Bellows & Waselenchuk win on Sunday

Kristen Bellows won the Ektelon World Championships - the last event of the Women's Professional Racquetball Organization (WPRO) season - in Stockton, California Sunday, providing the final surprise of one of the most surprising weekends in racquetball. Bellows defeated Paola Longoria in the final, 12-10, 11-5, 7-11, 7-11, 11-7.

How surprising was Bellows's victory? Consider it was her first final of the season, and only the third tournament where she'd made it as far as the semis. Furthermore, her victory comes with wins over the current #1 player, Rhonda Rajsich in the semis on Saturday, and the soon to be #1, Longoria.

Longoria will become #1 in the next WPRO ranking run, as she performed better in Stockton than Rajsich. They have been the dominant WPRO players this season, with each winning 4 of the 8 main events.

But the 9th event went to Bellows, who may move up to the 4th spot in the rankings ahead of Kerri Wachtel, who she defeated in the quarter finals. Bellows is currently 5th.

Also in Stockton, Jennifer Saunders took the Open division by defeating Maiko Sato, 15-11, 15-8. As 3rd and 8th seeds, respectively, Saunders and Sato were surprising finalists. Saunders defeated 2nd seed Adrienne Fisher in the semi-finals, 12-15, 15-5, 11-2, while Sato took out 4th seed Krystal Csuk (scores unknown).

Ektelon WPRO World Championships
Final

Kristen Bellows d. Paola Longoria, 12-10, 11-5, 7-11, 7-11, 11-7

International Racquetball Tour

There was no surprise on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) Sunday, as top seed and IRT #1 Kane Waselenchuk defeated Mitch Williams, 11-3, 11-1, 8-11, 11-5, to win the Dennis Rosenberg Pro Am in Allentown, Pennsylvania, ending Williams's impressive run to the final.

Waselenchuk solidified his hold on the top spot in the IRT rankings, and Williams, currently ranked 8th, may finish in the top 5 by season's end for the first time in his career.

The last main event of the IRT season is the Motorola IRT Pro Nationals in Chicago May 5th to 9th.

Dennis Rosenberg Pro-Am
Final

Kane Waselenchuk d. Mitch Williams, 11-3, 11-1, 8-11, 11-5

Follow the bouncing ball....