Parrilla wins his 1st WRT title, defeating Martell in Monterrey Open final

Andree Parrilla defeated Jaime Martell, 15-11, 15-7, to win his first title on the World Racquetball Tour (WRT) at the Monterrey Open in Monterrey, Mexico on Sunday. Parrilla won his first event in his second WRT final. He was runner up to Alejandro Cardona earlier this year in Cali, Colombia.

However, in game one it looked like Martell would win his first WRT event in what was his first WRT final appearance, as Martell had a 10-4 lead. But he seemed to let up slightly in a couple of rallies where he had Parrilla on the run, and with great effort Parrilla ran balls down, which led to a change in momentum.

That effort plus the fact Parrilla found a serve that Martell was uncomfortable with - a lob Z to the right side, Martell’s forehand - led to Parrilla outscoring Martell 11-1 to comeback and win game one, 15-11.

Game two started slowly, and again Martell took the early lead, but only at 2-0. Parrilla came back and took the lead at 6-3, helped in part by some nice forehand pinch shots. Martell called a timeout at that point, but Parrilla kept the momentum going, and extended his lead to 11-5.

Martell got the serve back then, and called another timeout after which the game stalled. Twelve rallies went by with only one point being scored. Martell got that one, which made the score 11-6.

Then Parrilla scored three points on consecutive rallies: a forehand kill shot made it 12-6, another forehand pinch shot in the front court put it at 13-6, then forehand cross court shot got Parrilla his first match point at 14-6. Martell asked for a hinder on that last rally, but the ball looked well past him, and the referee did not think there was any hinder.

Parrilla hit a lob Z to the right on his first match point, and Martell returned it with an overhead forehand reverse pinch for a winner. Parrilla asked for a hinder, but the referee ruled that he had put himself out of position to the make the next shot, which again looked like the proper call.

Martell called a timeout, and as with his previous timeout, the game stalled when play resumed. Martell was impressive in fighting off seven match points, and Parrilla was equally impressive in holding Martell to one point during that period.

On his eighth match point, Parrilla was unsure what to serve, so he did something different. Standing on the left side of the service box, from which he often hits a Z to the left, Parrilla hit a half lob to the right side. Martell returned it cross court, and moved into center court, perhaps anticipating that Parrilla would go down the line. However, Parrilla instead hit the ball back to the right side, behind Martell, who ended up on the floor as he tried to in reverse to get the ball.

It was a good win for Parrilla, who at only 19 has a bright future in the game. He comes from a racquetball family, as his father has been one of the Mexico national coaches, and is Andree’s coach, and his sister Jessica is a regular on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) and has been on the Mexican National Team.

Parrilla followed up his win in singles with a win in doubles, as he and David Horn defeated Jake Bredenbeck and Christian Longoria, 15-9, 15-12, in the doubles final.

The next WRT event will be in San Antonio, Texas, where the Alamo City Open will happen next weekend, December 11-13.

2015 WRT Monterrey Open, December 3-6
Monterrey, Mexico

Singles - Final

3) Andree Parrilla d. 5) Jaime Martell, 15-11, 15-7

Doubles - Final

1) David Horn & Andree Parrilla v. 2) Jake Bredenbeck & Christian Longoria, 15-9, 15-12

Follow the bouncing ball….