Thursday, October 23, 2008

US Open : Our predictions

Time to make our predictions for the US Open. You readers have voted for Kane Waselenchuk to win the men's side, and it's hard to argue against a player who has won every International Racquetball Tour (IRT) tournament he's played in this season.

So, we won't.

Your votes suggest there's more uncertainty on the women's side, as you split your votes between defending champion, Rhonda Rajsich, Christie Van Hees, who's won more US Open titles than any other woman, and the catchall "Another player" category.

Probably some of you were thinking of Paola Longoria as the other player, as she was the most recent victor on the Women's Professional Racquetball Organization (WPRO) tour, taking the Canadian Racquetball Classic two weeks ago in Edmonton. However, maybe some of you were wishfully thinking of another teenageer, Veronica Sotomayor, believing that she could make her breakthrough to the WPRO winner's circle on racquetball's biggest stage.

We're predicting Rhonda Rajsich will defend her title. We think the loss to Longoria will be the extra motivation that Rajsich will need to raise her game and take another US Open title, which would tie her with Van Hees with three career US Open titles.

However, Rajsich will need to get off to better starts in her matches this week. Two weeks ago in Edmonton she lost game one in each of her matches. Always getting yourself in a hole is difficult to recover from, and though she did it three times in Edmonton she wasn't able to recover the fourth time, as Longoria beat her in the final.

As we like to say, dear readers, when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

Follow the bouncing ball....

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