Green & Saunders are again Champions of Canada

Mike Green and Jennifer Saunders are the 2010 men's and women's Canadian Racquetball Champions, as they won their respective finals on Saturday at Rev's Fitness Center in Burnaby, B.C., although both of the other finalists were a surprise.

In fact, Green expressed surprise at winning as he has lost to last year's champion Kris Odegard in their last three meetings and Vincent Gagnon won the last Canadian Team Selection Event. But with five previous Canadian championships and a gold medal performance in doubles last month at the Pan American Championships in Honduras on his resumé, it's clear that Green had the tools to be the champion.

Green's opponent in the final was his doubles partner in Honduras Tim Landeryou. Landeryou was a surprise finalist, because it was his first appearance in the finals. But he played well in the semi-finals, defeating the defending champ Odegard, 12-15, 15-5, 11-6. Green beat Gagnon in the other semi, 15-9, 15-12.

In the men's final, it looked like Green would win in two straight games, as he won game one 15-11 and had a 6-1 lead early in game two. But Landeryou came back with some of the form that got him to the final and won 14 of the next 17 points to force a third game.

But in the tie-breaker Green showed why he's been a five time national champion, coming out on top and winning the match on an ace serve and taking his 6th title by the scores of 15-11, 9-15, 11-4.

On the women's side, Saunders defeated her long time doubles partner Josée Grand'Maître, 15-2, 15-10, in what was a dominating performance. Grand'Maître had an early lead in game two at 6-0, but Saunders stormed back to tie it and then take the lead 8-6. From there Saunders never looked back as she won her 4th national singles title.

It was the third time Saunders and Grand'Maître have met for the Canadian title. Grand'Maître won in 2001, which was the last of Grand'Maître's three Canadian singles titles, and Saunders defeated Grand'Maître in 2002 for her first Canadian singles title.

These results will be combined with those from the National Team Selection Events held earlier this season to select the players for Team Canada to go to the 2010 International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Championships in South Korea in August.

2010 Canadian National Racquetball Championships
Burnaby, British Columbia

WOMEN'S

Final - Jennifer Saunders d. Josée Grand'Maître, 15-2, 15-10

3rd - Frédérique Lambert d. Brandi Jacobson Prentice, 8-15, 15-6, 11-4

5th - Linda Ellerington d. Christine Richardson, 15-6, 16-14

MEN'S

Final - Mike Green d. Tim Landeryou, 15-11, 9-15, 11-4

3rd - Vincent Gagnon d. Kris Odegard, 15-10, 15-1

5th - Corey Osborne d. Pedro Casto, 15-7, 15-10

Follow the bouncing ball....