By Alberto Amalfi | @Tennis_Now | Monday, November 27, 2023
Dana Mathewson turned Santiago’s red clay into gold road.
San Diego native Mathewson rolled to a pair of gold medals—in women’s singles and doubles—at the 2023 Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
Mathewson won two of the three gold medals Team USA collected at the Games. Her singles gold medal qualifies Mathewson for 2024 Paralympics in Paris.
Mathewson scored a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Colombia’s Angelica Bernal in the women’s singles final, earning an automatic bid to next summer’s Paralympic Games in Paris.
In the doubles gold medal match, Mathewson and 16-year-old Maylee Phelps (Portland, Ore.) beat Brazil’s Maria Fernanda Alves and Meirycoll Duval in a match that came down to a few key points in the match tiebreak, 3-6, 6-2 10-8.
“Once you get a taste of these medals, you want more,” Mathewson said. “This has been an amazing time.
“I never expected to be the flag-bearer; I never expected to get two gold medals. It has been unbelievable.”
Mathewson previously started off her milestone week as one of Team USA’s two flag-bearers for the opening ceremony, an honor she shared with judo athlete Ben Goodrich, and when she returns to the U.S., she’ll get married in a week’s time. Mathewson has now won four career Parapan medals.
The quad doubles team of David Wagner (Walla Walla, Wash./San Diego) and Andrew Bogdanov (Prescott, Ariz.) rounded out the U.S. medalists with a bronze. Wagner and Bogdanov beat the Colombian team of Daniel Campaz and Albeiro Moreno, 6-4, 6-4, in the third-place match.
Held every four years and one year ahead of the Paralympic Games, the Parapan American Games are the largest multi-sport event in the Americas.
Photo credits: USTA
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