Mejia an upset winner into the quarters of the US Open. Photo unk.
we’re catching up on the LPRT action from yesterday; here’s a review of the 32s and 16s.
In the 32s, here was the notable results for me:
– #17 Adrienne Fisher Haynes took out #16 Sheryl Lotts in a tie-breaker for a surprising result (for me). Haynes turns the tide on Lotts from the last time they played at the 2018 Nationals and moves on.
– #9 Masiel Rivera Oporto made a statement with a dominant win over #24 Jessica Parrilla 8,4. I thought this was an upset special; instead it was a dominant performance by Rivera, who continues to impress this season and is racing up the LPRT rankings.
– Big upset by #25 Erin Rivera who took out #8 Amaya Cris in two close games 13,13.
– #12 Montse Mejia defeated #21 Maria Renee Rodriguez 12,4 to move on. Credit to MRR for staying in game one against a tough opponent, but Mejia ran away in game two.
– #14 Frédérique Lambert vs #19 Angelica Barrios went as close as it could go, with Lambert squeaking by in two games over the Bolivian youngster 14,13.
– #6 Natalia Mendez Erlwein dominated #27 Bolivian Jenny Daza Navia 4,3 to move on. No hiccup here for Mendez; she kept the pressure on Daza relentlessly and controlled the match from the start.
– #11 Adriana Riveros Racquetball dominated #22 Kelani Lawrence 6,12 in a somewhat surprising result to me. Lawrence played Vargas really tight in Chesapeake but couldn’t get anything going against the Colombian on this day.
– #7 Nancy Enriquez took on #26 Hollie Rae Scott in a tense, contested match that was tight all the way through. Enriquez fought off game-point against in game two when it was looking like this might go tie-breaker and won 12,14 to advance. Not much between these two players on the day.
– #1 Paola Longoria dominated #17 Haynes to move into the quarters.
– #9 Rivera held on and ousted upset-minded #25 Groves in a tie-breaker to move into just her fifth ever career quarter final.
– #12 Mejia wiped out #5 Rhonda Rajsich 6,8 in a match that seemed to take about 15 minutes. Mejia showed the whole arsenal today; power drive serves, touch in the front court, rally control, and Rhonda couldn’t get anything going. Mejia plays fast, Rhonda couldn’t slow her down and she looks pretty focused for this event.
– #4 Alexandra Herrera ended #20 Munoz’ run, taking a close first game then moving on in two 13,8.
– #3 Maria Jose Vargas dominated former world number two and #14 seed Lambert 4,9; we heard during the match that Lambert was working in the ER til 2am on the day of hte match, caught a same-day flight then played two pro matches. Yeah; i think we understand why she may have lost to one of the best players in the world.
– #6 Mendez showed some mettle and outlasted #11 Riveros in a tiebreaker to setup yet another showdown in the quarters of a pro event against her doubles partner Vargas.
– #7 Enriquez got a solid win over outdoor specialist #23 Michelle De la Rosa, who pushed her to 11-7 in the breaker but held on.
– In the dominant performance of the day, #2 Samantha Salas Solis made a statement by downing 2018 world champ #18 Ana Gabriela Martínez12,4. Salas has been “upset” early in both pro events so far this season and faced a stiff challenge here, but she made a statement in this win.
——– 16s seed review: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 (seven of the top eight), then 9,11,12,14,17,18,20,23 … only one qualifier in #25 Groves into the 16s.
Then, the seeds into the qtrs: 1,9,12,4,3,6,7,2; mostly chalk, with #9 and #12 breaking in.
Same question for the men; is this the first time a US Open has not featured a single American into the quarters? here’s the QSF report by Nationality for LPRT: http://rball.pro/032ACA
Answer: yes it is the first time the US Open has not featured an American into at least the qtrs. It has happened multiple times before though (a LPRT event w/o an American into the quarters) before this; first time was Nov 2016 in Monterrey.
Gudinas qualifies for the main draw in her 21st US Open appearance. Photo via WPRO blog Mar 2012
Qualifying is done for the LPRT; lets highlight the notable matches and preview what looks to be a fantastic round of 32.
In the 64s: – Linda Tyler took out Costa Rican junior Maricruz Ortiz in a tie-breaker to earn a shot at #1 Longoria.
– Jenny Daza Navia took out US junior Annie Roberts 8,5 in Robert’s debut. Daza feeds into the 6th seeded Mendez, a player she can beat.
– Legend Cheryl Gudinas qualifies for another US Open main draw, downing Mexican youngster Anna Rivera 13,9.
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Here’s some round of 32 matches to watch for:
– #9 Masiel Rivera Oporto vs #25 Jessica Parrilla; man, what a tough first rounder for Rivera, who has shot up the rankings in the last year and is on the cusp of a top8 ranking (Rivera was seeded 22nd in this event last year by way of comparison). Parrilla is of course on the come back trail from being a former top-4 pro. Expect a hard-hitting battle here and a possible upset by seed.
– #12 Montse Mejia vs #21 Maria Renee Rodriguez; they havn’t played in several years, and the draw is well positioned for Mejia to make a semis run this year. This is a first test. Rodriguez is trying to build on some solid wins in 2019 on the court.
– #14 Frederique Lambert vs #19 Angelica Barrios; Two years ago this would be a predicted blow out, as Lambert was ranked #2 on tour and Barrios was still in juniors. Now this is a dangerous match: Barrios dispatched two top-10 players in the Bolivian grand slam to make the semis and made the quarters of the Pan Am games before losing to Longoria. This one may come down to how rusty Lambert is.
– #6 Natalia Mendez Erlwein vs #27 Daza; The veteran Bolivian has been known to take out top ranked players; in this event last year she topped Vargas, for example. Mendez needs to be on her A-game for this South American match-up.
– #7 Nancy Enriquez takes on #26 Hollie Rae Scott; this should be an interesting one. Scott is the reigning intercollegiates champ and was the losing US national finalist in 2019. I’m not sure Scott has faced someone with the power of Enriquez before (this is their first meeting) so this should be an interesting match.
– #10 Brenda Laime Jalil vs #23 Michelle De La Rosa; people forget, but in 2015 mDLR (nee Key) finished 7th on tour in her sole full-time season of touring before stepping back for family reasons. She’s a player. Laime has climbed into the top 10 on tour with some solid results, but this is a different challenge for her.
——————— We’ll regroup for the round of 16s later today.
The big story ahead of this event was LPRT #1 Paola Longoria going for her 100th professional win. She had family and media on site for the event, but lost in the final. I’m sure she’s under a bit of pressure to hit a milestone win that’s been pushed in social media for months … and now she’ll have another opportunity to do so at the sport’s biggest event, the US Open.
As some of you may have noticed from the broadcasts, yours truly was at this event Friday night to see the 32s and 16s, and I got to help with the broadcast for the quarter final matches on the show court. It is the first time in a while I’ve seen the Ladies pros up close, and I had a blast working along side Timothy Baghurst, LPRT Commissioner Tj Baumbaugh and LPRT gadget king Jerry J Josey Jr., who work tirelessly to put on these events. My first time on the mike was a lot of fun and I hope you all enjoyed listening to the commentary as much as I had calling the matches.
—— Lets recap the event, and I’ll provide some additional commentary for the matches I saw up close.
There were three round of 32 matches, all involving traveling pros and local VA players, including tournament director and Hall of Famer Malia Kamahoahoa Bailey (who fell in two to Jessica Parrilla).
Notable Round of 16 matches: – #9 Brenda Laime Jalil got a solid win over #8 Adriana Riveros 3,14. – #4 Rhonda Rajsich was somewhat fortunate to get by #13 Carla Muñoz Montesinos in their round of 16 match, advancing by the scores of (14),14,4. This was a back and forth match for the entirety of the first two games, with the ladies trading points back and forth, trading leads, etc. Both veteran players played solid tactical games. Munoz had the advantage in game two, leading 14-12 when an odd sequence of events occurred; the referee asked for a replay of a point well after it was completed due to a belated ruling on the serve; this seemed to slightly unnerve Munoz, who lost the 2nd game and wasn’t competitive in the tie-breaker. Credit to Rajsich though; she sensed something was amiss, got the call she needed and kept her composure to win out. – #3 Maria Jose Vargas Parada advanced over reigning US National champ #14 Kelani Lawrence in two tight games 13,10. Lawrence was playing on the courts she grew up on and had the home town crowd rooting her on against one of the world’s best. I must also note; it’s not too often we see two generations competing in the same event like we did here with Mom Malia and daughter Kelani. That was cool to see. – #6 Nancy Enriquez outlasted #11 Sheryl Lotts (12),8,0. Lotts really played a solid game to take the first, but Enriquez settled in, took over game two with her power, and then went on a run that Lotts couldn’t stop in the tie-breaker to secure the 11-0 tiebreaker win. Enriquez has sneaky power; you don’t realize it until you’re up close how much pace she hits with. – #2 Samantha Salas Solis topped former top-4 touring pro Jessica Parrilla7,8. Salas struggled even to get to this event on time, pushing through the same local storms in the Monterrey region of Mexico that prevented 4th ranked Alexandra Herrera from traveling. She arrived in time though to face off against a tough opponent in Parrilla, and a slug-fest ensued. Both players really put some velocity onto the ball, but i’m not sure i’ve ever seen a harder hitter than Salas. Towards the end of game two, Parrilla started working Salas’ backhand more on the serve, had some success, but it was too little, too late as Salas moved on.
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In the Quarters, thanks to Alexandra Herrera‘s absence we had some unexpected match-ups … in fact three of the four quarter final matches featured players who had never played each other professionally. It made for some unexpected results.
– #1 Longoria cruised past #9 Laime 1,4. Laime was outclassed by the veteran, but credit to her for getting this far (a career best showing). – #4 Rajsich squeaked past #5 Natalia Mendez in the first game, then cruised to a two game win 14,1. This is only the 2nd time these two have met in a pro setting. – #3 Vargas dominated #6 Enriquez 6,3 to move into the semis. – But the surprise of the round, perhaps the surprise of the last two seasons, was #7 Masiel Rivera Oporto beating #2 Salas 12,14. Rivera hung with the hard-hitting Salas, worked her backhand well, and got a career win to advance to her first semi final. Salas played 9 pro events last season and made the final of all nine, but now has been upset in both events so far this season.
In the Semis: – #1 Longoria raced past #4 Rajsich 5,3 to move into the finals, continuing her dominant tourney. – #3 Vargas mashed her way past Rivera 11,9 to move into her second final of the season.
In the final, Longoria took game one in her quest for 100 … but Vargas had other ideas, winning game two and the tiebeaker to spoil Longoria’s record-setting win attempt. Vargas gets her first ever professional win over Longoria and gets an early lead in the points rankings in her quest to take over the #2 spot from Salas, or perhaps to challenge for the year end title.
Longoria and Salas bounced back from losses to take the doubles crown, cruising to the title without dropping a game. They topped the #2 seeded Argentinian team of Vargas/Mendez in the final.
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Next up for the LPRT? The US Open in Minneapolis!
Thanks to the Chesapeake crew for bringing Ladies pro racquetball to the Tidewater region for the first time ever.
Longoria goes for her 100th tourney win. Photo via Fran Davis Racquetball
A busy weekend for racquetball includes the 2nd LPRT event of the season, the LPRT by the Beach in Chesapeake, VA.
Hosted by women’s racquetball legend Malia Kamahoahoa Bailey, its the first time the Ladies pros have ever been to the area, and the its the first time pro racquetball has returned to the Virginia Beach/Tidewater area since April 2006 (when the IRT had a stop for a couple years at the same host club).
Of note for this weekend: Paola Longoria goes for her 100th career Women’s Pro event win, an amazing accomplishment, and more than double any other known win total for women’s pros in the history of the game.
Who’s here and who’s missing: 9 of the top 10 are here (missing only #7 Amaya Cris), and then four from the ladies ranked 11-20 are present (missing several part-time players or Bolivian-based players who only sporadically travel). 20 total pros are in the singles draw,
Lets preview the singles draw:
Post publishing Note: clearly the hurricane has caused some travel issues; #4 Alexandra Herrera dropped out, basically forcing a complete redo-of the draw from #4 downward, so basically this post and analysis is now moot.
In the round of 32: – #16 Leona Parrilla vs #17 Erin Rivera: Parrilla continues to work her way back, this time setup to run right into #1 Longoria in the 16s. – #13 Adrienne Fisher Haynes vs #20 Malia Bailey; Malia finished in the top 3 three straight seasons in the early 1990s, including two tourney wins, and has just one pro appearance since 1993 (a round of 32 loss in Gaithersburg, MD in 2006). Can she take out the regular touring pro Haynes? Kelani says Malia’s still playing tough … – #15 Kelani Lawrence vs #18 Amie LeBrun Brewer: The reigning US national champ and daughter of Malia takes on a tough local Virginia player in Brewer, who’s working her way back from injury.
In the 16s: – #1 Paola Longoria vs #16 Parrilla: Longoria kicks off her run to 100 against former top 4 player Parrilla, a tougher match than normally expected in the 16s. – #8 Masiel Rivera Oporto vs #9 Adriana Riveros: these two met twice last year, with Rivera getting a career win over Riveros at the Bolivian grand slam. I think Riveros advances here. – #7 Nancy Enriquez vs #10 Brenda Laime Jalil; they’ve met in the 16s now three tourneys in a row; two weeks ago Enriquez triumped 11-7 in the breaker; can Laime break through?
Qtrs projection: – #1 Longoria over #9 Riveros – #5 Rhonda Rajsich over #4 Alexandra Herrera: i’m playing a hunch that the 3-game format will favor Rajsich here. – #3 Maria Jose Vargas Parada over #6 Natalia Mendez Erlwein; the two Argentinian doubles partners renew their now frequent singles rivalry; they played each other in 5 consecutive pro/IRF events last season. Vargas is 5-0 over her teammate; she makes it 6-0h ere. – #2 Samantha Salas Solis over #7 Enriquez
Semis: – #1 Longoria over #5 Rajsich – #3 Vargas over #2 Salas: this is now suddenly the most compelling match on tour; Salas had been dominating the head to heads lately, including three straight semi finals wins in the last three pro events of last year, but Vargas took a tense 11-9 win in the semis of the season’s opener to make a statement on this season. Expect another barn burner, and i’ll go with another tight Vargas tiebreaker win.
Final: Longoria vanquishes Vargas for her 100th.
——————- Quick doubles preview:
The #1 world team of Longoria/Salas looms large over this 8-team draw, missing the 2nd best team of Herrera and Montse Mejia due to the latter’s missing this event. I’d expect #1 vs #2 in the final, with the Mexican pair taking on the Argentinian national team of Vargas/Mendez, with a Mexican victory.
——————– Look for streaming in all the regular places by following LPRT. Timothy Baghurst will be in town to broadcast, and I hope to get there for at least the friday matches, being that its in my home state and all.
In the 16s: – #8 Amaya Cris dominated #9 Masiel Rivera Oporto 3,9 to advance. This should be an interesting season for Amaya with her renewed training regiment. – #12 Montse Mejia got a solid 2-game win over #5 Rhonda Rajsich, reversing the result from their meeting in Lima a few weeks ago. – #4 Alexandra Herrera barely held off #13 Jessica Parrilla 11-9 in the breaker. Its the third straight defeat in the 16s for Parrilla at the hands of Herrera, but she keeps getting closer. – #19 Maldonado fared well against #3 Maria Jose Vargas Parada losing in two 9,10. A good showing for the 20-yr old. – #11 Flores got the biggest (only) upset of the round, topping #6 Natalia Mendez Erlwein in two. Its the 2nd year in a row they’ve met in this event … and the 2nd year in a row Flores upset the Argentinian. – #7 Nancy Enriquez was stretched to a tiebreaker by #10 Brenda Laime Jalil before advancing. Laime continues to make main events, solidifying her ranking in the 12-16 range, but she has yet to have a break through win.
In the quarters: – #1 Paola Longoria took out #8 Amaya 8,9 to advance. – #12 Mejia continued her upsetting ways, taking out #4 Herrera in two games and perhaps making a statement about the current heirarchy on the tour. – #3 Vargas advanced in two straight over 18U champ Flores. – #2 Samantha Salas Solis blitzed past #7 Enriquez 1,6.
In the semis; two heavyweight battles and two interesting matches: – #1 Longoria and #12 Mejia were neck and neck in game one, with Longoria pulling out a close one, then she broke away in game two to advance 13,5. – #3 Vargas got just her 3rd pro win over Salas in a tense, back and forth 11-9 tiebreaker win.
In the final, Vargas mounted a furious comeback in Game 1 but fell slightly short, then Longoria took over in game 2 to win her namesake title 13,6.
The two top Mexican teams advanced to the final as #1 and #3 seeds. #3 Mejia/Herrera downed the #2 Argentinian national team of Vargas/Mendez 12,13 to advance.
The final was a rematch of several major events in the last couple of years (these are all Finals); – 2016 US Open – 2017 Chihuahua Pro stop – 2018 Battle at the Alamo – 2018 World Doubles – 2018 Mexican Worlds selection – 2018 Paola Longoria Experience – 2018 US Open – 2019 Mexican Nationals – 2019 Kansas City pro stop.
The #1 team had won every one of these finals matchups save for the 2018 Worlds selection event.
On this day though, the younger team of Herrera/Mejia stuck with the hard-hitting veteran team, mounted a solid comeback in game 2 after letting game 1 slip away, then just out-shot the #1 team behind really solid serving from Herrera and took the title.
After an incredibly busy summer of events, the pro racquetball season is back. Welcome to the 2019-20 season; first up; the LPRT kicks off with a Grand Slam event; the Paola Longoria Experience in her home town of San Luis Potosi, SL, Mexico1
22 pros are in SLP for this event; lets take a look at the draws.
The top 8 players are here, setting up some frequently seen possible quarter finals from last season. We’re missing the 9th, 10th, and 11th ranked players ( Frederique LambertAdriana Riveros and Gaby Martinez), which has elevated Masiel Rivera Oporto all the way to a 9th seed. Its an odd absence for Riveros, who only missed three events in the last two seasons.
Lets preview the draw;
Interesting play-in/round of 32 matches: – #16/#17 Mexican lefty youngster Monserrat Perez Hellman takes on Guatemalan international Maria Renee Rodriguez, who is fresh off of a solid Pan Am Games showing (she and Martinez made the women’s doubles final). I like MRR here. – #12 Montse Mejia gets a chance to avoid the #1 seed in a pro event for the first time in a while, and starts out playing country-woman Carolina Rivera in the opener. – #14 Sheryl Lotts made the trip and gets an early test against another young Mexican player Denisse Maldonado. – #11 Ana Laura Flores , the reigning Mexican 18U champ, takes on the 2018 Mexican 14U champ Daniela Rico in a generational junior battle. – #15 Veteran Susy Acosta takes on a player nearly half her age in #18 Erin Rivera.
Possible Round of 16 matches of note: – #8 Amaya Cris vs #9 Rivera: these two played at the final LPRT stop of last season, a 4-game win for Amaya, who has not stopped traveling or playing this summer. I like Amaya here to advance. – #5 Rhonda Rajsich vs #12 Mejia: they just played each other in LIma, a beat-down by Rajsich. But this is a great opportunity for Mejia (who has the talent to challenge for the top) to make a run. Will she learn from her Pan Am Games early exit? – #4 Alexandra Herrera vs #13 Jessica Parrilla: Herrera has knocked Parrilla out in the round of 16 in both her top-level tournaments back so far, and likely does it again here. Despite it being more than a year removed from her knee injury, Parrilla still is not back to top form.
Projecting the Quarters: i like the top 8 seeds to advance with a lot of chalk here on out. – #1 Paola Longoria vs #8 Amaya: Longoria will be looking to win her namesake tournament as she did last year to kick off the season. – #4 Herrera vs #5 Rajsich: Alexandra finally broke her losing streak to Rajsich at the end of last pro season, while Rajsich is coming off a long two week period in Lima (where, to be fair, Herrera also was … but was merely on the Mexican team and did not play). I like Herrera here. – #3 Maria Jose Vargas Parada vs #6 Natalia Mendez; as I frequently noted last spring, these two long-time Argentinian team-mates and doubles partners had not never met, now cannot stop facing each other. Vargas has never lost to Mendez, and I don’t see that starting here. – #2 Samantha Salas Solis vs #7 Nancy Enriquez: If Enriquez does not slip up against up-and-comer Brenda Laime Jalil, she’ll fall at this stage. Salas was shut out of the Mexican singles team at the Pan Ams, but raced to the doubles gold with Longoria.
Semis and Finals: Longoria over Herrera, Salas over Vargas, and Longoria over Salas, This was the semis and finals of the final LPRT event from last season, and I think they pick right back up where they left off.
———————- Doubles preview:
10 teams here; I like the top two Mexican teams of Longoria/Salas and Mejia/Herrera to meet in the final, with the Pan Am Gold medalists to take another title.
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Reminder: LPRT has a new scoring system, and i’ll put up a post this weekend with a look back at the scoring systems used by the ladies pro tour over the years.
———————– Analysis/thoughts on Year End Rankings and notable player movement.
#1 Paola Longoriafinishes the year undefeated, 37-0 It is the 5th time she’s accomplished this feat, and she now has just four on-court losses in the last 8 professional seasons. She sews up her 10th career pro title. With her win in Kansas City, she gets her 91st career title in the Database (we’re aware of the discrepancy between our systems and her records and are working to figure out the delta actively).
She now sits as an astounding 439-30 in her pro career, a .936 winning percentage. She still trails Michelle Gould in this metric, whose database W/L percentage currently sits at 147-9 and which will only improve as we eventually fill in tournament detail in the mid 1990s. By way of comparison, both of these marks are better than Kane Waselenchuk‘s career mark of .918, which is considered in awe on the men’s pro racquetball circles.
#2 Samantha Salas Solis had as good of a season as you could have given that the #1 player went undefeated: she made 9 finals in 9 tries (missing one event due to travel issues mid-season). She’ll be kicking herself she didn’t claim the title in the one event that Paola missed … that being the Bolivian Grand Slam and the big check that comes with it. But a great season for Salas, who started the season ranked outside the top 10 due to injury comeback and is now firmly entrenched at #2 for the forseeable future.
Salas is now just 3-50 against Longoria though, and needs to find a way to beat her long-time rival if she wishes to put her name in the record books. She did stretch Paola to 5 games once this season, in Syosset, but most of their finals were 3-game affairs.
#3 Maria Jose Vargas Parada, like Salas, also started the year still working her way back into touring status thanks to a hiatus to have a kid. But thanks to her title in Bolivia, she ascended to #3, where she stayed the rest of the way out. She maintains a slight lead for 3rd over Herrera. Vargas is just 2-8 career over #2 Salas, which includes the win in Bolivia, so she has her work cut out for her if she wishes to ascend any higher.
#4 Alexandra Herrera had a very consistent season; she started it ranked 3rd, finished it ranked 4th, made a bunch of semis, never got upset prior to the qtrs … but really only had one break through tourney, making the final when the #2 seed Lambert got upset very early in Laurel. On the bright side, at season’s end she broke a career duck against Rajsich, finally beating her head to head in the season’s final event to secure #4 on the season.
– #5 Rhonda Rajsich kept chugging in her 20th pro season, finishing in the top 5 for the 18th time. A couple of early season upsets dropped her to the 6th-7th seed, but then stronger results as the season went on got her back. She treads water from last season, finishing 5th for the second season in a row. Rajsich overtook Cheryl Gudinas this season and now has the most ever appearances in pro tour history, a streak she seems set to continue for the forseeable future.
– #6 Natalia Mendez Erlwein started the season seeded 6th and ended it 6th, and made 8 quarters in 10 pro tourneys. She had an interesting 2nd half of the season, where her specific seeding drove four consecutive quarter-final match-ups with countrymate and doubles partner Vargas … resulting in four of her eight quarter final defeats on the season. There’s a significant points gap from Rhonda to Natalia, one that only a breakthrough tourney will solve. Her four-straight match-ups against Vargas has me thinking that maybe the LPRT should consider seed flipping like the IRT does; there were also a number of other repeated qtr final match-ups (Herrera-Rajsich, Salas-Enriquez) that would be mixed up and give the 5-8 seeded players a different look in the qtrs.
– #7 Nancy Enriquez took a slight step back from last season, taking a couple of early upsets and dropping from 6th last season to 7th this season. Her 7-seed routes her to #2 Salas each quarterfinal, a tough spot to be in considering how well Salas is playing and considering that Salas has just one career loss to Enriquez (way back in 2011).
– #8 Amaya Cris finished ranked 8th for the 2nd season in a row, and had a similar performance this year to last. She was able to fight back into the top 8 by season’s end, having dropped out of the top 8 mid-way through the season. She made 5 quarter finals in 10 tourneys but wasn’t able to break through to the semis.
– #9 Frederique Lambert missed half the season and dropped from #2 last season to finish 9th. As is well known, she completed Medical school this year and graduated in May, and even making half the tourneys this year seems like a pretty amazing accomplishment for someone finishing such a rigorous academic schedule. This breaks a streak of four straight seasons ranked in the top 4 for Frederique. One has to wonder what the future holds; after you finish medical school usually medical training commences and I have a hard time believing Lambert will be able to do a time-intensive internship and frequently take off 4-day weekends to compete in tourneys. We all await to see what happens as it pertains to the tour; nobody likes losing a top player.
– #10 Adriana Riveros finished 10th on the season, improving from 12th last season and now is the fourth straight season in this 10-14 range for the Colombian. She made two quarter finals in 10 tourneys on the year
———————– 11th-20th ranked players:
– #11 Gaby Martinez earned enough points from early events to finish 11th despite announcing her retirement from the sport to focus on school earlier this season. She made two semis in three events this year and got a career win over Longoria in 2018’s worlds final, making this observer wonder if she wasn’t the heir-apparent to the crown (or at the least, a good competitor for the top spot going forward). I hope she can find time to continue to play and compete at some point in the future, because (as with Lambert) its a bummer to lose a top competitor.
– #12 Masiel Rivera Oporto played a full season and was rewarded with her top ever finish. She made one quarter on the year thanks to probably her best win on the season, over Riveros at the Bolivian grand slam on home turf.
– #13 Brenda Laime Jalil made 6 main draws in 9 events, a big improvement from last season (when she failed to advance to the 16s all year) and enough to get her into the top 16.
– #14 Ana Laura Flores Saavedra made one quarter with a solid win over Mendez in the season opener, and played in 6 of the 10 events on the year.
– #15 Cassie Lee improved from #21 last year, making 5 main draws out of 9 tournaments attended.
– #16 Yazmine Sabja Aliss played just 4 events, being based in Bolivia, but made two quarters and got some solid wins along the way. One has to think that her playing the tour FT would have her challenging for a top 8 spot. too bad Bolivia is so far away.
– #17 Montse Mejia had an interesting season: she played 5 pro events and lost in the 16s each time (3 times to Longoria, once each to Lambert and Vargas). But, outside of the pro tour she won World 18U juniors (beating Gaby Martinez twice along the way), then at Mexican Nationals beat in order Enriquez, Salas and Longoria to take the title. She faltered at the PARCs as the #1 seed (losing to Mendez in the qtrs), but one has to wonder what she’s capable of if she can get out of the 14-16 seed range and get some deeper runs on the pro tour. I think she’s one of the top 5 women in the world right now and hope she can play a full slate next season.
– #18 Adrienne Fisher Haynes dropped in the season ending rankings for the 3rd successive season, getting upset in the 32s 5 times in 8 events this season.
– #19 Angelica Barrios made the semis of the Bolivian grand slam, beating two top 8 players along the way, which propelled her to a top 20 finish despite just three appearances. She’s also put her name into the mix for the Bolivian national team, representing her country at PARCs earlier this year.
– #20 Carla Muñoz Montesinos had a qtr and two main draws in 6 appearances this year, a busy one for her as she finished up school in Colorado, made the finals of NCAA intercollegiates and represented Chile at three different IRF events.
———————– commentary on players ranked 21st on-wards:
– #22 Susy Acosta finished 22nd … in her 21st pro season.
– #24 Michelle De La Rosa made a semi and played top ranked pros tough in limited appearnces this year.
– #25 Kelani Lawrence finished 25th in limited appearances but won the US National title.
– #27 Hollie Rae Scott finished 27th but won the NCAA Intercollegiate title.
– #29 Laura Brandt finished 29th … at the age of 56.
– #31 Valeria Centellas finished 31st … and is the reigning World junior 16U champ. She played #1 for Bolivia at the PARC games in April and made the quarters … in her age 17 season.
– #37 Jessica Parrilla finished 37th after missing basically the entire season recovering from a bad knee injury. She will fight back to regain her status on tour starting next season after finishing 3rd last season. ———————–
That’s it for the season. We look forward to seeing what next year has in store. I sense a step up in events, I hope to see more dual tour events like what is done in Minneapolis and Bolivia, and I hope to see more events in Mexico that draw the local player base.
In the round of 16,, results went exactly chalk. All top 8 seeds advanced. There were a couple of notable results though. – Unlike in Syosset, the Paola Longoria – Mejia match was a 3-game blow out, Longoria winning 3,1,4. – #8 Amaya Cris dropped the first game against #9 Masiel Rivera Oporto but won in 4. – Similarly, #4 Alexandra Herrera dropped the first game to Parrilla before winning in 4. – In a battle of Mexican LPRT vets, Susy Acosta Racquetball took a game off of Samantha Salas Solis before falling in four.
In the quarters, the draw went chalk … but not with out some tough matches: – #1 Paola Longoria trounced #8 Amaya in 3 – #4 Herrera got her first ever win over #5 Rhonda Rajsich, breaking a long-running streak and solidifying her top 4 finish on the year. – #3 Maria Jose Vargas was stretched to a 5th game against doubles partner #6 Natalia Mendez before advancing. – #2 Salas came from 2 games down to win a very close one against #7 Nancy Enriquez, 11-9 in the 5th.
The semis and finals went chalk; Longoria over Herrera in 4, Salas over Vargas in 4. In the final Salas took the first game off of Longoria but Paola prevailed, completing an undefeated season.
– All four top seeds advanced to the semis … but the #2 seeded Argentinian team of Vargas/Mendes had to save match point against before advancing against the all-Mexican team of Parrilla & Enriquez.
In the semis, both the top Mexican teams cruised to two game wins to face off in the finals.
In the final, the top seeded Longoria/Salas team dropped game 2, but held on for the title.
———————————- that’s it for the season! A dominant season for Longoria, and for Salas, who have really established themselves as the #1 and #2 players in the world. Once the final rankings post to lprtour.com, I’ll scrap them and do all the year end processing and send out a separate post summarizing the season.
Next up: we’ll wait for the final points standings to post and then do typical PRS end of season work and will send out a seasonal summary after that.
next up on the rball calendar? US Junior Nats, then WOR outdoors, then Mexican Jr Nats, ,then the Pan Am games in august.
In a rarity; there are basically only pro draws in this event; singles and doubles (with a smaller Open singles draw). This is definitely a high-light event for the women’s pros. 21 pros are in Kansas to compete in the last event of the year.
A couple of interesting entrants here that i’d like to point out: – Former top-10 pro Jessica Parrilla has finally returned to the tour after badly injuring her knee last spring: her last appearance was in April of 2018. She did play Mexican Nationals this year in March as her first tourney back, and now starts from square one. She’s seed 20th out of 21 entrants here (only Gomar is lower) and will have to fight starting next season to get back into the top 8. – Guatemalan Marie Gomar is entered; she’s got just one previous LPRT appearance (in 2014), and didn’t have any international appearances for more than 5 years. With the retirement of Gaby Martinez, Gomar has ascended to #2 in Guatemala and is representing her country for the first time in years.
What’s at stake from a rankings perspective? The top 2 are locked in for the year, and there’d have to be a pretty big upset of the 3-5 players for any change to happen there. The players ranked 6-10 however are each separated by smaller numbers of points, where a run to the semis could make a big change in the rankings thanks to the double points in this Grand Slam event.
——————————- Lets preview the Singles draw:
Round of 32: – In the 16/17 match, current Mexican champ and reigning world 18U champ Montse Mejia takes on Chilean #1 Carla Muñoz Montesinos. A tough opener for both, with Mejia favored to advance. – #21 Gomar takes on regular touring pro Cassie Lee in her return to the tour. – #20 Parrilla takes on regular touring pro Adrienne Fisher Haynes in her return to the tour. – the 15/18 match looks tough as well: Susy Acosta versus Guatemalan #1 Maria Renee Rodríguez.
Interesting round of 16 projected matches: – #1 Paola Longoria likely takes on Mejia in the 16s … again. They’ve met in the 16s two times already this year, including in the most recent pro event in Syosset (a brutal 5-game win for Paola Longoria). They also met in the finals of Mexican Nationals, an upset win for Mejia. Mejia seems to be in a points rut and needs a round of 16 win to get out of the 16-17 rankings range. Will it happen here? I favor Longoria, but i sense it’ll be a 5-gamer again. – The 8/9 match looks compelling: Amaya Cris versus Masiel Rivera Oporto . Colombia vs Bolivia, and two players who have very little history playing each other (just one match-up in 2014). Should be a good test for both. – #4 Alexandra Herrera vs Parrilla; Interestingly, Parrilla’s first match back from her knee injury in March was also against Herrera, in March at Mexican Nats. They’re 4-4 career h2h, but Herrera has won the last three. Parrilla’s had 3 months to improve fitness and knee stability; can she get the upset here?
Otherwise, i’m mostly predicting chalk in the round of 16.
Projecting the quarters: – #1 Longoria over #8 Amaya; Longoria is 9-0 versus Amaya on the LPRT, 13-0 including IRF events. – #5 Rhonda Rajsich over #4 Herrera; despite their ranks, Rajsich has never lost to Herrera, holding a 10-0 career h2h record. They’ve met in the quarters of the last two pro events too, both Rajsich wins … but they’ve both been 5-game marathons. I think Rajsich advances again, and once again its 5 games. – #3 Maria Jose Vargas vs #6 Natalia Mendez; these two just can’t get away from each other; after never playing prior to March … they’ve played each other 4 times in the last 3 months, including in the qtrs of the last three pro events. The two Argentinians (who are also doubles partners) likely face off again …and Vargas likely wins for the 5th straight time. – #2 Samantha Salas Solis vs #7 Nancy Enriquez; they are projected to meet for the 3rd time this season. Enriquez has a couple of career wins over Salas, but they’re forever ago and Salas advances here.
projected Semis: – Longoria over Rajsich; this would be the 5th semis meeting between these two this season … Paola’s got the first four, but it was a 5-gamer in Syosset. – Salas over Vargas: they’ve met in the last three pro events; Vargas won on home soil in Bolivia, but Salas won the last two meetings rather easily.
Predicted final: Longoria over Salas. This has been the final in 7 of the 9 pro events this season … so might as well be the final in the last one too.
——————————- Doubles preview
This event is serving as a warm-up event for a few national doubles teams for the forthcoming Pan Am games: the two top Mexican teams, the Argentinian team, and the Guatemalan team are all competing here (interestingly it seems like the Ecuadorian women’s team went to the Black Gold event instead of Kansas City to practice, competing in the Men’s open doubles event).
I’m going with #1 Longoria/Salas vs #5 Lotts/Munoz in one semi, #3 Herrera/Mejia vs #2 Vargas/Mendex in the other semi, and an all-mexican final with the top team winning.
Fun fact: LPRT commissioner Tj Baumbaugh is signed up, her first playing appearance on the pro tour since Aug 2016.
——————————– Follow LPRT on facebook for streaming; veteran broadcaster Timothy Baghurst is making the short drive from OK to KS to help broadcast this weekend.
Congrats to Paola Longoria on her win this weekend in NY.
With this win: – this is Paola’s 90th tournament title in the database and 97th that she claims (we have yet to reconcile this difference with her media group). – She remains undefeated on the season, improving to 33-0. – Paola creates an insurmountable lead at the top of the season to date rankings, ensuring her 10th pro title (more on that later). – Paola extends her current match winning streak to 37. – She improves to 49-3 career on the LPRT over #2 Salas.
In the 32s/qualifiers: – #12 Brenda Laime Jalil needed four to get by Canadian Michèle Morissette, who just finished representing Canada at PARCs 2019 and played solidly.
———————— In the 16s: – In a battle of two of the worlds best, far too early, #1 Paola Longoria avenged a loss in the 2019 Mexican Nationals final to top Montse Mejia 11-7 in the 5th. It was a battle though, a back and forth 5-game monster.
– #5 Rhonda Rajsich came from two games down to take out youngster Laime.
————————- In the Quarters: – #1 Paola Longoria took out last year’s 2nd ranked player and #8 seed Frederique Lambert in three straight.
– #5 Rajsich again came from 2 games down to top #4 Alexandra Herrera and remain undefeated against the lefty Mexican in her career.
– #3 Maria Jose Vargas topped her doubles partner #6 Mendez in straight sets, her 4th win over Natalia in the last few weeks.
– #2 Samantha Salas cruised past #10 Amaya to make the semis for the 8th time in 9 tries this season.
So nearly chalk into the semis: 1,2,3,5.
————————- In the semis: – #1 Longoria had to come from two games down to top #5 Rajsich. After dropping the first game 4, a battle royale ensued in game two, with Rhonda topping Paola 13-11. From there though, all champion, as she cruised to win the next three games 2,3,1.
– #2 Salas beat Vargas in three straight advance to her 8th final in 9 events this year.
————————— In that final, Longoria improved to 49-3 on the pro tour over her doubles partner Salas … but she had to work to do so. A back and forth affair resulted in another 5 game match for Longoria before she came out on top.
Three 5-gamers in this event for Longoria; that doesn’t happen too often. But she comes out with the title.
————————— One more event for the LPRT; a grand slam in Kansas City in mid June. However, Paola has sewn up the year end title, having an insurmountable points lead at this point over Solis for #1. And Solis has a similarly insurmountable lead for #2. We’ll go through the points ramifications in the preview for the last event for the rest of the top 10 after the Kansas event.
But Longoria has now officially wrapped up her 10th pro title. Congrats to Paola on this great accomplishment!.
