Bintang's pro players have been training hard the past month. Puerto Rico Open was the first international tournament for Ilian and Holvy in a long time. This tournament attracted top players from Canada, U.S., Brazil, Peru, and Italy, to name a few. Topher played men's singles and men's doubles (partner is from Mexico). He made it to semi-finals (SF) in doubles, after beating Daniel Gouw/Arnold Setiadi in QF.
Ilian played men's singles and men's doubles with Holvy. Ilian and Holvy lost men's doubles in QF to a Canadian team. Ilian had to play qualifiers for singles. He won qualifiers and made it to the main draw, where first round he faced a player from Iran (who played in the 2008 Olympics). And Ilian won! In QF round, Ilian played Howard Shu and won. In SF round, he played Wisnnu Putro, an Indonesian playing for Italy. Ilian managed to win the first game, but then his arm was hurting a lot and he couldn't smash or clear, and lost second and third games. He played very well though and made it much further than we had expected! Good job!
Holvy played mixed doubles in addition to men's doubles with Ilian. He and Grace (Yun) Peng upset many seeds. They won their first two rounds easily. In QF, they beat a Canadian pair two games straight. They advanced to SF, where they met the #1 seed Toby Ng/Grace Gao from Canada. Holvy and partner won in two straight sets! Then Holvy and Grace played finals against yet another Canadian pair. It was a close three-set match, but Holvy/Grace stayed strong and they won!!! What a sweet victory and this was the first major tournament for this pair of retirees. ^_^
Congrats to Holvy, Topher, and Ilian for their achievements. Their hard work training is paying off!
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