Category: LPRT

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Montse Mejia

– Doubles: @Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas Solis

Mejia wins her 8th career singles title, moving into 12th place all time. She returns to the winner’s circle for the first time in exactly a year; she won the 2024 Arizona Open for her last title. Meanwhile, Longoria & Salas win their 50th career pro doubles title together; our records only go back to 2014 and I have them at 40 in the database, which means another 10 in the years prior to 2014 that we could go back and find with enough LPRT event research.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=45386

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/q89

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In the 32s:

– Lotts and Ros had a battle, going tie-breaker, before Lotts advanced. These 16/17 seed matches are tough.

– Lucia Gonzalez pressed Amaya, losing 8,14.

– Arizona Resident Michelle Key was a withdrawal from her “home” tournament, giving MRR a walkover. She played doubles the next day, so this was an odd wbf-ns.

– Annie Sanchez got a solid win over Lexi York to move on and get a rare win on tour.

– Rhonda’s return to the tour ended with a one-and-done at the hands of Kelani 4,8

– Parrilla made fast work of Enriquez 4,2.

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In the 16s:

– The 8/9 matchup between Amaya and Salas went the distance, as expected, with Samantha squeaking out an 11-10 win.

– Herrera got pushed by Centellas, who won the first game before falling (10),13,6

– Mendez cruised past Parrilla 11,1 to earn another quarterfinal.

– The Vargas-Barrios match was tight as expected, but Maria Jose won 10,12 to avoid the round of 16 upset.

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In the Quarters

– #1 Longoria beat her doubles partner Salas, as the met for the 63rd time on tour. Believe it or not, that’s not the most frequent h2h match we’ve ever seen; Longoria played Rhonda 69 times in their career (see https://rball.pro/uce )

– #5 Gaby made fast work of #4 Herrera 8,4 to setup a solid semi from the top side.

– #3 Mejia seems like she’s on a mission, crushing #6 Lawrence 0,4 to move on.

– #2 Vargas dropped the first game against her now dropped doubles partner Mendez before advancing.

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In the Semis

– #1 Longoria had to come from a game down to beat the Guatemalan Martinez, cruising to an 11-1 tiebreaker.

– #3 Mejia continued her torrid stretch, dominating the the drained Vargas in two 7,9 to move into the final.

In the Finals, Mejia defended her 2024 title in this event with a comprehensive 8,14 win.

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Points Implications of results

Mejia and Vargas tightened the points race, but there’s still a sizeable gap from Longoria to Vargas (300 points or so), and then from Vargas to Mejia (another 300 points or so). The gap from the top 3 players just to #4 Herrera is monumental; nearly 500 points, which would take most of a season to make up.

Changes we saw: Lawrence and the missing Laime switched spots at #6/7. Synhorst should move up to #14 with her round of 32 win. Lotts is climbing up the rankings, now at #17. Centellas jumps a few spots and is now back in the top 20.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/x1k

The doubles draw gave us an upset of the #1 team for the first time in more than a year, as the new-look Argentina doubles team Vargas/Centellas topped Mejia & Herrera in the semis. However, Longoria & Salas (now dumped down to #3) didn’t drop a game all weekend and took the title 12,10.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– LPRT U21: Yanna Salazar took out countrymate Daniela Rico for the U21 title.

– Women’s Open: Naomi Ros faced Angelica Barrios as the two tops seeds, and the former top 8 LPRT pro won out as she rebuild her ranking points.

– Men’s Open: US Jr National team member Grant Williams faced Texan Daniel Bautista for the title and won 10,5.

– Men’s Open Doubles was taken by Arizona residents Coy Rogers and Alonzo Tavares

– Mixed Open Doubles was taken by Katie Neils & Freddie Villalon in a walkover that may have been travel related (i.e. someone had to get on a plane).

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., JTRball, and Tj Baumbaugh

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

There was an IRT satellite in Kansas this weekend that we’ll do a quick recap of. The next big pro event is the IRT Lewis Drug in Sioux Falls in two weeks’ time.

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tags

LPRT

Welcome to one of the longer running events on tour, the Arizona Open, run by hall of famer @Jim Winterton in Tempe on the campus of Arizona State University.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=45386

We’ve got 27 pros entered in the singles division here, which is a high water mark so far for the new season and seems to indicate a slight increase of “tour depth” from last season.

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Let’s preview the singles draw.

In the 32s:

– We get a rematch of Lotts/Ros in the 16/17 from the Lombard event in November; Lotts won 11,10 back then, but Ros is improving by the month.

– We get a rare sighting of Lucia Gonzalez, former Mexican junior phenom. She takes on Amaya in the 32s, but based on Cristina’s form I don’t see an upset here. Gonzalez, in case you didn’t know who she was, won 7 IRF Junior world titles in her junior career, including the 18U world title in 2013 at a time when the 18U world champion basically was a guarantee of a top 10 LPRT pro (the 2 18U champs preceeding and following Lucia? Lambert, Vargas, Hererra and Mendez).

– Michelle Key, now all the way up to #12, takes on former touring pro regular MRR.

– Lexi York takes on Annie (Roberts) Sanchez, looking to take a step up after finishing off her junior career last December. Sanchez hasn’t had the success on tour that she’s had internationally and this is a good test.

– We have a @Rhonda Rajsich sighting! She’s entered an LPRT event, in her home state, for the first time in two years. She has an easier round of 32 this time than she did two years ago (when she faced Vargas), but she’s still and underdog against #6 @Kelani Lawrence .

– A tough matchup of Mexican top 10 veterans Parrilla and Enriquez is set for the 10-23 round of 32.

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round of 16:

– Amaya/Salas projection in the 8/9 match for the fourth time in a year. Salas has generally been winning these veteran battles, but they’re usually going tiebreaker.

– Gaby-Key in the 5/12: these two have been meeting somewhat regularly in international play for a decade, with Martinez holding the edge.

– Mendez vs the Enriquez/Parrilla winner. Mendez has struggled in her career against Parrilla, but has been playing well as of late and has been playing to her seeds pretty frequently.

– Vargas vs Barrios: this is brutal draw for the #2 seed Vargas, playing a player who has a slew of career wins over her. They’re 4-4 for their career against each other, though Vargas has beaten her handily in the two meetings they had last year. Nonetheless, this is about as big of a contrast in styles as you’ll see on tour and this will always be an upset watch.

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Projected Qtrs:

– 1/8 @Paola Longoria over the Salas/Amaya winner; if its Salas, it would be their 63rd professional meeting.

– 4/5 Herrera vs Gaby; this isn’t a great matchup for Gaby, who has lost to Alexandra the last three times they’ve played. They’ve all been close, but Herrera’s game style seems to stymy Martinez. I’ll go with the lefty to win here.

– 3/6 Mejia vs Lawrence; they’ve played 3 times in their careers, none were especially close. Mejia to advance.

– 2/7 Vargas tops her doubles partner Mendez, to whom she’s never lost in singles.

Semis: It’s more of the same; last event Herrera missed but Laime filled in, but was still the same crew in the semis that i’m projecting here.

– Longoria over Herrera: Alexandra had Longoria’s number for a brief moment, but seemingly no longer. Paola to the final.

– Vargas over Mejia: somehow these two have avoided each other for nearly a year on tour despite both being ranked in the top 3 that entire time. Vargas has had the upper hand lately, but this is always a fun one to watch because of the power-first style of both players. Vargas to win again.

Finals; Another Paola vs Vargas matchup. Did you know these two have played 55 times in pro and high-level IRF events over their careers? It’s been a tale of two players in their head to head career:

– From their first meeting at 2012 Worlds to this Arizona event in 2023, Longoria held an astounding 41-2 over Vargas. She won their first 26 meetings.

– From Feb 2023 to now? Vargas leads 7-5.

Yes those are arbitrary endpoints. But we know Vargas flipped a switch in 2023, which led to her first title in June of 2024, and that switch has stayed on. These two have met in two finals so far this season, splitting them both, both in TBs. No reason not to think that’ll happen again here. When Vargas has an easier semi, she seems to have an easier final; i don’t see that here. So i’ll go with Longoria to win.

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Doubles review

There’s some interesting developments in the Doubles draw. Herrera/Mejia are #1 as expected, but Vargas is playing with Centellas, not Mendez. Both represent Argentina, and they’ve never once played together previously. So, Mendez picks up one of the best doubles players in the world in Michelle Key and they’re the #2 seeds.

Key/Mendez will have their work cut out for them, as team Guatemala is the #7 seed and is a favorite to upset them. Meanwhile, the experienced team of Scott/Lawrence will test the new-look Argentines in the 4/5 matchup.

At the end of the day, I th ink its the two top Mexican teams facing off once again in the final, with Herrera/Mejia topping Longoria/Salas for the title.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for Timothy Baghurst, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Coincidentally, if you’re interested in playing Fantasy Racquetball for this event, the links to the brackets are advertised on LPRT’s main page. The winner each week gets free swag!

Associations

@LPRT

Hashtags #racquetball #proracquetball #lprt

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Paola Longoria

– Doubles: @Montse Mejia and Brenda Laime Jalil

comments on winner; updated # of tourneys, updated season, etc

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=46046

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/bd7

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In the 32s:

– @Erika Manilla made a winning return to the tour, topping newlywed Maria Renee Rodríguez 11,7 in the opener. She fell to Vargas in the next round, but she’s back on tour, which is the best news following her 10-month injury absence.

– @Frederique Lambert blasted Michelle Key 6,1 in a surprise first round matchup. Key is coming off taking Longoria to a breaker in the last event but was handled easily by the part-time player/ER doctor Lambert.

– @jesJessica Parrilla topped @Laura Brandt 0,4 to move on. Notable only because Brant’s appearance on tour at age 62 was the 3rd oldest known tour appearance in the history of the Ladies pro tour. https://rball.pro/nyi

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In the 16s:

– #9 Carla Muñoz turned the tide on a recent lost to Cristina Amaya Cassino , topping the #8 seed in a breaker. This could be a fun rivalry for a while.

– #3 Mejia was pressed by @Valeria Centellas but moved on 10,14.

– #11 Parrilla got a solid win over #6 @Kelani Lawrence to earn a rare quarter final.

– #7 @Natalia Mendez kept her recent streak alive over #10 @Samantha Salas Solis , going breaker to advance.

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In the Quarters

– #1 @Maria Jose Vargas moved past Munoz 1,11

– #4 @Ana Ana Gabriela Martínez held off #5 Laime in a close 10,12 match.

– #3 Mejia moved past country-woman Parrilla with ease 4,5

– #2 Longoria was not troubled by Mendez, winning 6,8

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In the Semis

– Vargas and Gaby went down to the wire, with Gaby having a match point at 10-10 but was unable to convert. This was just the opening Vargas needed, as she rolled off a couple points 9-10 down to win the semi 11-10 and move on. Heartbreak for the Guatemalan.

– Longoria continued her recent mastery over Mejia on the singles court 13,5 to earn another final.

In the Finals, Vargas and Longoria had another back and forth affair, this time with the long-time #1 coming out on top.

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Points Implications of results

With this win. Longoria should take back over the #1 spot on tour, which she relinquished in December 2023 for the first time since 2008. Munoz and Amaya should switch spots at the 9/10 range. Michelle Key rises to #14, which may be a career high. Lastly, Manilla comes in at #20 and will have her work cut out for her as she regains ranking points here on forward.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/rve

Manilla and her Team USA teammate Michelle Key topped the #2 and #3 seeds to earn a final, but lost to the #1 seeds Mejia & Laime there. Still, a great result.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Women’s Open Singles: Centellas got the title, with a win over MRR in the final. MRR had topped Parrilla in the semis for a solid win.

– Men’s Open Singles: Local IRT veterans @Mario Mercado and MoMo Zelada , co-founders of @Formulaflow and playing out of their home club, met in the final, taken by Zelada in three.

– Mens Open doubles: IRT staff member Samuel Schulze and local Maryland player John Behm shocked Mercado/Zelada in the Open doubles final.

– The Simmons Father/daughter duo took the Mixed Open/Elite doubles title, topping two local players Imani Valentine & Chris Ruano in the final.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Favio Soto, Steve Schulze, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew

Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

the International Racquetball Federation – IRF World juniors event is underway in Guatemala, with group stages going on now. We’ll possibly post a preview of the knockouts based on time this week, otherwise we’ll recap it next week. There’s one big outdoor event happening this weekend, then the year wraps up.

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tags

LPRT

Welcome to the halfway point of the LPRT season, and the final pro event of the 2024 calendar year. It is the long-running DC-area based Christmas Classic, which has been an LPRT stop for years. The event is in its 32nd year, which puts its first iteration in the 1991.

I first helped out with this event, as far as my old files tell me, in the 8th iteration in 1999 when the event was run in at the Tysons club in Tysons Corner (McLean) Virginia. The event has moved around the DC area as clubs were closed or lost enough courts to make hosting impossible; the event has gone from Tysons to Crystal Gateway in Arlington, to Sportfit in Laurel Maryland, and now at the Severna Park Health & Racquet facility in Millersville/Severna Park area closer to Baltimore. LPRT sanctioning began in 2007 and has been consistent ever since, making it one of the longest continually running pro events out there, for either the Ladies or the Men.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=46046

There’s 24 players here this weekend. Top players missing include #4 Herrera, #15 Barrios, #19 Ros and #20 Scott.

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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:

In the 32s:

– We have the triumphant return of @Erika Manilla , who comes in at the #16 seed. She’ll face off against another player who’s attendance has been spotty lately , long-time tour player #17 Maria Renee Rodríguez for a shot at #1 Vargas.

– The 24th seed out of 24 is California @Erica Williams, who’s flow 3,000 miles from her home town in the Bay Area to play and watch. Williams is one of the biggest supporters of racquetball on the west coast and its great to see her in the DC area.

– Two top Canadian players are entered this weekend; @Juliette Parent faces off against #12 @Lexi York in what could be a great match. Meanwhile, Frederique Lambert makes a rare appearance coming off her Canadian National selection event win last weekend; she plays into #13 Michelle Key , who’s been on fire lately.

– #12 @Jessica Parrilla faces off against Laura Brandt , who is playing this event in her age 62 season, which has to be close to a record for the LPRT. Hmm; that sounds like a query worth writing: oldest player ever to appear in a pro event? That might be a fun one.

– In the 15/18 we get María Paz Riquelme versus Khyathi Velpuri , a good test for the young Colorado based American.

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Projecting the round of 16:

– #1 @Maria Jose Vargas has to contend with Manilla in her first event back: it may be a bit too early for Erika to take out Vargas, but this is a semis-quality match in the 16s.

– In the 8/9 @Carla Muñoz and Cristina Amaya Cassino face off in the round of 16, in this 8/9 match, for the 4th time since May. Munoz won the first two this year, but Amaya got her two weeks ago in Chicago. Coin flip.

– #4 @Gaby Martinez is here, making a somewhat rare appearance, and she gets the winner of the Lambert/Key match as an opener. Gaby is a threat to win whenever she enters and has three tournament wins in the last four seasons. If she’s to go on a run she’ll have a tough opener to get her started.

– #6 @Kelani Lawrence makes the drive up from Virginia and gets a second ever meeting against @Jessica Parrilla . Kelani beat Leoni in May; can she do it again?

– #7 @Natalia Mendez and #10 @Samantha Salas Solis look to meet for the third time in the round of 16 since June; Mendez has crushed Salas the previous two times.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 Vargas over Munoz/Amaya winner; Vargas is 15-1 combined against her two possible opponents career on the LPRT and is coming off a win in Chicago two weeks ago.

– Great potential quarter between #5 Brenda Laime Jalil and #4 Gaby. Laime had Longoria beat two weeks ago in Chicago; I thought she rolled out match point before having it called a skip and then losing 11-10. If she’s playing at that calibre, then she’s going to be tough for Martinez to beat here. These two met in the semis in Denver, a tough TB win for Gaby before she won the title. however, these are Laime’s home courts, and they’re not playing at altitude as they did in Denver (where Gaby lives and trains and had the advantage). I’ll go with Laime in the upset.

– #3 @Montse Mejia versus the Lawrence/Parrilla Winner: Mejia got waxed in the last pro event, and hasn’t made a final since April. She shouldn’t be troubled by either player at this juncture, but can’t look forward to her anticipated semis meeting against Paola.

– #2 Paola Longoria likely faces Mendez, just as she did two weeks ago, and likely moves on with little trouble.

Semis:

– Vargas over Laime. They’ve played 5 times, but most are older results. The last time they met was in June 2023, a tie-breaker win for Vargas. I sense Laime presses Vargas to a breaker but falls.

– Longoria over Mejia; they’ve met 26 times in top-level/non-regional event competitions. After a spell in 2022 when Mejia had her number, Longoria has taken back over the h2h rivalry and should win here.

Finals; I like Vargas over Longoria again to keep her lead atop the rankings.

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Doubles review

The partnerships in DC are crazy this week, with Longoria curiously not playing and Herrera missing. After winning the previous title with Key, Laime picked up Mejia and are the #1 seeds. meanwhile, Key teams with the returning Manilla to form a pretty solid team on paper; all depends on how rusty Manilla is. Team Argentina remains #2, while team Guatemala is #6 and is a real favorite from the bottom half. The two top Canadians are here, but both Lambert and Parent are playing with others (instead of getting cycles playing together for future IRF events). So, interesting draw for s ure.

I’ll go with #1 Laime/Mejia from the top, Rodriguez & Martinez from the bottom, and Laime/Mejia title.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for Timothy Baghurst, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Associations

@LPRT

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Maria Jose Vargas

– Doubles: Michelle Key & Brenda Laime

Vargas gets back on top with a solid win over her rival Longoria, winning her 11th career title. She’s now nearly into the top 10 all time of tourney wins. Meanwhile, Key & Laime break the strangle hold that Mejia & Herrera have had on the pro doubles circuit with a breakthrough win.

Singles Match report in PRS database: https://rball.pro/d1b

Doubles match report in PRS database: https://rball.pro/46p

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=45473

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In the 32s, nothing too surprising. Great all-USA wins by Lotts and York respectively over younger rivals.

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In the 16s:

– Amaya takes out her close rival in the rankings Munoz in two. Amaya has really rebounded as of late; she went three straight seasons without getting past the round of 16, and now has done it 3 times in the last 10 events.

– Herrera holds off Centellas in a tie-breaker that looked like it’d go the other way for a while.

– Laime is stretched but gets past Parrilla in three

– Mendez blasts Salas once again, the second time in a row she’s had a dominant win over her long time LPRT rival.

– Key takes a game off of #2 Longoria but runs out of gas in the breaker 11-3.

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In the Quarters

– Vargas has to go three to top the resurgent Amaya.

– Herrera holds serve against Lawrence to move on.

– Laime dominates Mejia and wins 6,5, a surprising result. Laime and Mejia have similar game styles, and as we’ve pointed out in teh past Laime usually comes out of nowhere for deep tourney runs.

– Longoria handled Mendez to move into the semis 4,4

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In the Semis

– Vargas cruised past Herrera 7,8 to move into the final.

– Longoria and Laime had themselves a heck of a battle, with it coming down to a 10-10 tiebreaker with all the drama one would expect. At the end of a brutal 2 hour marathon that featured dozens of side outs in each game, Laime cracked out a serve at 9-9 to earn the match point opportunity but Longoria blasted a cross court winner to save match point against. As is typical in these close do or die situations, referee calls loomed large. At 9-10 down, Longoria looked for an avoidable on a passing shot but didn’t get it, even on appeal. Then, Laime got a forehand setup and hit what this observer thought was a simple kill shot; called a skip by the ref and then one-up/one-down from the line judges (a really bad call at that juncture honestly). This led to a heated discussion, a side-out, and of course the inevitable two point swing to Longoria’s favor to win the match. Just a brutal way to lose.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao_HrRCepbQ for the match replay, and 1:53.26 for the shot in question and judge for yourself.

In the Finals, Vargas won games 1 and 3 going away, lost game 2 going away.

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Points Implications of results

– Longoria gains a little but on Vargas but remains #2.

– Despite not playing, Gaby moves up to #5 due to points expiration

– Not much else in terms of movement in the top 10

– Synhorst moves up a few spots, as does Key and Lotts for touring more regularly.

– Former top 4 pro Manilla now sits outside the top 20 and will have a long way back.

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Doubles review

Great win from Key and Laime, both excellent doubles players, for taking out both the #1 and #2 seeds in one event.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Parrilla took the Women’s Open over Ros (who had taken out #1 Munoz in semis)

– Men’s Open was taken in an all-chicago final between winner Thomas carter and Jeremy Dixon

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., JTRball, and Tj Baumbaugh

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

World Juniors kicks off in Guatemala next weekend, then the LPRT is back in action in the DC area before the year ends.

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tags

LPRT 32nd AnnualTurkey Shoot Preview

The LPRT returns to one of the most iconic courts in the land; the sunken three-glass wall centerpiece of the Glass Court Swim and Fitness club in Lombard, IL. Home of the main movers and shakers of the Chicago-area racquetball scene, this tournament is the brainchild of long-time racquetball benefactor Geoff Peters, who passed away in 2023 but who left a legacy in the sport in addition to bequeathing funds to help keep this event alive.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=45473

There’s 23 ladies pros in the singles draw this weekend, about a normal draw size for the ladies tour and typical of one so proximate to a major international event (World juniors in early December).

top20 players missing: #5 Gaby (part-time tour player), #11 Manilla (still recovering from hip surgery), #15 Barrios (school?), #17 Scott (unknown).

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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:

In the 32s, there’s several solid matches to open the tournament;

– Lotts/Ros in the 16/17 game is a great match between two Team USA players from different generations. Ros is our reigning USA 18U junior champ while Lotts has 18 seasons with a pro result on her resume. Both are solid players and we should get an exciting match as one would expect in the 16/17 seed slot.

– Lexi York / Annie Sanchez is also another tough one between two Team USA players. Sanchez (nee Roberts) is just matriculating out of the juniors, while York has been playing the tour for some time and has been training with the Bredenbecks as of late.

– Argentine Valeria Centellas is back after a long time off; she has near top-10 potential but will have to shake off some tour rust. She makes her season debut against #13 Stephanie Synhorst , who will have her hands full keeping up.

– María Paz Riquelme vs junior team member Velpuri will be a good test for the Colorado native.

– Two frequent outdoor players Michelle Key and Chanis Leon meet indoors, with Key holding the distinct experience advantage.

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Round of 16: Here’s the notable matches to watch for:

– In the 8/9, Carla Muñoz and Cristina Amaya Cassino meet up; they met in the 16s twice earlier this year, both Munoz wins. Amaya had a deep run in an event earlier this year; can she repeat the magic?

– @Kelani Lawrence gets the #5 seed, tying a career high, and starts out her event by taking on the York/Sanchez winner in an all-USA battle.

– #5 @Brenda Laime Jalil projects into #11 @Jessica Parrilla in what could be a close match. Jessica shocked Brenda in San Antonio earlier this year. Laime is hot or cold; she could go one and done or take out the top seed on any given day.

– 7/10 @Samantha Salas Solis versus @Natalia Mendez could be interesting: Salas leads 6-3 head to head, but in their last meeting Mendez crushed Samantha 3,4 in Chesapeake in June.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 Maria Jose Vargas over #9 Munoz. They’ve played 15 times: Maria is 14-1

– #4 Alexander Herrera IFBB PRO over #5 Lawrence. They’ve played 11 times: Alexandra is 11-0

– #3 @Monserrat Mejia over #6 Laime; Mejia is 4-2 lifetime here.

– #2 @Paola Longoria over #7 Mendez; Paola is 10-0 lifetime against Mendez.

I see a distinct gap between the top four ladies on tour right now (top-5 including Gaby if she were here) and the rest of the top 10. The best bet for an upset in the quarters in Laime, who runs so hot and cold from event to event.

Semis:

– Vargas over Herrera. Vargas is 14-3 over Herrera lifetime. One of those wins was last June, when a distracted Vargas had just clinched the year end title and lost to Alexandra in Chesapeake. Vargas didn’t have the best opening event in Denver, but should bounce back.

– Longoria over Mejia: I know Mejia just torched Longoria at the San Luis Potosi open last month, but Longoria has a tendency to turn things up when there’s points on the line.

Finals: Longoria over Vargas. I think Longoria is kicking herself for dropping the first final of the season and will take this event.

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Doubles review

There’s 11 teams competing, and we’ve had some interesting movement in the seeds. After many years, the 30-something time champion team of Longoria/Salas is no longer a top-2 seed; they’ve been supplanted for #2 by the Argentine national team of Vargas/Mendez. I still favor them to get to the final from the bottom side.

From the top-half, Herrera & Mejia continue to be the top dogs; they’ll have to contend with the winner of Laime/Key and Parrilla/Lawrence, a fun matchup of excellent doubles players who all have a ton of outdoor experience as well.

Look for Herrera/Mejia over Vargas/Mendez in the final.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.

Look for Timothy Baghurst , @Sandy Rios, @Jerry J Josey Jr. , andTj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Coincidentally, if you’re interested in playing Fantasy Racquetball for this event, the links to the brackets are advertised on LPRT’s main page. The winner each week gets free swag!

Associations

LPRT

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Ana Gabriela Martínez

– Doubles: @Monserrat Mejia & Brenda Laime

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=42406

Martinez kicks off the new season with two notable results, her 3rd career LPRT win and her putting a very early loss on Vargas.

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/zcr

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In the 32s:

– Michelle Key looked solid downing Sheryl Lotts 10,8. Keep this result in mind when we talk about her round of 16 performance.

– @MariMaria Renee Rodríguez powered past @MMaria Paz Leal Riquelme 4,1 in her “return” to the tour.

-Valeria Centellas struggled in her first game back, but played better in a game 2 loss to @jessical Parrilla 3,12.

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In the 16s:

– Key really pushed the #1 seed Vargas, taking the first game 12 and making the second game close before Vargas pulled away in a tie-breaker. Was this rust on the part of last year’s champion, the rise of Key’s singles game, or a combination of both?

– #9 Gaby Martinez crushed #8 @Carla Munoz 4,7 to setup an intriguing match against #1 Vargas. Gaby, Vargas, Paola, and Mejia form a very closely grouped top 4 in the sport right now, and it seems like anyone of the four could win any given day.

– #6 @Natalia Mendez got a solid win over Parrilla to get back to the quarters.

– #10 Salas edged her way past #7 Amaya in a tie-breaker.

– #2 Paola Longoria faced a much tougher than normal round of 16 opponent in Barrios, and in typical fashion the Bolivian played her frustratingly difficult style, making the game close but not able to come out on top.

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In the Quarters

– #9 Martinez, who has a tendency to roll into pro events without much in the way of ranking points and shaking things up, comprehensively beat Vargas 7,6 to move into the semis and put an immediate shake-down on the season. Martinez looks fit and strong, and Vargas had no answers.

– #4 Laime made it three in a row on the trot against her east coast rival #5 Lawrence, cruising to a 5,3 win to move into the semis.

– #3 Mejia struggled but advanced past #6 Mendez in a breaker.

– #2 Longoria played her doubles partner Salas for the 62nd time on tour, and as they often do went to the breaker before Paola moved on.

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In the Semis

– #9 Martinez saved match points in the second game and advanced over Laime to get to the final.

– #2 Longoria held on to top Mejia for the 8th time in their last 9 meetings. After a nice run where Montse seemed to have Paola figured out … the GOAT has turned the tides.

In the Finals … a pretty incredible match. Longoria came out firing, and destroyed Gaby 15-3 in game one. The Guatemalan returned the favor and nearly reversed the scoreline in game two, holding leads of 10-0 and 14-3 before Paola clawed back a few to make it a little more respectable.

In the tie-breaker, it was back and forth. Martinez jumped up to a 6-3 lead, Paola got it back and got to match point at 10-9 against. They played an amazing rally, with both players hitting passing shots and then defensive shots to stay in the rally. It ended with a cracked out wide angle pass for Gaby to save the match point against and get back in the box. She won a straight forward rally to get to 10-10, then aced Paola to the forehand as she had been doing most of the game for the win. Its Gaby’s 3rd ever LPRT title.

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Points Implications of results

This is the first event of the new season, and for a few weeks these points will just add on to the end of last season’s points. Thanks to Vargas’ very early exit, Longoria should regain #1 on tour until the point where last year’s World singles & Doubles expires … at which point Vargas will regain #1. It should stay that way for the next event’s seeding. With this big win, Gaby will move up to #5. Samantha should move up to #10.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/txk

Lots of tiebreakers in this solid LPRT doubles draw. #1 Mejia/Laime survived a scare in the quarters to eventually take the title, with Montse not missing a beat without her normal partner. They beat team Argentina in the final, who had put a shot early loss on Longoria & Salas in the semis.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Lexi York got a walkover win against Lotts in the Women’s open singles final.

– Michelle Key and new beau Rhys Anderson took the Mixed Open Doubles draw over Velpuri and Ty Hedalen.

– Erik Garcia topped Nick Riffel in the Men’s Open singles final, a draw that featured an appearance from former touring pro and Denver resident Woody Clouse .

– The Men’s Open draw featured two top10 IRT pros, but neither came out on top. The draw was taken by Garcia and @Brady Yelverton , who topped @Rocky Carson

and @Charles George in the final.

Carson also played @Adam Manilla in a pro exhibition for the fans.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., JTRball, and Tj Baumbaugh

Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

Our next big event is Worlds! At the end of the month, the @inteInternational Racquetball Federation – IRF World Championships returns to US soil for the first time in decades. The USAR is looking forward to hosting and putting on a show.

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tags

LPRT

USA Racquetball

Welcome back pro racquetball! It’s the kickoff to the LPRT 2024-25 season. The tour is in Denver for the 2024 Frontline Family Foundation Mile High Open at the Denver Athletic club. The tour was in Denver last year for World Singles and Doubles, but hasn’t had a sanctioned part of this long-running Mile High Open since 2015, so that’s great to see.

The draw is out and it’s healthy with a bunch of familiar names who missed big chunks of the previous season. Players like Lotts, MRR, Centellas, Barrios, and Enriquez are competing this weekend, some for the first time in more than a year, and their inclusion makes for some really interesting first round matches.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=42406

We’ve got a couple of key absences: 4th seeded Herrera is not playing, nor is #10 Manilla, who some thought might be ready to give it a try in her home town post hip surgery (she’s one of the tournament directors for the weekend). A couple of players ranked in the teens aren’t here either (Scott and Ros), otherwise a solid top 20 of players.

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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to in the Singles

In the 32s:

– 16/17 Sheryl Lotts versus Michelle Key should be a fun one. These two havn’t played each other in a top-level competition in nearly a decade. Key continues her return to the singles component of the sport after mostly focusing on doubles for the last decade.

– Newly married and U21 graduated Annie Roberts (now Annie Sanchez-Roberts) is here but has to deal with Guatemala’s Ana Gabriela Martínez to start.

– Nancy Enriquez is entered for the first time since January; she takes on #12 Lexi York in what could be a tough one for the American. Enriquez may not play full time but she’s always a tough out.

– Long-time touring vet Maria Renee Rodríguez is here, having completed her graduate degree from Liberty University (which is in Lynchburg VA, where I lived for several years). She takes on lefty Maria Paz Leal Riquelme in what could be a close one.

– Valeria Centellas is back for the first time since Nov 2023; she takes on #11 Jessica Parrilla in a tough opener for both. Centellas can get wins, as can Parrilla, so anything goes here.

– Susy Acosta is here, ensuring she has an appearance in her 27th straight season on tour, pretty amazing.

– Angelica Barrios is back; she starts off against lefty Chanis Leon from Florida.

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round of 16:

– 8/9 Gaby vs Carla Munoz is a tough draw for Carla, who has seemingly been stuck in that 8-9 range for a while.

– #5 Kelani Lawrence may have to face the tough veteran Nancy Enriquez if she gets past York.

– #6 Natalia Mendez won’t like either opponent she may face in Parrilla or Centellas; both are going to be tough outs for her.

– #7 Cris Amaya is an upset alert when she faces long-time top player Samantha Salas Solis , who may be ranked 10th but was just a few points out of 7th at the end of last season.

– Lastly, #2 Paola Longoria is set to face Barrios, a player who she lost to the last time they played in March 2023. Now, that was right in the midst of Longoria’s distracted 2022-23 season, so I wouldn’t expect a repeat.

A side note: this season will be telling for Longoria and her future in the sport. She did not win the Mexican elections she (and Salas) ran for, but there’s still a chance she represents her home country in the Mexican congress. If that comes to pass, one has to wonder how long she can continue to tour. It also goes without saying that she was recently married; does she wish to start a family soon? We know that isn’t a career-ender (see Vargas, Maria who has toured through three childbirths now) it can be a career-interruption for sure. We’ll see.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 Vargas vs Gaby: Martinez topped Vargas at World Singles & Doubles last year in this same city, so watch out for another upset here.

– Lawrence vs Laime: these two face off rather frequently, hailing from neighboring east coast states. Lawrence seems to have the upper hand, but Laime has a tendency to go on sneaky runs.

– #3 Mejia should have no issues advancing past whoever battles their way out of the #6 seed quadrant.

– #2 Longoria should advance past her doubles partner Salas, having played more than 70 times in the past on tour.

Semis:

– Vargas over Lawrence; there’s still a talent gap from Kelani to the top 4-5 players in the world, but she’s clearly narrowing it.

– Longoria over Mejia: Montserrat knows what she needs to do, but I suspect the altitude helps Longoria more than Mejia here.

Finals;

– Longoria over Vargas: I think Paola puts down a statement and opens the season with a win.

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Doubles review

A missing Herrera means that the dominant #1 doubles team is split up; Mejia picks up Laime for this event and is the #1 seed, but there’s solid teams throughout this draw. Barrios & Centellas as #8 will be a challenge for #1, but I still expect Mejia & Laime to move to the final.

From the bottom half, team Guatemala faces off against #2 Salas/Longoria in the opener; this is a doubles team that has gotten h2h wins in the past. However, i th ink #2 advances to the final and eventually tops Mejia & Laime for the win.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.

Look for Timothy Baghurst , Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Coincidentally, if you’re interested in playing Fantasy Racquetball for this event, the links to the brackets are advertised on LPRT’s main page. The winner each week gets free swag!