| | |  News from Around Banderas Bay | August 2008 
24th Annual 4 Copas Tequila Copa Canto Del Sol Wrap Up
 Bob Cohen - PVNN
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| | On the left, Fernando Figueroa winner of the "C" singles championship over Jorge Romero, both of Guadalajara. | 
| | On the left, Angelica Gonzalez with partner Louisa Fenton, winner of the thrilling women's "C" doubles championship. Both players are from Guadalajara. | 
| | Martin Parra Jr. at 8 years old played in his first competitive tournament and although he lost we expect to see more from the son of the Canto Del Sol Tennis Director. | 
| | On the left, Louisa Fenton with partner Eugenia Angola, with the finalist trophy after narrowly losing their thrilling "C" doubles match. Eugenia did win the "C" singles earlier in the day. Both are from Guadalajara. | 
| | On the left, "A" singles champion Fernando Ornelas with finalist Ismael Fernandez, both from Guadalajara. | 
| | On the left "B" singles champion Juan Manuel Beas of Guadalajara with finalist Oswaldo Godinez of Tepic. | 
| | On the left, Bob Cohen of Puerto Vallarta, finalist in "D" doubles, next to champions Luis Almanza and Juan Mamnuel Beas, Sr of Guadalajara. Bob's partner, Julio Vargas of Guadalajara is on the right. | 
| | On the left Rodrigo Beas of Guadalajara, finalist in "D" singles with champion Roberto Gonzalez of Tepic. |
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The 24th Annual Copa Canto Del Sol concluded Sunday with final matches in men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and Kid's finals which had a separate tournament running concurrent to the final two days of the event. Sponsorship of the popular Puerto Vallarta tennis tournament was taken over by 4 Copas Tequila, a Jalisco grown international award winning tequila.
Highlighted this year was the amateur play as a late announcement changed the format, prize purse and points earned, so most of Mexico's top professionals did not participate. But that did not keep a huge contingent of Guadalajara amateurs, as well as a Tepic contingent joining the local Puerto Vallarta tennis players for bragging rights in all amateur divisions. This first week of August has always brought tennis fanatics to Puerto Vallarta to compete and vacation in our city.
The toughest single category was the "C" division in both the men's and women's draw. As I tend to forget and did again this year, "C" players in this tournament are as good as or better than "B" players in a local Puerto Vallarta tournament for two reasons. The competition is greater in Guadalajara due to a number of interclub competitions as well as regular club tournaments and also rumor has it that players come to Vallarta and play down a level in an attempt to win trophies.
The men's "C" division was won by Guadalajara's Fernando Figueroa who marched through his first two rounds winning 6-0, 6-0, faced a challenge in the semifinals but won 6-3, 6-3 and defeated Jorge Romero also of Guadalajara in the finals 6-1, 6-0. We do not expect to see Fernando playing in the "C" division next year; in fact he competed in the "A" doubles this week, losing in the semifinal round.
The women's "C" division was by far the most competitive and had thrilling finals in both the singles and doubles. The singles final pitted two Guadalajara women, Eugenia Angola, the bigger and stronger of the two against Louisa Fenton. There was a large crowd watching the two compete for the title played on the clay courts. Eugenia won the first set 6-4, but Louisa came back to even the match with a 6-4 2nd set victory. The rallies were long and the two reached the two hour mark early in the 3rd set. Louisa jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the final set, but Eugenia ran off five consecutive games to win the set 6-4 and claimed the "C" championship.
This was not the end of their rivalry as just 30 minutes later, the two took to the hard courts for the doubles championship in the "C" division and they were on opposing sides once again. Eugenia, looking for a sweep in "C" had Rosy Saldaρa of Guadalajara as her partner and Louisa had Angelica Gonzalez also of Guadalajara as her partner.
Eugenia started where she left off in singles, leading her team to a 6-2 first set lead, but the scrappier play of Louisa and Angelica made for an exciting 2nd set and 6-4 victory, to even the match at a set each. These young women had already played close to five hours in the heat and humidity that reached a heat index of close to 120 degrees and were still slugging it out to start the deciding 3rd set. All other matches in the tournament had concluded and everyone remaining players and fans were watching the action on Court One.
They went game for game with never more than a two game lead separating the two teams as they reached 3-3. They split games again and went to 4-4 and then 5-5. Serving for the match at 6-5, Eugenia and Rosy were broken as the battered teams went to a sudden death tiebreak, where the winner is the first to reach seven points, winning by two. Louisa and Angelica opened a small lead in the tiebreak and held it until the score was 5-5.
At that point each and every point would either be a match point or bring a match point next and the girls didn't let down. They saved match points and the score reached 10-10. A mistake gave Louisa and Angelica another match point and they capitalized with a shot at net shot that split their opponents.
The players of the tournament were Eugenia Angola for her "C" singles title and Louisa Fenton for her "C" doubles title. The two were on the courts for about six hours during the hottest part of the day and for their efforts they won two trophies each. "Only a tennis fanatic would understand!"
Other winners were:
Men's AA Singles - Eduardo Orozco of Guadalajara by default.
Men's A Singles - Fernando Ornelas defeated Ismael Fernandez, both of Guadalajara (score unavailable)
Men's B Singles - Juan Manuel Beas of Guadalajara defeated Oswaldo Godinez of Tepic (score unavailable)
Men's C Singles - Fernando Figueroa 6-1, 6-0 over Jorge Romero, both of Guadalajara.
Men's D Singles - Roberto Gonzalez of Tepic 6-0, 6-4 over Rodrigo Beas of Guadalajara.
Men's A Doubles - Ismael Fernandez & Juan Manuel Beas of Guadalajara 6-4, 6-2 over Lindy Frakes of Chicago and Puerto Vallarta & Ricardo Gutierrez of Chicago.
Men's C Doubles - Alejandro Hinojosa & Roberto Alvarez defeated Gerardo Garcia & Miguel Angel Real all of Guadalajara (store unavailable)
Men's D Doubles - Juan Manuel Beas, Sr. & Luis Almanza of Guadalajara 7-5. 6-0 over Bob Cohen of Puerto Vallarta & Julio Vargas of Guadalajara.
Women's A/B Singles - Marisol Lebert of Guadalajara.
Women's C Singles and Doubles - see above
The 24th Annual Copa Canto Del Sol was once again successful and well attended even though the professional portion announced was cancelled. Recapping the results, players from Guadalajara won 10 championships of the 11 played and finished second in 9, Tepic won the other championship and finished 2nd in one. Puerto Vallarta players had two 2nds in two doubles categories and a Chicago competitor also finished 2nd as part of a doubles team.
Congratulations to not only the winners, but to all that participated and a big thank you to Tennis Director Martin Parra and his staff of tennis professionals.
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