RIO DE JANEIRO, July, 14: Christopher Gordon, USA #2, in
his second match of the day fell to his Mexican #2 counterpart
3-1 in a very tight battle. Jorge Baltazar won the first
two games by a total of 4 points. Game 1 went 9-7 and game
2 went 10-8. Chris kicked it up in the 3rd and won 9-5 to
start his comeback. Unfortunately, Baltazar came out in
the 4th and finished Chris off 9-5. Chris will have a shot
at Baltazar again on Tuesday when the USA faces off with
Mexico in the team competition. Mexico is the #1 seed and
in the USA's Pool. The teams will square off Tuesday night
in the last match before the medal rounds start.
Julian Illingworth took care of business in his first action
of the Pan American games. A slight slip up in the 2nd couldn't
hold him back as he took the match 3-1 with convincing scores
of 9-2, (9-6), 9-3, 9-4 over the #1 from Argentina Robertino
Pezzota. Argentina is the #5 seeded team and Julian sent
a message today that the USA, as the #6 seeded team, is
here for medals.
Julian will now play defending Pan American Gold Winner
and PSA World Ranked #26 Shahier Razik of Canada tomorrow
at 11:00am in the quarter finals. Julian recently became
the highest ranked PSA World Ranked USA player in history
when he moved up to #55.
