An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium defended her Copa del Café title with a straight set (6-4, 7-5) victory over No. 2 seed Caroline Garcia of France in the 47th installment of Central America’s largest junior tennis tournament. Mestach won the singles and doubles titles at the Copa del Café in 2010.
On the boys’ side, top-seeded Hugo Dellien of Bolivia claimed the tournament title, defeating the U.S.’s Bjorn Fratangelo 6-2, 6-4.
Mestach and partner Demi Schuurs of Netherland could not defend their doubles title. Instead the top-ranked duo fell in the second round. Third-seeded Anita Husaric of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Danka Kovinic of Montenegro earned the women’s doubles championship by beating unseeded Domenica Gonzalez of Ecuador and Rebecca Peterson of Sweden in a third set tie break 6-3, 5-7, 10-7
Americans Michael Rinaldi and William Kwok eked by Gabriel Pereira and Francisco Rambon of Brazil 7-6 (3), 3-6, 11-9 to win the men’s doubles title. Rinaldi and Kwok needed to fend off a match point in the match tiebreaker before securing the victory.
The Copa del Café has a storied tradition of hosting young talents that go on to be big-time professional stars. The tournament touts an impressive list of alumni, including tennis greats Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, 2009 U.S. Open winner Juan Martín del Potro and current giant Roger Federer. On the women’s side, stars such as Amanda Coetzer and Jana Novotna competed in the Copa del Café before moving on to successful professional careers.
