Paola Longoria successfully defended her title in the Ladies Pro Racquetball Tour (LPRT) division at the 2012 United Healthcare US Open in Minneapolis Sunday as she beat Rhonda Rajsich in three straight games, 11-4, 11-7, 12-10. It was the fourth consecutive year they'd met in the final with Rajsich winning the first two and now Longoria the last two.
Longoria was also US Open Champion in 2008.
Longoria started strong in game one, going up 10-1 before Rajsich stiffened her resolve fighting off three game points and getting a few more points before Longoria ended it at 11-4.
That seemed to provide some momentum for Rajsich as she took the early lead in game two at 3-0. Longoria came back with the next four points to hold a 4-3 advantage. But again Rajsich went ahead at 6-4.
Play went back and forth until it was tied 7-7. Then Longoria got four unanswered points to take game two 11-7 on her second game point opportunity.
Game three was similar to game two early on, as Rajsich again led at 3-0 and 4-3, but Longoria responded by running the score to 9-4. Rajsich dug in and got two back to make it 9-6, but then Longoria got to match point at 10-6.
However, Rajsich fought that off and then ran four points to tie the game at 10-10. They traded side outs a few times before Longoria got a point to make it 11-10. But it was on the second match point at 11-10 that Longoria won the match.
Longoria drove serve for some of the match but not as much as she did in the semi-finals against Veronica Sotomayor. Instead, she used half lobs and half lob z serves against Rajsich. For her part, Rajsich used a wide variety of serves, although only a few of them were drives.
Longoria has played nine US Opens and reached the finals the last five times, winning three of them. Rajsich has been a US Open nine of the twelve times she's competed, and she's won it four times.
The next LPRT event is the Albierto Mexicano de Racquetas tournament in Toluca, Mexico November 2-4.
2012 United Healthcare US Open
Minneapolis, Minnesota
(LPRT rank)
LPRT Final
(1) Paola Longoria d. (2) Rhonda Rajsich, 11-4, 11-7, 12-10
Follow the bouncing ball….
Sunday, October 7, 2012
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