stage which commences on Friday 2nd March 2007.