Landa wins WRT Juarez Open

Alejandro Landa defeated Jake Bredenbeck, 15-10, 15-10, in a hard fought final to win the World Racquetball Tour (WRT) Juarez Open in Juarez, Mexico Sunday.

Landa started well, going out to a 7-0 lead in game one, and looked like he would just run away with the final. However, Bredenbeck dug in a ran off nine unanswered points to lead 9-7. But Landa held the tall American at nine, as he retook the lead 12-9.

Bredenbeck got one more point before Landa closed out the game 15-10. Both players primarily drove serve with lob serves used primarily on second serve.

Game two started the same as game one, as Landa took a 5-0 lead. Again Bredenbeck worked his way back into the game, tying the score at 9-9 and going ahead 10-9, as Landa was on a streak of skipped shots.

But once again, Landa stopped Bredenbeck's scoring, in this case by stopping his errors, and pushed on to win the game, 15-10, and match in two straight games.

It's a good win for Landa, but consider Bredenbeck's progress over the past year. He won the US Team Qualifying Division at the USA Racquetball Nationals, which got him a spot on Team USA for the Pan American Sports Organization Sports Festival earlier this month in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he earned a bronze medal in Men's Singles and a silver medal in Men's Doubles, with Jose Diaz, took Rocky Carson to a tie-breaker in Garden City during the last International Racquetball Tour (IRT) season, and now has been a runner-up in two WRT events.

Jake Bredenbeck may not have been on anyone's list of players to watch twelve months ago, but he should be on everyone's list now.

The next WRT event is next weekend September 5-7 in Stockton, California for the Port City Shootout.

2014 WRT Juarez Open
Juarez, Mexico

Final

6) Alejandro Landa d. 8) Jake Bredenbeck, 15-10, 15-10

Follow the bouncing ball….