Sunday, November 19th, 2023.- This Sunday, the wheelchair tennis competition kicked off at the Estadio Nacional’s Centro Deportivo del Tenis. The inaugural day highlighted the debut of the top seed in the female's category, American Dana Mathewson, ranked 7th in the ITF (International Tennis Federation) rankings.

Mathewson had no trouble defeating the Brazilian Meirycoll Duval 6-2 and 6-1. In the quarter-finals of the Parapan American Games, she will face the winner of the match between Chilean Sofía Fuentes and Ecuadorian Alexandra Meza.

"I felt very good, although I was a bit nervous at the beginning because it was my first match in the tournament. But I felt great. I'm aware that I'm the top seed based on my ranking, and I hope to take advantage of it because it would be great to win the gold medal," said the North American after her victory.

In the male's category, the competition opened with three Round of 32 matches: Canadian Thomas Venos defeated Peruvian Gerardo Chomba 6-1 and 6-1, Ecuadorian Eduardo López beat Guatemalan José Girón 6-1 and 6-0, and Colombian Eliecer Oquendo defeated Venezuelan Miguel Godoy 6-1, 6-0.

Written by Macarena Navias; translated by Rocio Rojas / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport
Photo by Karin Pozo / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport