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 News from Around Banderas Bay | June 2005 
Kids Cup Tennis Finals at Canto Del Sol
 Bob Cohen - PVNN
| | Canto Del Sol Tennis Director Martin Parra interviewed by Channel 8 reporter Vanessa Carina. | 
| | Thais Romero Forbes, 12 year old Puerto Vallarta tennis star finished 2nd in her division. She was the only kid to represent Puerto vallarta in the Kids' Cup. |
Sunday wrapped up the Kids’ Cup at the Canto Del Sol Resort and Tennis Club, with 16 youngsters winning berths to represent Mexico in the World Cup next month in Morocco. The week was full of both dominating and thrilling performances, starting with over 300 kids playing at four different hotels.
The weekend action all came home to the Canto del Sol for semifinal action all day Saturday and the finals on Sunday. Kudos to Tennis Director Martin Parra, his staff of pros, the tennis officials and the dozens of others who quietly and selflessly allowed this tournament to showcase the competing youngsters and Puerto Vallarta’s support of competitive tennis.
The level of play was spectacular as boys and girls, ages 9 -16 from every state in Mexico demonstrated to large, appreciative crowds just how well young kids can compete. Matches were extremely competitive, especially moving into weekend action and the competition, level of play and sportsmanship were to be admired.
Remembering how I used to throw tantrums at that age, the kids displayed the “cool” of seasoned professionals. The difference between winning and losing the finals presented some huge stakes. First came the #1 rankings for the country in each age bracket and then the chance to compete against an international group of champions in July.
Reporters were busy with their laptops, reporting results to their home newspapers as the matches concluded and television covered the final round as well. The finals began Sunday morning at 9:00 am and concluded at 4:00 in the afternoon. Six courts were used, the older kids playing on clay and the 14 and under age brackets using the covered hard courts in hot and humid weather condition. There are good and the bad parts of so many matches being played simultaneously; the good being a buffet of matches to watch, the bad being the same. I found myself tuned into two brackets, watching the matches to completion, both extremely close and competitive.
The first was the final with local favorite, Puerto Vallarta’s 12 year old Thais Romero Forbes, seeded 5th playing the top seed Carolina Betancourt Piñon of San Luis Potosi. Sitting next to Thais’ Dad Duncan added extra excitement and insight for me during the match. Duncan will be sending Thais one of the world’s top tennis camps in Florida after school finishes and be under the tutelage of top teaching professionals. The match was thrilling as Thais fell behind early to break serve, forcing the first set into a tiebreaker, losing 7-6.
In the second set Thais came back from a deeper deficit, down 5-2, winning the next two games, with Piñon taking the final game to win the set 6-4. Thais has all the tools at such a young age, hitting powerful ground strokes and an excellent serve, the first serve a hard flat service and the second serve coming with a big kick. A shot that gave Piñon a number of points was a deep high topspin lob that was unreturnable, too high to return before hitting the back wall. The match was well played, and congratulations are in order for both competitors.
On the same court following the match, a pair of 14 year old girls competed in their final. Top seed Alejandra Granillo Lugo from Hidalgo and 2nd seed Victoria Lozano Esparza of Guadalajara locked up in another hard hitting thrilling match. It went to three sets in a bit of a marathon match with Alejandra winning 6-3, 6-7 and 6-3. Both players deserved to win the final match that was on the court after all other action was finished, but only one can and Lugo will represent Mexico in the World Cup.
The scores of all finals are as follows:
Girls 9 year old - #2 seed Gala Monzalvo Urbalejo (State of Mexico) defeated #1 seed Soraya Van Doran (Disrticto Federal) 6-1, 1-6 and 6-4
Girls 10 year old - #1 seed Victoria Aracli Rodriguez Arroyo (Durango) defeated unseeded Ana Beatriz Balderas Ramirez (Guanajuato) 6-4 and 6-2
Girls 11 year old - #2 seed Zaira Anaid Monzalvo Urbalejo ( State of Mexico) defeated #1 seed Marcella Zacarias Valle (San Luis Potosi) 6-2 and 6-4
Girls 12 year old – Piñon 7-6 and 6-4 over Thais Romero
Girls 13 year old - #2 seed Rebeca Calvillo Saracho (Durango) defeated #1 seed Karen Teresa Hernandez Hernandez (Guadalajara) 6-2 and 6-2
Girls 14 year old – Lugo 6-3, 6-7 and 6-3 over Esparza
Girls 15 year old - #1 seed Maria Fernanda Macedo Parades (Disrticto Federal) defeated #2 seed Rebeca Natalia Delgado Gerardo (Sinaloa) 4-6, 7-5 and 6-0
Girls 16 year old - #1 seed Adraina Ximema Fuentes Montiel (Morelos) defeated unseeded Mariel Gloria Alvarez Arce (Baja California South) 6-1 and 6-2
Boys 9 year old – Unseeded Juan Pablo Delgado Farrer (Sonora) defeated #3 seed Diego Sosa Velazquez (Hidalgo) 6-3 and 6-3
Boys 10 year old - #1 seed Ricardo Medinilla Gutierrez (Disrticto Federal) defeated #6 seed Jose Lucas Gomez Torres (Baja California North) 7-5 and 6-4
Boys 11 year old - #2 seed Luis Adrian Pilatuña Marañon (Veracruz) defeated #1 seed Ricardo David Mayagoitia Perez (Coahila) 6-1 and 6-1
Boys 12 year old - #1 seed Luis Fernando Partiño Estrada (Sinaloa) defeated #2 seed Mariano Porter Gomez (Morelos) 7-5 and 6-4
Boys 13 year old – #1 seed Alexis Carlos Desormaux (Districto Federal) defeated #2 seed Daniel Elohim Fernandez Guerra (Aguacalientes) in two sets (scores unavailable)
Boys 14 year old – #4 seed Alejandro Medinilla Gutierrez (Disricto Federal) defeated #3 seed Oscar Suarez Mayorquin (Michoacan) 6-4 and 7-6
Boys 15 year old - #3 seed Bernardo Yañez Morales defeated #2 seed Ricardo Andrei Campos Contreras (Morelos) 6-3, 3-6 and 6-3
Boys 16 year old – #1 seed Daniel Serur dela Torte (Guadaljara) defeated #5 seed Hans Hach Verdugo (Sinaloa) in two sets (scores unavailable)
A big thank you to all the participants, and congratulations to all the winners and best of luck in the World Cup in Morocco. Bring home some trophies to Mexico! |
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