Gutierrez, Teran win Gold
June 30, 2004, By Rob Dinerman; SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2004

Jorge Gutierrez of Argentina won a contentious first-game tiebreaker against Erick Galvez of host Mexico and then cruised home from there to a 10-9 9-6 9-5 victory in the gold-medal match of the 2003 Pan American Federation Cup. In the women's final, Galvez's compatriot Samantha Teran got off to a great start and was able to hold off a late rally by American Meredeth Quick, who made a real bid for the third game before falling 9-5, 4 and 7 to Teran before an enthusiastic and ultimately jubilant Tepic crowd.

FAIR PLAY PREVAILS

Women's Individual Final: Teran defeats Quick (photo courtesy FPS 2004)

Teran was an active player on the WISPA women's pro tour during the early 2000's, though she did not compete much during the just-concluded 2003-2004 season. Her closest call of the entire tournament came in the round of 16 against Quick's American teammate Michelle Quibell, who saved a fourth-game tiebreaker before being overrun by Teran in the 9-4 fifth game. Teran also ousted another American, Lily Lorentzen, in the semis, while another Mexican, Jose Becemil, eliminated three of the American men (Preston Quick, Julian Illingworth and Chris Gordon) in getting to the semis of the men's draw. The U.S. vs. Mexico team match should provide the Americans an opportunity for revenge against their respective nemeses in the individual tourney.

VOLATILE ACTION
If the women's final was characterized by good play and good manners, the men's final featured a wild first game in which Gutierrez and Galvez, who must have had a provocative rivalry in recent years based on their interaction, appeared to be taunting each other between points and aiming for each other during them; Gutierrez hit Galvez on purpose once and just missed him another time. Both were assessed penalty points and it wasn't until the second game that the referee finally was able to get control of the action. The courts themselves play very lively, with the ball flying all over and even precise shots rarely landing for winners, and this factor, combined with the personalities of the combatants, no doubt contributed to the volatility of the play.

FLAIR, FITNESS

Women's Medalists: Quick (silver) Teran (bronze) Quibell (Bronze) Lorentzen (Bronze) (photo courtesy FPS 2004)

In addition, both finalists play with real flair and athleticism, all of which created a macho element to their final, especially in that close opening game. For some reason, and in contrast to what is usually the case, there is more of a premium on winning the team event than the individual, almost to a degree that has caused the individuals to be regarded as kind of warm-up tournament leading to the team competition. To the extent that the foregoing holds in this event, there should be some very interesting matches as the rest of this week unfolds.

Final-Round Recap

Men: Jorge Gutierrez (Arg) d Erick Galvez (Mex), 10-9 9-6 9-5
Women: Samantha Teran (Mex) d Meredeth Quick (USA) 9-5, 4 and 7.

Squashtalk.com All materials © 1999-2004. Communicate with us at info@squashtalk.com.
Published by Squashtalk LLC, 409 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 102, Acton, MA 01720 USA, Editor and Publisher Ron Beck,
Graphics editor Debra Tessier Send comments, ideas, contributions and feedback to the webmaster.
Copyright © 1999-2004 SquashTalk, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form except for one-time personal use.