Photo: Mara ChaplinThe team from Canada
Canada dropped just one game in three rubbers to the reach the final of the BNP Paribas World Team Cup Americas Qualification event after beating Guatemala 3-0 on the second day of competition at the Roger Scott Tennis Centre in Pensacola, Florida.
Eric Gilbert got Canada off to a solid start in the Pool 2 tie when he beat Guatemala’s Macario Ramas 61 60 in the opening singles rubber.
Joel Dembe gave Canada an unassailable lead after easing past Julio Rueda 60 60 and Gilbert then paired up with Philippe Bedard to beat Oscar Oliva and Sergio Beteta 60 60 in the doubles rubber.
After a 3-0 loss to Colombia on Wednesday’s opening day of play, Puerto Rico brought its participation in the round-robin phase of the competition in Pool 1 to a winning end after beating El Salvador 3-0.
Anthony Seijo beat El Salvador’s Pedro Perez 64 60 to give Puerto Rico a winning start and Hector Maldonado put the tie beyond El Salvador after a 61 61 win over Mario Lucero. Puerto Rico’s victory was completed by Miguel Lozada and Maldonado, who won the doubles rubber against Perez and Eric Deras 62 61.
Colombia bids to make it two wins from two ties on Friday when taking on El Salvador in the final tie of the round-robin phase of this week’s qualification event before Saturday’s final and third and fourth place play-off.