Tag: samantha salas

Posted on

Juniors Historical Data Entry Updates and new Reports available

Huczek continues to hold the record for most world Junior titles.  Photo Src: © Mike Boatman 2009

When the International Racquetball Federation – IRF World Juniors event finished up in November, I took the opportunity to tackle some Juniors-focused data entry.

Historically I have only pursued full match results for 16U and 18U juniors events only. 16U has been my “dividing line” for tracking match results, thinking that tracking younger kids match results was slighly unsavory. However, the winners of these tourneys become part of permanent racquetball history no matter what their age, and there’s value in having it all in one easy to consume report.

So now the PRS database has every junior tourney winner from every USA and IRF juniors championships for all of time loaded up into the database. Furthermore, I’ve created a new “Junior Champ Matrix” report that shows all the junior winners in one place. Here’s the IRF Boys Junior’s champion matrix for all IRF Junior Worlds dating to 1989:

http://www.proracquetballstats.com/cg…/print_results_new.pl…

And here’s the Girls version:

http://www.proracquetballstats.com/cg…/print_results_new.pl…

We also have this same data completed for all of USA juniors history, dating to 1974.

Canada is a work in progress; I’ve got limited data from 2013 on-wards online and need to do r2sports and archive.org work to build history. Mexico is in even worse shape, with online records in r2sports only to 2013 and the former Mexican federation website that would have held such data having been left to pasture at some point in the 2013 time-frame. As always with Amateur FMR data … any help is appreciated.

To run these reports yourself, go to the www.proracquetballstats.com home page, click on the “Juniors” icon and scroll down to the section titled “Select category for All Results Matrix.”

——————————-

One great side-effect of having this matrix is this: we can now get great trivia questions answered quickly!

Here’s some IRF Juniors trivia:
– Who holds the most Junior Worlds Boys titles? A tie between Jack Huczek and David Ortega, each of whom won 11 World Juniors titles. b is next, with 8.
– Who won the most Junior Worlds Girls titles? Adrienne Fisher Haynes holds the record with 10 international titles; she missed out on an 11th by getting upset in her final 18U event by Samantha Salas in the 2004 world championships. Paola Longoria is 2nd with 8 junior world titles.
– Both Sudsy Monchik and Rocky Carson won three successive 18U world junior titles. The only other player to hold 3 successive titles in any age bracket was Sudsy’s now wife Veronica Vero Sotomayor, who held the 12U title from 2003 to 2005.
– American Erika Manilla had an interesting Junior Worlds career; she won 6U-multi bounce in 2005 … then didn’t win another World Junior title until her last eligible tourney, taking 18U in 2016.

Enjoy!

Posted on

LPRT Turkey Shoot Event wrap-up

Longoria wins again.

Congrats to #1 Paola Longoria, who was a double winner on the weekend, taking the Singles draw over #2 seeded Samantha Salas Solis, then teaming with Salas to win the pro doubles draw.

Longoria and Salas have now met in the finals of each of the season’s first four events, solidifying their lead at the top of the rankings table. Longoria improves to 46-3 against Salas on the pro tours with the win. This win represents Longoria’s 86th pro title in the database (though we may be missing some of her earlier tourney wins; a situation we’re working on rectifiying). Lastly, this tourney extends Paola’s current match winning streak to 21 games; she’s won the last 5 pro events.

Lets take a quick run through the singles draw. Here’s the match report in the database:

http://www.proracquetballstats.com/cg…/print_results_new.pl…

Upsets/notable results for me:
– Four regular touring players, coincidentally seeded 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th, were all upset in the first round of play. 4-time pro champ Cheryl Gudinas put a 5-game loss on Sheryl Lotts, then nearly beat Natalia Mendez, taking her to a 5th game tiebreaker.
– Junior up and coming player Angelica Barrios took out Adrienne Fisher Haynes and took a game off of #5 seed Rhonda Rajsich before bowing out.
– Michelle De La Rosa got a solid win over #10 Susy Acosta before falling in 3 closer games to #4 seed Maria Jose Vargas.  De La Rosa (nee Key) has now played in 3 events this season, after playing just a handful over the past few years, and could be a force on tour if she continues to play. She’s made a number of Quarters and even one Semi and is a dangerous opponent.
– Masiel Rivera Oporto played her 3rd event of the season and made her second round of 16; she’s right in the range of seeding where she could continue to get opportunistic match-ups and keep moving up the rankings.
– I liked what I saw out of youngster Brenda Laime, who got past Erin Rivera before taking a game off of #2 seed Solis.
– 16U world champ Valeria Centellas was one-and-done in the pro draw, running into the 7th seeded Colombian Amaya Cris, but she played very well in the Women’s Open draw, beating experienced American Sharon Jackson and then Lexi York before losing in two close games to experienced international player Adriana Riveros in the semis.
– Speaking of York; she made her pro tour debut after a pretty good juniors run (she was the 2015 USA 18U champ and made the semis of junior worlds that same year). Hope to see more of York in the coming years.

The quarters, semis and finals went almost perfectly chalk along the lines of seeds; the only discrepancy was #9 seeded Colombian Adriana Riveros defeating #8 Chilean Carla Muñoz Montesinos in the quarters. Neutral fans always want to root for upsets, but this tournament was missing four key names who normally would have provided some upsets to the current LPRT heirarchy. Namely, Montserrat Montse Mejia, Ana Gabriela Gaby Martinez, Frederique Lambertand Nancy Enriquez.

—————
On the doubles side, the dominant team of Longoria/Salas easily took this tourney, crushing Alexandra Herrera & Munoz 2,9 in the final.

Here’s the Doubles draw Match report:

http://www.proracquetballstats.com/cg…/print_results_new.pl…

The Longoria/Salas team is now 71-3 together since we began tracking LPRT doubles in 2013. Longoria has won 36 of the 41 doubles draws she’s entered in that time, most of them won with Salas. I still can’t quite believe they were upset as a team at the 2018 Mexican selection event, thus preventing them from competing in Worlds this past summer.

—————-
Next up for the LPRT: the Christmas Classic in Laurel, MD.

LPRT

Posted on

LPRT 2018 Turkey Shoot Preview

16U World Champino Centellas makes her pro debut.

Hello all, welcome back to pro racquetball after a great World Juniors event. This weekend, the LPRT returns to action, visiting Chicago for their annual event. There’s an interesting draw, with a ton of young players and some pro tour debuts. Lets Review the draw.

Follow LPRT on Facebook; they’re streaming live matches starting at 11am EST (as in, after you’re reading this; they’re already playing!)

The draw is missing a couple of notable names: both finalists from the 18U world juniors Montse Mejia and Ana Gabriela Gaby Martinez are missing; quite understanable in that the World Juniors event is a grueling event, especially when playing both singles and doubles. Also missing is #3 ranked Frederique Lambert,5th ranked Nancy Enriquez, which bumps up both Amaya and Munoz to top 8 seeds in this event.

Fun side note for this event: Chicago native and 4-time pro tour winner Cheryl Gudinas makes a rare appearance and makes her 182nd career appearance. She remains tied for the most appearances ever with fellow 4-time pro tour winner and #5 seed Rhonda Rajsich.

Here’s some interesting Round of 32 matches to watch for:

– DC native Masiel Rivera Oporto takes on Montserrat Perez in the always competitive 16/17 seed match
– Lexi York, who we last saw in a top-level match making the semis of Girls 18U at World Juniors in 2005, returns to the court to take on #8 Seed Adriana Riveros.
– Bolivian Angelica Barrios, herself fresh off of a run to the semis of the Girls 18U at World Juniors, takes on LPRT veteran tour player Adrienne Fisher Haynes.
– Michelle De La Rosa, fresh from playing in the 2018 USA Pickleball championships in Indian Wells, faces up against long time tour vet Susana Susy Acosta in what could be a pretty tough opener. De La Rosa lost 12-10 in the fifth at the US Open and is clearly a threat to advance deep in any pro tour.
– Virginia native Kelani Lawrence makes just her 3rd pro draw of 2018 and faces off against Guatemalan vet Maria Renee Rodríguez in a tough opener for both players.
– Sheryl Lotts gets to go up against the legend Cheryl Gudinas in her home town.
– And lastly, in what is the most interesting match for me, reigning World doubles champion and freshly crowned 16U world junior champion Valeria Centellas is in the draw as the lowest seed, playing #7 Colombian vet Amaya Cris in the opening round. I suspect Amaya may be too much for the 16-yr old to handle, but its a great way to get a debut to the pro circuit.

Projecting the 16s: There’s lots of 32s that could go either way; here’s some of the round of 16 matches that could be noteworthy:

– Carla Munoz-Riveros as the 8/9 match: they’ve played a bunch both internationally and in the LPRT. Munoz owns the last 3 wins and seems to have gained the upper hand in this rivalry.
– #4 Seeded Maria Jose Vargas versus De La Rosa: Vargas can run hot or cold, has had some inconsistent results lately. These two have played 6 times before and Vargas is 6-0, but the matches include a number of 4 and 5 game marathons.

In the quarters, I’m going with:
– Paola Longoria over Munoz
– Rajsich upsetting Vargas
– Alexandra Herrera handling Natalia Mendez
– Samantha Salas handling Amaya.

From there, I’m going chalk, with a 1/2 final and Longoria prevailing over Salas like normal. Unfortunately a few of the rising players i’d expect to make noise in this draw (Martinez, Mejia, Enriquez) are missing so the old guard prevails).

Posted on

2018 LPRT Boston Open Preview

The LPRT returns to action this weekend, traveling to Boston for the annual Boston Open. This event has been on the books this Halloween weekend for a few years now and has become a popular LPRT stop.

22 women are entered in the Singles draw, and the draw has some interesting participants and omissions.

Top 10 players missing include #9 Jessica Parrilla (still recovering from knee surgery) and more importantly #10 Ana Gabriele Martinez, who has made two semis in two tournaments this season and misses out on a chance to put herself into the top 8. The only other top 20 players missing are #17 Susy Acosta and #20 Montse Mejia.  (Post-publishing note: its likely that both Martinez and Mejia are missing this event due to its proximity to World Juniors, which starts the following weekend.  Both are favorites in their final juniors appearance to reach the 18U final).

There’s a few interesting “blast from the past” players in this draw; Laura Brandt first appeared on the pro tour in 2005 and plays her second pro event this month.  Jennifer Mayadas-Dering played events in the late 90s into the 2000s, then took 14 years off before re-appearing in pro draws lately. Lastly, four-time tour champ Cheryl Gudinas plays her third straight Boston Open, and for the time being remains tied with Rhonda Rajsich for most ever appearances on the pro tour with 181.

Lets run through the draw and note some possible good matches to watch for:

In the 32s:
– Adrienne Fisher Haynes gets the 4-time former champ Gudinas in the first round. Haynes is 2-16 lifetime versus Gudinas … and those two wins came in their two most recent meetings (in 2012 and 2013).
– Cassi Lee faces off against Dering, making for a match-up of two New Yorkers.
– Guatemalan Maria Renee Rodriguez faces off against DC-area native Masiel Rivera Oporto.

In the 16s:
– Bolivian dark-horse player Yazmine Sabja Aliss gets an unlucky early match-up with #1 Paola Longoria. Sabja is a dangerous player who can hang with nearly every player in the world … but I think she’ll be hard-pressed to pull off an upset of this magnitude here.
– In the 8/9 seed, a South American battle between Colombian Amaya Cris and Argentinian Natalia Mendez.
– Representatives of these two countries will also battle in the bottom half of hte draw, when Colombian Adriana Riveros and Argentinian Maria Jose Vargas meet.

Possible  Quarters:

– Longoria should handle Mendez.
– A highly interesting all-Mexico quarter final between Nancy Enriquez and Alexandra Herrera awaits; Enriquez has been upset in both LPRT events this season by the same (missing) player in Martinez; now she has a path to the semis against a player who she has beaten. Herrera leads the h2h on tour 2-1 but they havn’t played in more than a year.
– Samantha Salas faces off against Vargas; a few years ago Vargas seemed like she was perched to take over the #2 spot on tour (and in fact did in 2015). But she’s been hit and miss this season while Salas has come back energized from her injury last season.
– Dr to be Frederique Lambert is set to take on the legend Rajsich in the last quarter.

Projected Semis: Longoria, Enriquez, Salas and Lambert.

My predicted final: Longoria over Salas.

Posted on

US Open Women’s Pro Singles Final Review and event wrap

Longoria wins her 9th US Open title.

Match report in the database: https://bit.ly/2yrkHMq

Here’s a wrap-up of all the LPRT singles posts for this year’s US Open:

Congratulations to Paola Longoria, who captured her 9th career US Open title by defeating #3 Samantha Salas Solis 9,2,5. Paola has not lost at this event since 2010, when she was upset in the final by #2 Rhonda Rajsich.

This tournament represents Longoria’s 84th Tier 1 or Grand Slam title, and she seems well on her way towards challenging Kane Waselenchuk‘s overall record for total pro titles (which currently sits at 111).

Paola maintains her current stranglehold on the points lead on the LPRT; she is set to extend her current lead on #2 Frederique Lambert, who was vanquished in the semis by finalist Salas.

Posted on

US Open LPRT Ladies Pro Doubles Wrap-Up

Congrats to Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas on their US Open doubles title. Lets review the event.

In the qualifying rounds:
– Yazmine Sabja Ráquetbol and Nancy Enriquez first took out accomplished international doubles player Aimee Aimee Roehler Ruiz, playing with Erika Manilla. Ruiz holds 6 career major international titles and is a tough out in every doubles tourney.
– Sabja and Enriquez turned around and defeated the #5 seeded Michelle De La Rosa and Carla Carla Muñoz Montesinos in two. 

– In another surprise result, the Bolivian team of Jenny Daza Navia and Angelica Barrios took out the experienced USA team of Rhonda Rajsich and Sheryl Lotts to advance to the main draw.

————————–
In the quarters:
– Top seeds and winners of the last four LPRT doubles events Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas Solis advanced in two over Susy Acosta and Kelani Kelani Lawrence (the reigning USA amateur doubles champ)
– Sabja and Enriquez continued their upsetting ways, taking out #4 seeds Argentinian national team of Maria Jose Vargas and Natalia Mendez. Vargas & Mendez are the defending 2018 South American champs and were quarterfinalists at worlds; this is a solid win.
– The Bolivian team of Daza/Barrios upset another favored team in the quarters, taking out Colombian National team reps and #3 seeds Adriana Riveros and Amaya Cris. Riveros/Amaya were semi-finalists at IRF worlds earlier this year and have been representing Colombia as a team for two years now.
– The reigning Mexican national champs and 2018 World runners-up Alexandra Herrera and Montse Mejia advanced easily over Masiel Rivera Oporto and Daniela Molina.

In the semis:
– Top seeds Longoria and Salas put an end to the upset run of Sabja and Enriquez 7,9
– #2 seeds Herrera and Mejia destroyed the Bolivian team of Daza/Barrios 10,2.

The final represented a match-up of in-arguably the two top doubles teams in the world. This was a re-match of the World Open Doubles title in May, the Mexican National Selection event in June, and the first LPRT pro event in August.

In the end, the #1 seeds prevailed in a tight match 10,14 to capture the title.

Paola Longoria and Salas are now an astounding 65-3 together in pro doubles dating to Sept 2013 (the beginning of ladies pro doubles tracking) and have added numerous amateur and international titles on top.

FB tags: LPRT UnitedHealthcare US OPEN Racquetball Championships US Open Racquetball

Posted on

US Open LPRT Pro Singles Semis Review, Finals preview

We’re to the finals of the Pro singles draws. Lets review the semis, which together went according to prediction but also were surprising.

On the Women’s side,
– #1 Paola Longoria blasted #12 Gaby Martinez 5,0,3 to leave no doubt about who is the current top-dog in the sport. Longoria advances to the final in pursuit of her 9th US Open title.

– #3 Samatha Samantha Salas Solis left no doubt about who the 2nd best player on tour is, advancing past current #2 Frederique Lambert in 3 games. It likely takes the first half of this season for Salas to make up the points gap, but she’s well on her way to regaining her #2 ranking on tour.

So we get the expected final; the 47th LPRT meeting between doubles partners Longoria and Salas. Longoria leads the series 43-3 (https://bit.ly/2QAnMBA) and its a stretch to predict anything but another US Open title for Paola.

Posted on

US Open LPRT Women’s Singles Quarters review

LPRT UnitedHealthcare US OPEN Racquetball Championships

We’re to the business end of this big tourney now; lets take a look at yesterday’s quarters and project out the semis.

Three of the top four seeds are through, and the fourth player through was really no surprise to those watching the women’s world game these days.

– #1 Paola Longoria made quick work of #8 Argentinian Natalia Mendez 2,1,4.
– #12 Gaby Martinez “upset” #4 Alexandra Herrera in four close games, though this was probably the expected result based on Martinez’ win at IRF Worlds in August.
– #3 Samantha Salas Solis continued her recent form over #6 Rhonda Rajsich, winning in four games.
– #2 Frederique Lambert got a solid win over the upset-minded Bolivia Yazmine Sabja Aliss, reversing their historical h2h record.

Semis Preview:
– Martinez gets another shot at Longoria; she got the win at Worlds, but then fell in the first LPRT event of the season at this same gate. I suspect Longoria is “up” for this match again and moves on.
– Despite being the higher seed, Lambert is just 4-12 lifetime against Salas, which included a 3-game domination at the LPRT season opener. Salas moves on to setup yet another finals rematch with Longoria.

Finals prediction: Longoria over Salas in their 47th h2h meeting on tour.

Posted on

LPRT 2018 US Open Singles Round of 32 and 16 preview

We’re through Ladies pro singles qualifying; no major surprises or upsets in the one round of Qualifying, but there are some fun matches to project for the main draw.

LPRT Main draw link at r2sports.

Lets talk about the main draw. Thursday features round of 32 and 16 action. Here’s some fun round of 32 matches to watch for:

– #4 Alexandra Herrera gets a tough first round against Michelle De La Rosa. De La Rosa has put losses on top LPRT pros in the past and will not be intimidated on the court. Herrera will need to be on her game to avoid a massive upset here.
– #3 Samantha Salas Solis was done no favors drawing Kelani Lawrence in the first round either. Lawrence (nee Bailey) doesn’t have a ton of pro experience, but has had a fantastic year on the amateur side and is a dangerous opponent.
– #14 Adrienne Fisher Haynes gets an upset-minded first round matchup against Mexican youngster #19 Montserrat Perez.
– #7 Maria Jose Vargas has an all-South America match versus Bolivian veteran Jenny Daza Navia.
– #10 Carla Carla Muñoz Montesinos may have her hands full with the dangerous Bolivian international Jazmine Yazmine Sabja Ráquetbol. Sabja beat her in a tiebreaker at IRF Worlds in August and will be favored to do so again.
– #15 Susy Acosta will be challenged by a country-woman less than half her age in 18U player #18 Ana Laura Flores .

————–
And here’s some potential round of 16 matches that could be fun to watch:
– #1 Paola Longoria probably doesn’t lose to Mexican junior phenom #17 Montse Mejia (the reigning 18U world champion who has yet to matriculate out of junior racquetball), but she could be in for a tougher match than she would have wanted in the 16s.
– #8/#9 match-ups are always close, and a match between Amaya Cris and Natalia Mendez will be too close to call; they’re 2-2 across LPRT and IRF and this could be a toss-up.
– #5 Nancy Enriquez and #12 Ana Gabriela Gaby Martinez faced off in the quarters of the first LPRT event, with the world champion Martinez escaping with a 12-10 5th game win. I sense another close match with Martinez advancing again.
– #7 Vargas gets a potential match against Sabja here … a potential rematch of the quarters of IRF Worlds and the final of the 2018 South American games. Vargas won both those matches easily and makes it a 3rd here.

Back on Friday to preview the Q/S/F!

Posted on

US Open LPRT Pro Doubles Preview

The last of our four previews for the US Open; Ladies Pro Doubles. Like with the men, the top 4 teams qualify into the quarters; the rest of the 14-team field has to qualify.

r2sports.com link here.

We’re predicting a more or less chalk qualifying round with these four teams making it to the main draw:
– Michelle De La Rosaand Carla Carla Muñoz Montesinos
– Susy Acosta and Kelani Lawrence
– Montserrat Perez and Erin Groves
– Rhonda Rajsich and Sheryl Lotts

Rajsich & Lotts may have the toughest draw, going up against a solid Bolivian team of Jenny Daza Navia and Angelica Barrios. De La Rosa/Munoz also have a tough match-up with the reigning world doubles champion Bolivian Yazmine Sabja teamed up with solid Mexican pro Nancy Enriquez. This match could go either way.

In the main draw, I’m going to predict a re-match of this past summer’s Mexican Worlds qualifying event, with #1 seeds Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas Solis taking on #2 seed Alexandra Herrera and Montse Mejia. Herrera/Mejia scored a pretty large upset to take the Mexican spot at IRF Worlds this year over the Longoria/Salas team … but I don’t expect lightening to strike twice. The best doubles team in the world, by far, should win here again.

Champs: Longoria & Salas