Meneses gets a winnable round of 32; can she capitalize? Photo Severna park 2021 via Ken Fife
The LPRT is back in South Carolina, and at the club that houses their Hall of Fame. Legendary 70s player Shannon Wright is set to be inducted this weekend, and the ladies pros will compete for one of the largest purses of the season. There’s a relatively small draw this weekend, but the absences will give us a compressed draw with new and exciting matchups.
Top20 players missing include #4 Gaby Martinez, #5 Angelica Barrios, #7 Montse Mejia, #11 Laime (weird b/c she can drive to SC). So the top 8 seeds all get bumped up a ton.
Lets preview the draw.
Round of 32: we have 5 play-in matches, with a couple of compelling ones:
#16/17 @Michaela Meneses vs @Sheryl Lotts: the Bolivian youngster gets a great test against a long-time touring USA pro.
#12/#21 @Nancy Enriquez vs @Naomi Ros. I like Ros to really push her veteran countrywoman in this one. Upset alert.
– #14/#19 MRR vs Riveros: an international flavor match between two long-time touring Vets. Riveros has not played a ton lately; can MRR get the win and hold serve?
Round of 16: notables i’m looking forward to:
#8/#9 Centellas vs Salas: two players who have both not gotten recent results they want. I suspect Salas’ power is the favorite here; what can Centellas do to reverse her recent slide?
#5/#12 Parrilla/Enriquez: they’ve traded blows and wins against each other over the last year. who wins here?
#4 Mendez vs #13 Scott: this is the perfect kind of match for Scott to try to make a statement; can she press the Argentinian?
#6/#11: Rajsich vs Lawrence; a rematch of multiple US nationals matches over the past few years; Lawrence is the favorite irrespective of seed.
– #7/#10 Manilla vs Munoz; they’ve never played in a top-level match. Manilla is the favorite based on form and recent results.
Projected Qtrs:
#1 Longoria over #8 Salas for the 57th time on tour.
#4 Mendez over #5 Parrilla
#3 Vargas over #10 Lawrence; they’ve played some close games but there’s still a bit of a gulf between them.
#2 Herrera over #7 Manilla; they met in the 32s twice last year … this time should be different. Upset watch. Semis: chalk: #1 Longoria over #4 Mendez, #2 Herrera over #3 Vargas.
Finals; Can Herrera make it three in a row? I think so.
Doubles review
All kinds of weird teams in the pro doubles this time around, as missing players change the regulars. #1 Longoria/Salas are still there, but I like #3 Herrera/Parrilla to make the final and push them.
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, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots! Associations LPRT
Acuna got two solid wins against top 10 opponents to take the Minnesota Hall of Fame event. Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory
In addition to the LPRT Boston Open, there were a slew of other events this past weekend worthy of mention. Here’s a quick run through of what was a very busy weekend globally for racquetball.
US High School Nationals.
r2sports site: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=38151 One of the biggest tournaments of the year (by pure attendance) was held last weekend: the 2022 @USA Racquetball High School Nationals event, held at the Vetta Sports clubs in St. Louis.
Nearly 350 High School players from around the country were in St. Louis to compete for singles, doubles, and team competitions. Here’s a recap of the #1/Gold competitions on the weekend…
Boys #1 Gold Singles: #1 @Josh Shea from New York topped #2 @AnAndrew Gleason from Iowa. In a likely precursor to the 18U Junior Nationals final later this year, Shea won the first HS title for a New Yorker since … @sSudsy Monchik won in 1991.
Girls #1 Gold Singles: #2 @Naomi Ros from San Antonio upset #1 seed @Heather Mahoney. Ros recently relocated from Mexico and topped Mahoney in the 2021 Junior Nationals, setting up a rivalry that is set to run for a couple more years on the US junior national scene. She becomes the first ever titlist from a Texas HS on the girl’s side.
Boys #1 Doubles: Jacob Schmidt / Gabe Collins from Christian Brothers College High School in St Louis cruised to the title as the #1 seed.
Girls #1 Doubles: Heather Mahoney / Ava Naworski from Casa Grande High School outside of Santa Rosa HS took the title as the #3 seeds.
Mixed #1 Doubles: Ros teamed with DJ Mendoza (the #4 seed in Boys #1 gold) to cruise to the Mixed doubles title. The team competition was dominated by Missouri/St Louis area high schools:
Boys’ Team: St. Louis University HS
Girl’s Team: Lafayette HS
Overall Team: Kirkwood HS
Congrats to everyone who played, organized and participated. Thanks to @LLeo Vasque ‘s tireless work on the stream all weekend.
LPRT Boston Open Draws r2sports site: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38579
Connecticut’s top player @Jose Flores upset the #1 seeded @John Behm to take the 24-man Open draw from Boston this weekend.
Women’s Open: as noted in the LPRT wrap-up, Micaela Meneses had a great women’s Open tournament, topping LPRT regulars Lotts, Lawrence and Munoz to take the title.
PAC Pueblo Athletic Shootout IRT recap r2sports: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38852 Several IRT touring regulars traveled to Colorado to compete in the PAC shootout. The four IRT regulars all advanced to the singles semis as expected. From there, #1 Andree Parrilla topped #4 @NNick Riff while @David Horn took out his colleague @Adam Manilla in the other semi to setup an All-WRT alumni final. In that final, Parrilla cruised to the title, topping Horn 2,5.
In doubles, Horn and Manilla were unstoppable, cruising to the pro doubles title over #2 seeds Riffel and @Mike O’Brien in the final.
Minnesota Hall of Fame IRT Tier 3 r2sports: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38807 A solid mid-western flair draw of top players descended to Fridley over the weekend for the Hall of Fame tournament. This included the IRT broadcast team of @DeDDean Baer and @PFPablo Fajre , who made friends with a local kangaroo and called some matches. r2sports site: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38807 Congrats to local open amateurs @John Goth , Blake Hansen , and Lee Meinerz , who joined the 5 touring pros in the pro quarters. From there, Canadian #1 @Samuel Murray topped #5 Jordy Alonso in one semi, while #3 @Andres Acuña upset home-town favorite @Jake Bredenbeck in the other semi. In the singles final…Acuna played solid ball to top Murray 10,7 to take the singles title.
In the Doubles draw, the Bredenbeck brothers took out Murray playing with Canadian Ledu Michael in the final.
Lastly, several countries have been holding Nationals events or National team selection events ahead of next month’s Pan American Racquetball Championships. Results are a little hard to come by since no international countries use r2sports outside of the “big 3” … but here’s what we’ve been able to glean from various Facebook Posts:
Costa Rica held their men’s championships last weekend; in the men’s final: Andres Acuna d Gabriel Garcia 6,7,5. This is somewhat of a changing of the guard, as @FelipFelipe Camacho has represented the country for many, many years.
Colombia held a Men’s Selection event in Pereia, COL over the weekend.
Guatemala held their Men’s Selection event this past week and weekend (Women’s will be next weekend). The 4 semi finalists competed (presumably) in a RR draw; here was the results:
@EdwEdwin Galicia
@Juan Jose Salvatierra
Christian Wer
Geovani Mendoza
The top 3 will represent Guatemala, with Mendoza as the alternate.
Herrera makes it two for two over Longoria. Photo LPRT official
Congrats to your winners on the weekend:
Singles: Alexandra Herrera
Doubles: Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38579
Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/F91610
In the 32s:
@Hollie Scott and Maria Renee Rodriguez split two close games in their 16/17 match-up before Scott pulled away with a dominant 11-1 tiebreaker win.
The ever improving junior Micaela Meneses took a game off of #13 @Erika Manila before falling in a breaker.
@Crist’ Amaya got a solid win over fellow veteran tour player @Nancy Enriquez 11-5 in the breaker.
– #11 @Carla Munoz reversed the script against @Jenny Daza , topping her 9,9 to move on. Daza had gotten the big upset over Munuz in this round just last tournament.
In the 16s:
Scott made #1 @Paola Longoria work for her round of 16 win, pushing the top player 12,11 in their round of 16 matchup.
#5 @Natalia Mendez was challenged by her younger Argentinian rival @Valeria Centellas before advancing 11-7 in the breaker.
#13 Manilla got her fifth win over a top-5 seed on tour since October, downing #4 @Gaby Martinez in a hard-fought close match. She took the first game 15-13, then Gaby raced to a huge lead in game two before Erika pulled it all the way back. They traded blows at match point before Gaby’s athletic exploits pushed a tiebreaker. There, Manilla looked to run away with the breaker before Gaby scored 7 unanswered to push for an amazing comeback … but Manilla got the 11-8 win.
#3Maria Jose Vargas battled through some illness and outlasted the veteran Amaya in a tiebreaker.
– #7 @Montse Mejia put a statement down , crushing #10 @Brenda Laime 8,1 to move into the quarters.
In the Quarters, a couple of surprising results.
#1 Longoria made fast work of her doubles partner Salas 5,7
#5 Mendez avenged herself in a rematch against Manilla, winning in a tie-breaker to avoid two upsets in two tournaments.
#3 Vargas could not overcome both illness and #6 Barrios, losing in a tie-breaker.
– #2 Herrera outlasted her doubles partner Mejia, dropping the middle game but running away with it in the tiebreaker.
In the Semis
Longoria made quick work of Mendez 7,5 and was in cruise control for most of the match.
Herrera was not troubled by the young Bolivian Barrios 6,5 and setup the anticipated rematch of last week’s final in Vero Beach. In the Finals…. another shocker. Herrera dominated in game one 15-8, then for a while it looked like Longoria had found another gear, racing to a 12-1 game two win. Instead of packing it in, Herrera fought back and saved game points against to take game two 15-14 in a pretty amazing comeback win.
Herrera’s second career win moves her into the top 20 all time of tour wins. Longoria loses in the final for the second tourney in a row … something that hadn’t happened since the fall of 2010, when she lost two successive finals to Rajsich (also the last time she lost to the same person in two straight events). Is this a changing of the guard? Or a blip on Longoria’s resume?
Points Implications of results: I don’t see a ton of movement in the top 10 after this tourney. Herrera solidifies her grip on #2 and closes the gap a bit on #1. Gaby maintains a slight lead on Mendez for #4.
Further down, some more significant movement. Manilla should move up to #12 and Lawrence should move to #15, edging slowly to the top 10. Meneses continues to rise; she’s nearly in the top 20 now. Lastly two more appearances for Daza and Rico have them both inside the top 30.
Doubles review. Hollie Scott had the tournament of her career, driving the all-American duo of Scott & Lawrence to the pro doubles final. They took out Vargas & Mendez in the quarters, then Herrera/Mejia in the semis. In the final though, they couldn’t overtake the #1 duo of Longoria/Salas, falling in a breaker. Longoria & Salas win their 35th pro doubles title together since August 2014. Amazing.
Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/F5E7DA
Women’s Open
Meneses may have lost in the first round of pros to Manilla, but she took out several pros en route to the Women’s Open title. She took out local player @Jolene Sullivan in the round of 16, then beat Lotts, Lawrence, and Munoz for the title. Great wins.
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst , Jerry J Josey Jr. , @JT R Ball , and Tj Baumbaugh
Next up? Per our handy master racquetball calendar … https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/
Nothing domestically, but a couple of countries are having National selection events to pick their teams to go to PARC. We’ll try to decipher Facebook postings to figure out who has won.
Hot on the heels of the Vero Beach Open, the LPRT returns to action, this time in Boston. The LPRT returns to Massachusetts for the 5th time in 7 years, with the tour heading to the Wayside Athletic Club in Marlborough, MA.
24 ladies pros are in Boston, with some interesting additions and absences as compared to two weeks ago in Florida. #8 @Jessica Parrilla is missing; she was injured in Florida and is presumably rehabbing. But Leoni is the sole player in the top 20 who is missing from Boston; returning to action include #4 Gaby Martinez, #9 @SamantSamantha Salas , and #13 @Valerie Centellas, all of whom missed the Florida event. Which means, this draw is stacked, and there’s great matches from the first round onwards.
Lets preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:
In the 32s…here’s some matches to look for.
#16/#17 features two players very evenly matched in @Maria Renee Rodriguez and @HoHollie Scott . Even though MRR is ahead of Scott in the rankings, I think Scott is the favorite here.
#13 Erika Manilla versus #20 @Michaela Meneses Cuellar: Manilla should advance, but Meneses continues to get solid looks at top pros. Its just a matter of time before the Bolivian reigning junior 18U champ gets a top win.
#14 v #19 features two long-time LPRT touring pros, both former top 10 players now pushed down into the teens in @Cris Amaya and @Nancy Enriquez. Enriquez has had some tough openers lately (losing to Sotomayor in Vero Beach, and losing to Meneses at the US Open last fall), and is a better player than her ranking, and will look to get back into a position to go deeper into the draw here.
#11 @Carla Munoz versus #22 Jenny Daza : an immediate rematch to one of the biggest upsets from Vero Beach, as two South American internationals face up again. Can Munoz learn from her loss against Daza and flip the script? Or will Daza win again?
– #15 Kelani Lawrence versus #18 @Sheryl Lotts: these two Americans will face off in the round of 32 for the third time in 9 months, with Kelani looking to advance to force a rematch with last week’s tourney winner.
round of 16: I’m projecting a couple of upsets in the 16s, and some solid matches.
#8 v #9 will be two long-time adversaries on tour: Rhonda Rajsich takes on @Samantha Salas . They’ve met 26 times over the years both internationally and professionally, with Rhonda holding an 18-8 career lead. Salas is still trying to regain her form from a couple years ago, while Rhonda continues to make waves on tour and retain her top 10 spot. Look for Rhonda in the mini upset here.
Sometime doubles partners Centellas and Natalia Mendez are set to face off in the 16s, with Natalia looking to right the ship after an early exit in Vero Beach. Centellas is also looking to right the ship in general. After spending most of the last two seasons well inside the top 10, she’s now drifted to #13 in the rankings and is in jeopardy of slipping further.
#13 Manilla is set to take on her next top-4 challenger, that being the Guatemalan #1 Martinez. Manilla topped Gaby at the US Open and will look to do so again.
– #7 @Montse Mejia gets her tournament started in challenging fashion against #10 @Brenda Laime. On paper this is a straightforward win for Mejia, but Laime has been turning heads lately and will put up a fight. These two close friends may struggle to amp up the competitiveness needed to win.
Projected Qtrs:
#1 @Paola Longoria over her longest rival Rajsich. Fun Fact: of Longoria’s career 33 pro losses, 15 of them are to Rajsich.
Manilla upsets Mendez for the second straight tournament to move to the semis yet again.
#3 Vargas takes out Barrios in a distinct battle of game styles.
#2 @Alexandra Herrera , fresh off her big win in Florida, runs into perhaps the one player she didn’t want to see in the quarters, that being her doubles partner Mejia. Mejia has topped Herrera the last four times they’ve met, dating to 2017. I think she could make it a 5th; look for Mejia upset here.
Semis: we get two rematches from last week.
Longoria over Manilla; Erika can go to the game tape to see what she needs to do to win; basically the answer is , don’t make mistakes.
Vargas over Mejia: they’re close, but i still think Vargas has the advantage. Mejia knows what she needs to do to take this match; can she do it?
final: Longoria over Vargas.
Doubles Preview. As we get closer to the next international competition (PARC), we’ll continue to see country’s international representatives playing together on tour to get practice ahead of IRF competition. This tourney is no different, as we seem to have the Reigning championship doubles teams from Mexico (Longoria, Salas), Guatemala (Martinez/Rodriguez), and Argentina (Vargas/Mendez) as three of your top four seeds. Interestingly the USA reigning champs Rajsich/Manilla are playing with alternate partners. Nonetheless, it will make for some great semi-finals and forward action. Look for the reigning Mexican champs to beat the Guatemalan team in one semi, and for the #2 mexican team Herrera/Mejia to top the Argentinians in the other semi.
This leads us to yet another heavyweight meeting between the two top Mexican pairs; I still give Longoria/Salas the edge.
Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for @ [554433128:2048:Timothy Baghurst], Jerry J Josey Jr., JP Edwards and @ [1254655965:2048:Tj Baumbaugh] on the mike, calling the shots! Thanks to the Tourney Director @SStuart Soloman for putting this event on! Associations International Racquetball Tour LPRT International Racquetball Federation – IRF Pan American Racquetball Confederation – PARC UnitedHealthcare US OPEN Racquetball Championships WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball Countries USA Racquetball Racquetball Canada Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol RKT Federación Boliviana De Raquetbol – Febora Federación Boliviana de Racquetball Racquetball Colombia Federacion Colombiana de Racquetball Federación Costarricense de Racquetball Asociación Argentina de Racquetball Federación Chilena Racquetball Racquetball Rancagua, Chile ASOCIACION DE RAQUETBOL DE GUATEMALA Ferac Racquet Federación Ecuatoriana de Racquetball – FERAC India racquetball Major Sponsors Reaching Your Dream Foundation / Michael Lippett FormulaFlow / Momo Zelada and Mario Mercado Splathead / Joe Hall onewallball / Ruben Pagan 3wallball / Mike Coulter / mc vegas Beastmade Apparel / Jake Bredenbeck Wear Rollout / Jonathan Clay Racquetball Warehouse / Ben Croft Splatit Suivant Consulting / Williams Accounting / Donald Williams Zurek Construction / Francisco Fajardo AGE Solutions / Andy Gomer team root / Randy Root KWM Gutterman / Keith Minor APCON/MZ Companies / Abel Perez Team Dovetail / Mike Kinkin Manilla Athletic / Adam Manilla Erika Manilla Bobby Horn Hashtags #racquetball #proracquetball #outdoorracquetball #irt #lprt #wor
Herrera celebrating her first LPRT win. Photo screen capture from LPRT Facebook video of awards ceremony
I thought it would be illuminating to break down the LPRT final between Paola Longoria and Alexandra Herrera, looking for some trends and interesting data points.
Using my standard detailed Match Tracker, I filled in match stats for the first game of the final, a nail-biting 15-14 win for Herrera.
Here’s a link to the match tracker detailed data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t8GgzPppq4dZvZwkS3yITkZAlKGSRQAGROM6woq-0G4/edit?usp=sharing and here’s a link to the video on Facebook for the match: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=372683864314937
Here’s some breakdowns.
Duration Stats
Game start in Video
6:45 in video
Game end
43:23 in video
Game duration
36mins 38 seconds
Avg time per rally
36.6 secs
So, this was a long game. 36 minutes overall. Both players took both their time-outs, both players took a brief equipment time-out, and there were a couple of appeals. All told, including the time-outs the average time per rally was 36.6 seconds. This is slightly longer than the average rally time for the last match I did this for; the Parrilla-Waselenchuk Atlanta final tie-breaker.
Serving Breakdown:
Serving
# of svc attempts
# of Aces
Serves Good
1st Serve %
1st Drive Serves
1st Drive serve %
1st Lob Serves
1st Lob Serve %
AH Serves
30
2
22 of 30
73.33%
30 of 30
100%
0 of 30
0%
PL Serves
30
3
25 of 30
83.33%
30 of 30
100%
0 of 30
0%
Both players served exactly 30 times. Both players drove serve on every first serve, and Paola actually ended up with a higher first serve percentage than Alexandra on the day.
Serve Selection
% 1st to F
% 1st to B
% 2nd to F
% 2nd to B
AH
33.33%
66.67%
25.00%
75.00%
PL
53.33%
46.67%
0.00%
100.00%
Paola basically split her drives between Alexandra’s forehand and backhand on the day, hitting 16 drives to the left side, 14 to the right. Meanwhile, as a lefty Herrera has grown up accustomed to primarily serving to right handers, and thus focused mostly on hitting drives to Paola’s backhand. Both hit mostly simple lobs to the backhand as 2nd serves; there was almost no variation on the lob serves used: no nick lob attempt, no wall paper; just half-height lobs meant to solicit a ceiling ball in return.
Serve Breakdown and Success rates
Serve Type Selection
Serve selection
how often used
Pct Used
How often point?
Pct points
AH #1 1st Serve Selection
Drive to Backhand
19 of 30
63.33%
10 of 16
62.50%
AH #2 1st Serve Selection
Drive to Forehand
10 of 30
33.33%
4 of 5
80.00%
AH #3 1st Serve selection
Hard Z-Serve to Backhand
1 of 30
3.33%
0 of 1
0.00%
AH Most frequent 2nd serve selection
Lob Serve to Backhand
6 of 8
75.00%
1 of 6
16.67%
Here’s where we get some interesting information. Alexandra hit 19 of her 30 serves as drives to the backhand, and got points on 10 of the 16 successful first serves she made. That’s a 62% rate, pretty good. Furthermore, she tried 10 drives to Paola’s forehand, missed half of them, but got points on 4 of the 5 successful serves. She only varied away from these two straightforward serves once; a z-ball to Paola’s backhand that did not work.
Serve Type Selection
Serve selection
how often used
Pct Used
How often point?
Pct points
PL #1 1st Serve Selection
Drive to Forehand
16 of 30
53.33%
9 of 12
75.00%
PL #2 1st Serve Selection
Hard Z-Serve to Backhand
9 of 30
30.00%
3 of 9
33.33%
PL #3 1st Serve selection
Drive to Backhand
5 of 30
16.67%
1 of 4
25.00%
PL Most frequent 2nd serve selection
Lob Serve to Backhand
5 of 5
100.00%
1 of 5
20.00%
Meanwhile, Paola had a ton of success when driving to Alexandra’s forehand, getting 9 of her 14 points that way and having a huge success rate when she got that serve in. It was clear during the match that she started with the hard-Z to the backhand with little success, then got some points on the forehand drive, and the stuck with it the rest of the way.
Serves leading to points
pct
AH 1st Serve good
14 points out of 22
63.64%
AH 1st Serve bad
1 point out of 8
12.50%
PL 1st Serve good
13 points out of 25
52.00%
PL 1st Serve bad
1 point out of 5
20.00%
This chart basically shows why you need to get your first serves in. The two players combined to score exactly 2 points on their second serves all game.
Rallies
Rallies Won
Pct of Rallies
AH Rallies won
31 of 60
51.67%
PL Rallies won
29 of 60
48.33%
Replays
0 of 60
0.00%
This shows just how even the match was: out of 60 rallies, they nearly split them 50/50. Alexandra won two more rallies than Paola b/c Paola served first and then Alexandra scored the last point. There was not a single replay in the entire first game.
Rally Winner/Error Stats
(not including serves)
Ttl
FH
BH
Pass
Pinch
AH Rally Winners
20
13
7
11
9
AH Rally ending Errors
3
2
1
PL Rally Winners
22
11
11
18
4
PL Rally Ending Errors
9
7
2
So, this shows some interesting information. Alexandra hit 13 of her 20 winners on the forehand, and pretty evenly split all her winners between passes and pinches. Meanwhile, Paola really does not shoot for the corners, getting 18 of her 22 winners as passing/kill shots. Paola also shows
The story of this game though is right here: 9 errors for Longoria versus 3 for Herrera. And of those three errors, one was an “off the back wall’ attempt that fell short and a second was a ball that bounced weird off the back wall and jammed her. In other words, Alexandra had just one skip this entire game. Longoria had 9 skips, 7 on her forehand.
Ratio of Winners to Errors
Ratio
Ratio
AH
20 to 3
6.6 winners for every error
PL
22 to 9
2.44 winners for every error
Further illumination of the shotmaking in this game: 20 winners to 3 errors for Herrera.
(these figures not including serve)
Rally Stats
Average # of shots per rally , entire game
3.95
Average # shots in AH-won rallys
4.25
Average # of shots in PL-won rallys:
3.62
Average # of shots in replay rallies
n/a
longest Rally of game
17 and 16: both ended with PL error
The average number of shots per rally (not including the serve) was 3.95 in this game, but much shorter in Paola won rallies. The 3.95 figure compares to the average rally length for the Parrilla-Kane match, which was just 2.24. Women’s rallies tend to be longer.
Short Rally Stats
total
% of rallies
# of Aces
5
8.33%
# of 2 shot rallies (serve, return)
8
13.33%
# of 3 shot rallies (serve, return, end)
4
6.67%
A decent percentage of the 60 rallies were “short” rallies: 1,2 or 3 shots including the serve.
Game points Saved
by AH
4
by PL
3
The players managed to save seven game points between them; that’s a heck of an accomplishment by both.
Lastly, since Rally scoring has now been introduced by the IRF, I thought i’d show you what this game would have looked like if it was rally scoring:
(all these times include Tos)
Rally Scoring Stats
Game end if rally
21:46 in video
Game duration if rally
15mins 1 sec
Game score at Rally finish
8-4 for AH
If playing rally scoring, the game would have been over in 15mins with the score 8-4 for Alexandra. Instead, we got a 36 minute barn-burner that saw Longoria rally from an 11-4 deficit and nearly take the game. What problem exactly are we attempting to solve with rally scoring? Because every time I do this analysis we’d basically neuter an excellent game.
Herrera with her first pro win! Photo Denver 2021 KenFife
Congrats to your winners on the weekend:
Singles: Alexandra Herrera
Doubles; Herrera & Montse Mejia
A career weekend for Herrera, who vanquished both her top rivals Vargas and Longoria on the weekend to take her first professional singles title. Heading into this event, Herrera was a career 0-18 against Paola and 1-9 against Vargas; she beat them both to secure her first pro win. She becomes the 30th known champion on the women’s professional tour.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38227
Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
In the 32s, there were a couple of upsets by seed and a couple of surprising results.
#17 Cris Amaya played #16 Hollie Scott as closely as you could expect, losing an 11-9 breaker. We always get great 16/17 matches and t his was no different.
#13 Kelani Lawrence advanced past hard-hitting Mexican 18U junior Daniela Rico 6,9. Rico continues to play LPRT veterans tough on tour but is still searching for a break-through win.
#14 Maria Renee Rodriguez cruised past Mexican lefty @Montserrat Perez 7,6. MRR really controlled this game and snuffed out any thoughts about an upset.
#22 Veronica Sotomayor upset #11 veteran @Nancy Enriquez in a come-back, hard-fought match 11-9 in the breaker. Sotomayor continues to show she’s in her former top-10 form but needs more tournaments to get the points she needs to be ranked suitable to her talent level.
The Biggest shock of the round was Bolivian veteran @Jenny Daza Navia upsetting #10 Carla Munoz in a breaker 11-6. Daza (who was in the same “junior class” as Longoria) has been playing internationally for a decade and a half representing Bolivia but is an infrequent participant on the LPRT. However, she continues to show she’s a dangerous opponent when she does play, adding another top-10 scalp to her resume.
– Reigning 18U World junior champion Bolivian Micaela Meneses made quick work of #15 Sheryl Lotts 6,7 to move into the 16s. Meneses improves with every tournament, and is the kind of gym rat that you know is going to get tougher every time she plays.
In the 16s, some significant results with major upsets.
#1 Paola Longoria cruised past #16 Scott in game one, then Hollie really made a game of it in game two before falling 15-14.
#9 Brenda Laime blasted #8 Rhonda Rajsich in game one then held on in game two for a statement win 3,12.
#12 Erika Manilla got another statement win, taking out #5 Angelica Barrios in a straight-forward 12,9 win. This is the fourth tournament this season where Erika has toppled a top-5 seed to advance, and its just a matter of time before she herself is a top-5 seed.
#13Kelani LawrenceKelani Lawrence got a career-best win, beating #4 Mendez in two straight. She sets up a meeting against countrywoman Manilla for a shot at the semis.
#3 Maria Jose Vargas made quick work of MRR 8,2 to setup a key quarter final match.
#6 Montse Mejía played a really comprehensive game to blast the upstart #22 Sotomayor 4,9 to move on. Mejia controlled the game from the start and was never in danger of losing. She’ll be tough to beat this weekend if she plays like this the rest of the way.
#7 Jessica Parrilla suffered an injury that took her out of both singles and doubles, giving Daza a walkover into the quarters. It’s just the 2nd time ever that Daza has made a pro quarterfinal.
– #2 Alexandra Herrera blitzed the junior Meneses 8,2, showing the gulf in talent that the young Bolivian has to make up.
In the Quarters
Longoria made quick work of Laime 7,0.
Manilla made a statement both on tour and in the national pecking order by cruising past her countrywoman Lawrence 7,13 to return to the semis for the second time this season.
Vargas was stretched thin by Mejia in a battle of perhaps the 2nd and 3rd best players on tour, but Vargas held on in the breaker to advance.
– Herrera outclassed the Bolivian veteran Daza 4,2 to move into the semis.
In the Semis
For stretches of this match, Manilla hung with Longoria and matched her punch for punch. But then for stretches Longoria does what she always does: consistently makes shots, rolls balls out, and relentlessly keeps the pressure up, which drives her to victory. Longoria advances in a hard-fought 11,6 match.
Herrera absolutely crushed her closest rival Vargas 3,8 to move into the final. This was never close from the get go, and whatever changes Alexandra has been making are working. She looks to be playing the best ball of her career.
In the Finals, a shock result. Herrera and Longoria traded off stretches of dominance, each running off multiple points in a row with excellent play and long rallies. In both games, Herrera mounted game-saving comebacks to win a two-game 14,13 thriller was just as close as the scores suggest. Herrera showed mental confidence and stayed in points and rallies, forcing Longoria into rare errors and pressure.
Points Implications of results
Herrera and Vargas should switch spots at 2/3, but not much else changes in the top 10.
Manilla continues her climb up the rankings; she should now improve to 14, meaning she’s getting close to a top 10 seed with the expected absences each event.
Centellas dives down, now at #13 with several early losses and a missed event.
– Daza doubles her existing points total and jumps 12 spots.
Doubles review The doubles tournament was an interesting case study of how far Longoria could advance with a brand new partner with whome she had never played …the answer turned out to be the final, where she and MRR were vanquished with relative ease by Herrera/Mejia.
Herrera wins the double on the weekend, and Longoria loses two finals in an event for the first time in recorded/known history.
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst , Jerry J Josey Jr. ., and Tj Baumbaugh . Thanks to the Tourney Directors @sudsySudsy Monchik and his wife Veronica for putting this event on! It was an excellent time, great matches, the courts looked great, and thanks to all the sponsors.
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 FB. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but FB stripped it.
Next up? Per our handy master racquetball calendar … https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/
Next weekend there’s a lower tier IRT event in Atlanta and an experimental tournament in Tallahassee being run by Baghurst that will feature variants of the sport and rally scoring.
Mejia is an enigma for 2022. Photo Kevin Savory US Open 2019
Inspired by an idle question from Steve Castleberry on a post a few weeks ago, I’m writing up a couple of forward looking missives to talk about the movers and shakers on the LPRT, looking forward at 2022. I’ll post the IRT version tomorrow or Friday.
The LPRT uses a split-year schedule, so we’re basically at the halfway point of the 2021-22 season. So, looking at the standings now we’ll do some proclamations and talk about players to watch.
We start at the top: #1 Paola Longoria has a 1200 point lead at the top of the tour rankings as we speak. Players earn 200 points for a Tier 1 win, 300-320 for a Grand slam win. So, basically, Longoria already has this season’s title sewn up, unless we get an influx of tournaments and Longoria suddenly fails to enter any of them.
Have we seen chinks in the armor of the long-time #1? Not really; after a couple of less-than-sporting incidents at the US Open and Mexican Nationals, she was on her best behavior in a dominant run to the 2021 Worlds title and the subsequent pro event. It is hard to envision the sport without her at this point, nor envisioning someone pressing her at the top. #2 Vargas is a career 2-41 against Longoria, and the player who i thought would most press Longoria going forward (Mejia) is scuffling.
– #2 and #3 Maria Jose Vargas Parada and Alexandra Herrera might be starting to show something of a rivalry at the 2/3 spot, which is great for the sport. Vargas holds a dominant h2h lead over Herrera (9-1) for their careers, but that one loss was recent and their matches are getting closer. Can Herrera make a push for #2 the rest of the way? She’ll have to continue to hold serve in the quarters against challengers and continue to look for ways to beat Vargas in the Semis.
– #4 Ana Gabriela Martínez had a disappointing Worlds event on home soil, and suffered an upset loss to Manilla at the US Open. Her win against Longoria in the 2018 Worlds looks like a fluke win; in all competitions Gaby is now just 1-18 against the world #1. But, she’s playing the tour regularly and seems a lock to stay in the top 8.
– #5 Natalia Mendez Erlwein sits tight at #5 and has a couple of key wins against Martinez this year. But, she’s had little success against the top 3 players on tour (a combined 1-23 lifetime against the current 1-3rd ranked players) and seems like she’s plateaued a bit. She does a good job beating players who she “should” beat, but needs to get some success against her fellow top 4 players.
– #6 Angelica Barrios made the semis of the US Open, taking advantage of some upsets on her side of the bracket, but took an early loss at Worlds to Lawrence. She’s spent the last 2 years on tour generally only losing to players who she “should” be losing to, and has some notable wins. She’s a lock to stick in the top 8 and could move up to #4 with the right results.
#7 Montse Mejia continues to be an enigma on tour. She had an amazing run to win Kansas City, topping Centellas, Herrera, Gaby and then Paola to win the title, never dropping a game. But in her 3 tournaments since she has losses to Laime and two losses to Manilla. She went a number of tournaments basically winning until she ran into Paola (whether that was in the 16s, quarters, semis or the final), but has scuffled as of late. Can she right the ship?
#8 Samantha Salas Solis and #10 Rhonda Rajsich both have the same questions facing them: are they done being forces on the pro tour at this point? Salas went from making 9 finals in the 2018-19 season to her current struggle to get past the opening rounds. Same with Rhonda, who hasn’t made a pro semi since Jan 2020 and has nearly fallen out of the top 10. Both played well at worlds, with Salas losing to eventual champion Longoria at the quarterfinal stage and Rhonda putting a loss on Vargas before losing to her teammate Lawrence, so they can still play. But the realities of aging on tour face them both.
#9 Jessica Parrilla just cannot get back to where she once was on tour. She finished #3 in the 2017-18 season, then badly injured her knee … and she’s has not made even a pro semifinal since. Her tripwire is the quarterfinals; she’s made 9 of them in the past three seasons but has gone no further.
————
Thoughts on Players ranked 11-20 range of Note
– #11 Valeria Centellas is too young to be having a mid-life career crisis, but she’s seemingly at a cross roads right now. She made a pro semi in Jan 2020, but has struggled since then, taking a number of losses against players she should be beating if she wants to maintain a top 10 finish. She has lost in the 16s in 5 of the last 6 pro events, and seems to have lost her way on the court.
#12 Brenda Laime Jalil is now part of Team Zurek Construction, LLC, which is great news for her career and the supportability of her aspirations. And she’s had some really promising results in 2021, with wins over Mejia, Herrera, and Vargas. She seems like a lock to be in the top 10 if she can play full-time. She curiously missed the most recent LPRT event (basically held at her home court), an opportunity missed with the thin field.
#13 Carla Muñoz Montesinos has had a very busy year, lots of travel, lots of court time. She’s had some up and down results on tour, with solid wins against the likes of Centellas and Salas, but losses to Lawrence and Scott. She needs a couple more marquee wins in the 16s and to challenge in the quarters to eke her way back to the top 10.
#16 Kelani Lawrence had a dream run to the finals of Worlds, but is stuck in a very dangerous ranking position on tour that guarantees a very difficult opening round match. She’s got several round of 16 losses to players ranked in the top 4, which makes it hard for her to move up. She had a great win against Barrios at Worlds, and has played the likes of Vargas and Herrera tough, but needs a marquee win to get herself into the 12-14 range that makes for an easier first round matchup.
#18 Erika Manilla might be the biggest dark-horse on tour right now. She blew it up at the US Open, with wins over Mejia and Gaby before a controversial close loss to Longoria. She followed that up with another convincing win over Mejia at the Xmas classic before falling for the third time this year to Mendez. She she’s put herself on the map as a player who can beat some of the best on tour. I see no reason why she can’t get to the top 10 … perhaps not by the end of this season, but sometime in the fall of 2022.
————– Players to watch for in the 20s and beyond
– #22 Micaela Meneses Cuellar just won Junior Worlds, and if I have her birthday right still has another year of juniors to go. She’s getting plenty of LPRT experience, and already has some solid wins against regular touring pros like Enriquez and MRR. When she’s faced off against the tour elite she’s generally held her own, taking games off of Vargas and Barrios. Assuming she can get back to the US during the school year, she’s one to watch for.
– #23 Ana Laura Flores has some solid wins on her resume (Mendez, Hollie Scott), but has gone one-and-done in her last four tournaments, which can be pretty discouraging, especially for a traveling international player. Lets hope she gets some results going forward and continues to play.
– #29 Montserrat Pérez plays part time and presents as a tough lefty out; is she more of a doubles specialist going forward?
#31 Lucia Gonzalez remains the darkest of the dark horses on the LPRT. When she gets the right draw, she’s dangerous (in the last two Mexican nationals she’s beaten Herrera twice and Enriquez), but she’s lost in the 32s in the last four pro events she’s entered (to stiff competition, but still). Without results you can’t get seeding, and without seeding you’re playing into the top seeds, so she has kind of a chicken or egg thing going on, but she has the talent to compete. Will she going forward?
#38 Vero Sotomayor; who is now living in Florida and is back on the pro tour after a 4 year absence, is ready to make waves. She’s clearly the “player who nobody wants to face in qualifying” right now, and has shown she’s easily got top 8 talent. How far can she move up in the second half of the season? It remains to be seen, but the next scheduled stop is at her home club.
#43 Aisling Hickey, Ireland’s #1, has now relocated to California and should be playing more tour events. She raised some eyebrows at the US Open, defeating a couple of solid players in Pazita Munoz and Rivera, and though she went winless at Worlds she played four tough LPRT vets and will be in Birmingham for the 2022 World Games. I could see her moving into the 20s soon and pushing for a higher ranking.
Erika Manilla is really starting to make a name for herself on tour. Photo 2021 US Open via Kevin Savory
Congrats to Paola Longoria, who was the double pro winner on the weekend yet again. She adds to her already amazing pro title history; this is her 105th pro Tier 1 singles title and her 49th Pro Doubles title since we started tracking pro doubles on the women’s tour in Aug 2014. Paola won the doubles title this weekend with Maria Jose Vargas Parada, and not her regular doubles partner Salas (who was absent this week).
Singles Match report: http://rball.pro/5819A5 Doubles match report: http://rball.pro/6AAF40
Here’s a quick run-through the notable singles matches this weekend for me:
Great win for Erika Manilla in the 16s, controlling the powerful Mexican player Montse Mejia in two games. Mejia won a grand slam earlier this year, but has several head scratching losses since. Not to take anything away from Manilla, whose US Open performance and subsequent playing has her firmly in my world top 8 right now.
Also a great win for Carla Muñoz Montesinos in the 16s, taking out #9 Valeria Centellas in the round of 16 with ease. Munoz is close to breaking back into the top 10 and this was a solid win that will help cement her return.
Kelani Lawrence got another win over her American rival Rhonda Rajsich, and had to come back from a game down to do so.
Maria Renee Rodríguez took #6 Jessica Parrilla to a breaker after a somewhat disappointing Worlds showing. The seeds held from the quarters onward, with the draw going perfectly chalk. But there were some closer games and matches.
Lawrence nearly took game one in the quarters from #2 Vargas before losing 14,6
Herrera could not repeat the feat of downing Vargas twice in a row and fell in the semis in a breaker 7,(13),8. However, it does seem like we’re starting to see a real rivalry for the #2 spot on tour, which means great projected semi finals each week.
#4 Natalia Mendez Erlwein cooled the hot Manilla in the quarters to play to her seed once again.
In the final, Vargas really pushed Longoria in game one 15-13 before falling. Would like to see some consistent competition for the #1 player.
On the doubles draw, the #1 seeds of Alexandra Herrera and Mejia advanced to the final as expected, where they faced the tough Vargas/Longoria pairing. The two top teams split games before Longoria/Vargas blew away their young Mexican counter parts in the breaker to take the title.
In Mixed doubles, we had some excellent play. A number of the top LPRT pros teamed up with the pros and top amateurs playing to give the draw a really solid mixed feel. The semis featured Lalo Portillo and Alexandra Herrera taking out two local players in Ben Bleyer and Masiel Rivera Oporto, while on the bottom Mario Mercado and Erika Manilla made for a formidable pairing and topped Lawrence, playing with lefty North Carolinian Jacob Matthews.
In the final though, Mercado/Manilla could not overtake the excellent doubles players in Lalo/Herrera and lost in two.
Men’s Open draw A healthy 17 player draw featured four top pros who held to their seeds and advanced into the quarters.
Local amateurs Josh Shea (NY), Joe Kelley (PA), Austin Cunningham (GA) and Dylan Pruitt (MD) advanced into the quarters and put up good fights against the top touring pros; indeed, three of the four quarters went to breaker. However, the top seeds advanced to the semis for some quality late-round pro action. At the top, Portillo cruised past local favorite MoMo Zelada 11,0, while at the bottom Mario Mercado lost a Worlds quarterfinal rematch against USA’s Jake Bredenbeck, but then was given an inj fft into the final. Unfortunately, no final was held; Mercado got the walkover win despite losing the semi.
Great last tournament of the 2021 from all involved; thanks to the Grisz clan Karen Grisz and Mike Grisz for running the 29th version of this long-running tournament.
What’s next? After an incredibly busy month, the ladies get a break. The next scheduled pro stop on the LPRT isn’t until mid February, when Sudsy Monchik is hosting the tour in Vero Beach, FL. We hope for a January event for the ladies pros.
Can Kelani build on her run to the Worlds final? Photo USAR Singles 2019 via Kevin Savory
Hot on the heels of the finish of Worlds, the 29th annual Xmas classic tournament is upon us. This year it is being held in my old stomping grounds in Severna Park, Maryland, moving from its host from years past due to the long-standing Sportfit Laurel club closing during Covid. R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=36518 Thanks to the busy racquetball calendar over the past month, participation is down greatly here versus a typical LPRT event. Most of the women’s pro draws over the past two seasons have been in the 30-35 range; this event has just 19 players entered.
top20 players missing; #4 Martinez (probably exhausted after finishing “hosting” duties in Guatemala), #6 Barrios (tough logistics between Bolivia, Guatemala and Baltimore), #8 Salas (hot off another doubles title), and #12 Laime (which is kind of weird because she lives about 20 minutes from the club).
Lets preview the draw. The round of 16 features 3 play-in matches, all of which feature a regular touring player facing off against a younger rival. Perez-Chen, Ros-Scott, and Rivera-Diaz could all be interesting matches. The Round of 16 features several really compelling matches that I can’t wait to see.
#8/#9 Carla Muñoz Montesinos versus Valeria Centellas should be interesting: both players were upset early at Worlds (relative to their seedings in the singles and doubles knockouts) and will be looking for the quarterfinal spot here. Munoz has been gradually working her way back into the top 10 for a few years now after finishing 8th in 2017, and a show-me win against a similarly ranked player like Centellas are important to get that top 10 ranking.
#5 Montse Mejia vs #12 Erika Manilla; wow, great match for the 16s. Mejia, when she’s in the game mentally, is among the four best players in the world and is on a short list of players who’ve beaten Longoria in the past few years. Manilla has been rocketing up the rankings on the back of her excellent US Open showing and will be riding high after playing a huge part of Team USA’s IRF Worlds win last weekend. Which Mejia shows up in Maryland?
#3 Alexandra Herrera versus #14 Hollie Rae Scott; a first-time match-up for these two players, and it could be interesting. Herrera had a career best showing in the last LPRT event, beating Vargas in the semis and then going toe-to-toe with Longoria before losing the pro final 11-9. Can she build on that performance and regain #2 on tour? Meanwhile, Scott has a knack for beating top LPRT pros when she enters events; upset watch here.
#7 Rhonda Rajsich vs #10 Kelani Lawrence; these two just faced off in the semis of Worlds in Guatemala, with Kelani taking a straight-forward 12,7 win. They turn around and play in the 16s less than a week later; how will the travel and emotions of last week affect each player? On paper Rajsich is slightly favored, but these two keep trading off wins and losses over the past few years. Projecting the Quarters:
#1 Paola Longoria, fresh off a dominant performance in Guatemala, should move past the winner of Centellas/Munoz here.
#4 Mendez could face a stiff foe against whoever advances between Mejia and Manilla. If Manilla wins, she’s got the momentum to get to the semis, but if Mejia wins, Mejia would be slightly favored.
#3 Herrera over #6 Jessica Parrilla; the lefty Herrera has not lost to Jessica since 2016, and it doesn’t seem like she’ll lose here either.
#2 Vargas versus the Lawrence/Rajsich winner. An interesting wrinkle here: Rajsich upset Vargas to knock her out of Worlds in a shock round of 16 upset; could we see a rematch? Or, if Lawrence advances, can she take out the powerful Argentine, who might be looking for some revenge after losing so early last week? My projected semis and finals:
Longoria over Mejia
Vargas over Herrera
and Longoria cruising to another pro title in the final.
Doubles review Eight teams are entered here: Longoria is without her typical doubles partner Salas and instead has teamed up with Vargas … and are somehow only seeded third. The entire draw looks compelling and should be fun to watch. From the top, I’ll predict #1 Herrera/Mejia advance to the final; these two have shown they’ve got the chops to take over #1 at some point if/when Longoria/Salas retire. From the bottom, we get an immediate rematch of the semis from Worlds, with team USA (#7 seed) facing off against team Argentina (#2 seeds). I’m going with team USA again, who then lose to the powerful Longoria/Vargas team in the semis.
In the final, look for some fireworks but for the two top ranked ladies to vanquish the budding Mexican duo.
Men’s Draw: there’s a pretty good little Men’s Pro draw in Severna Park, with 17 players from up and down the east coast and beyond competing. We have not seen the draw yet, but it features top 10 quality IRT pros such as Lalo Portillo, Mario Mercado, Jake Bredenbeck, and MoMo Zelada to go along with top regional amateurs such as Ben Bleyer, Joe Kelley, Austin Cunningham, and NY junior phenom Josh Shea. Kind of squinting to predict the seeds, i’d guess we’d see Portillo vs Zelada in one semi (barring any upsets), and Jake vs Mario in a tough Worlds rematch in the other. Great matches, especially Jake vs Mario, who just played in Worlds and where Mario took him out in a breaker.
Early prediction: Lalo beats Mario in the final.
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, Jerry J Josey Jr. and the one and only JT R Ball on the mike (JT has flown in all the way from California for this event). Thanks to the Tourney Directors Karen Grisz and all your crew for putting this event on! 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 FB. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but FB stripped it. Tags LPRT
Herrera pushed Longoria to the limit in the pro final. Photo Denver 2021 KenFife
Congrats to your winners on the weekend:
Singles: Paola Longoria
Doubles; Longoria & Salas
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37340
Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/3CCEC1
In the 16s:
#1 Paola Longoria gave Ecuadorian former top 8 pro Vero Sotomayor little room to operate and moved on 5,5.
#9 Rhonda Rajsich took out #8 Valeria Centellas at this juncture for the second straight weekend.
#5 Angelica Barrios held serve against American #12 Kelani Lawrence.
#4 Natalia Mendez Erlwein was pushed but held off an upset challenge from #13 Erika Manilla in a tiebreaker.
#3 Alexandra Herrera blew out her fellow lefty Mexican rival Ana Laura Flores 2,8.
#11 Carla Muñoz Montesinos got a well-earned upset over #6 Samantha Salas Solis 9,11
#10 Brenda Laime Jalil got yet another upset of a top-8 player, this time vanquishing #7 Jessica Parrilla by the always-fun margin of an 11-10 tiebreaker.
– #2 Maria Jose Vargas Parada crushed LPRT veteran Adrienne Fisher Haynes to move into the quarters.
In the Quarters
Longoria moved past her most frequent rival in Rajsich, 8,11.
Barrios got a solid win over #4 Mendez to move into the semis.
Herrera crushed Munoz 1,3 to get a statement win against the upstart Chilean
Vargas similarly crushed Laime 2,3 to put down the budding challenge of the up and coming Colombina. In the semis, a big upset.
Longoria moved into the final with a straightforward 4,12 win over Barrios.
Herrera got a career best win over Vargas, topping her for the first time in 9 tries on tour.
In the final, Herrera played some of her best ever racquetball, taking the first game off of the #1. Longoria blitzed the lefty in game two, and then the tie-breaker was a back and forth affair that looked like it could go either way. In the end, Paola got a quick lead and then ended the match on an avoidable, a bummer of an ending for a great match.
Doubles review Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/A67933 Two upsets in the quarters; one expected and one not. The underseeded team of Vargas/Sotomayor took out the #2 seeds Herrera/Munoz in a tie-breaker, while the pairing of Flores/Lawrence shocked the regularly teamed up Parrilla/Perez in a tie-breaker to earn a semis spot. In the semis….#1 Longoria/Salas were pushed by the upstart Flores/Lawrence team but advanced in a breaker. #3 Mendez/Centellas took out Vargas/Sotomayor in two straight.
In the final, the #1 team won again, claiming their 35th pro doubles title together.
Women’s Open, other draws An odd Women’s Open draw was robbed of any drama on the top side, as both top seeds Barrios and Centellas forfeited. This gave Lawrence a free shot into the final, having only to play one match against a local player who she vanquished 0,0. On the bottom side, it was a different story, as four top LPRT players duked it out. Munoz got a solid win over Flores, and Sotomayor got a solid win over Manilla, and then Munoz took out the tiring Sotomayor in the semis 11-8 to earn a shot against Kelani in the final.
In that final, Lawrence got a very solid win over Munoz in a breaker.
Men’s Pro draw
A 13-player IRT pro draw featured a couple of traveling pros in @Maurice Miller and Rodrigo Rodriguez, who met in the final. There, the young lefty downed the veteran IRT touring pro 9,12 for the title.
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., JP Edwards and @Tj Baumbaugh] Thanks to the Tourney Director Geoff Peters for putting this event on and generally being one of the biggest racquetball benefactors out there.
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 FB. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but FB stripped it.
Next up? Per our handy master racquetball calendar … https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/
Worlds! we take a week off for Thanksgiving, then head to Guatemala for Worlds.
