The women's pro tour has a new name - the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) - this season, but the same players are meeting in the final as did for most of last season, as it'll be #1 Paola Longoria v. #2 Rhonda Rajsich in the final of the Texas Open in Dallas on Sunday.
In the semi-finals, Longoria defeated 4th seed Krystal Csuk, 11-8, 11-5, 11-0, despite being hampered by a back injury. She reached for her back between rallies several times during the match, and seemed especially troubled by it in the first game.
Csuk had a lead in that game at 8-6, but Longoria dug deep and pulled out the win. As the match went on, Longoria went to hitting more drive serves - to both the left and right as well as some drive Zs to the right. She may have done that to keep the rallies shorter, and the strategy worked. The winning point was a drive serve ace to the right side.
Rajsich needed four games to defeat 3rd seed Kerri Wachtel, 8-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-5, in the other semi-final. Rajsich used a number of off speed and Z serves to try to keep Wachtel off balance in the second half of the match, and afterwards Wachtel said it did bother her, especially with the glass sides walls of the show court they played on.
Longoria hasn't lost since April 2011 in Stockton, Calif. But her back injury may be the little advantage that Rajsich needs to defend her Texas Open title. Last year, Rajsich defeated Samantha Salas in the final.
The LPRT action will stream the final live on Sunday at 11 AM CDT.
LPRT 2012 Texas Open, Dallas, Texas
Semi-finals
Paola Longoria d. Krystal Csuk, 11-8, 11-5, 11-0
Rhonda Rajsich d. Kerri Wachtel, 8-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-5
Final
Paola Longoria v. Rhonda Rajsich - 11 AM CDT
Follow the bouncing ball....
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment