American Jose Rojas proved his mettle Friday in the men's singles semi-finals at the XXVII Pan American Racquetball Championships in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, as he came back in game two to force a tie-breaker and then won the tie-breaker to defeat defending champion Polo Gutierrez of Mexico, 6-15, 15-13, 11-5.
Gutierrez was in complete control in game one, which he won comfortably. In game two, Rojas took early leads at 4-0 and 8-4, but Gutierrez tied at 8-8 and 10-10.
Then Gutierrez went ahead 13-10 and was two points from winning the match. But a skip gave Rojas back the serve, and he served it out with Z serves to both the left and right sides.
In the tie-breaker, Gutierrez had the early lead at 3-0, but Rojas caught him at 5-5 and held Gutierrez at five while going on to win 11-5 on the third match point.
In the other semi, young Mexican Andree Parrilla took out veteran Canadian Vincent Gagnon, 15-10, 15-9, to advance to his first international final in his first appearance on Team Mexico. The current Boy's U16 Junior World Champion will try to win the first gold by a junior at the Pan Am Championships since Daniel De La Rosa won it in 2011.
The final will be noon EDT Saturday and will be live via the IRF Network.
XXVII Pan American Racquetball Championships
Santa Cruz, Bolivia - April 12-19, 2014
Men's Singles - Semi-finals
Jose Rojas (USA) d. Polo Gutierrez (Mexico), 6-15, 15-13, 11-5
Andree Parrilla (Mexico) d. Vincent Gagnon (Canada), 15-10, 15-9
Men's Singles - Final
Jose Rojas (USA) v. Andree Parrilla (Mexico)
Follow the bouncing ball....
Friday, April 18, 2014
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