2016 Pan American Championships - Monday Results

The top seeds in Men's and Women's Singles - Mexicans Daniel De La Rosa and Paola Longoria, respectively - both won on Monday at the 2016 Pan American Championships in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and thus won their respective groups, and will be seeded #1 in the elimination round of competition that begins Wednesday. De La Rosa and Longoria both won in two straight games with De La Rosa beating Juan Francisco Cueva of Ecuador, 15-1, 15-1, and Longoria defeating Carola Loma of Bolivia, 15-3, 15-9.

American Jake Bredenbeck secured the 2nd seed in Men's Singles with a win over Fernando Kurzbard of Argentina Monday, 15-12, 15-6. But the 2nd in Women's Singles will go to Canada's Frédérique Lambert, who defeated Argentina's Maria Jose Vargas, 15-5, 15-5, in a match that both players approached differently than they would if they met on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT), as this competition has a one serve rule, not a two serve rule as on the LPRT.

In an LPRT match, Lambert and Vargas would both be drive serving with abandon, as any faults on first serve would simply lead to a second serve opportunity. However, a service fault this week in San Luis Potosi means a side out. Thus, Lambert hit mostly kiss lob serves to the left side - Vargas's backhand side - with a few other serves thrown in for variety, while Vargas hit mostly drive Z serves, and then later in the match tried drive serving, but not successfully enough to make a comeback.

In a showdown for Group C and the the 3rd seed in the elimination round, Guatemalan Gabriela Martinez defeated Mexican Jessica Parrilla, 15-7, 15-12. Canadian Jennifer Saunders will be the 4th seed in Women's Singles, as she won Group D by defeating Cecilia Cerquetti of Argentina, 15-7, 15-11.

In Men's Singles, Mexican Javier Mar will be the 3rd seed after he defeated Christian Wer of Guatemala, 15-5, 15-7, and American David Horn will be the 4th seed, as he beat Franco Capandegui of Argentina, 15-4, 15-3.

Doubles

The top seeds in Men's and Women's Doubles both won their groups, and will be seeded first when the elimination round begins Wednesday. Javier Moreno and Alejandro Landa of Mexico will be 1st seed in Men's Doubles after they closed out the group stage with a win over Guatemalans Hanzel Martinez and Juan Jose Salvatierra, 15-5, 15-1, and their team-mates Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas will be the top seed in Women's Doubles. Longoria and Salas ended the group stage by defeating Costa Ricans Melania Sauma and Sofia Soley, 15-4, 15-1.

The closest doubles match of the day came in Men's Doubles, as the Ecuador team of Fernando Rios and Jose Daniel Ugalde defeated Costa Ricans Felipe Camacho and Teobaldo Fumero, 15-10, 15-11, and in doing so created a three way tie in Group C with Costa Rica and Colombians Sebastian Franco and Felipe Arenas. But as Ecuador won today in two straight games, and lost to Colombia in a tie-breaker (and Costa Rica defeated Colombia two straight), Ecuador won Group C and will be 3rd seed in the elimination round.

Ecuador and Costa Rica's match was very competitive. In the first game, Ugalde was the main shooter for Ecuador, as he hit 14 winners against 4 skips, while Rios was 6 and 6. That was three more winners and two fewer errors than Camacho had for Costa Rica (11 & 6), while finished the fewest rallies, hitting only 4 winners and 3 skips.

In game two, Rios rose to the occasion, making 11 winners against only 2 skips, while Ugalde had 6 winners and 4 skips. Camacho also had 6 winners and 4 skips in game two, and Fumero raised his game with 6 winners and only 2 errors, but that wasn't enough to get Costa Rica to a tie-breaker.

Ugalde was man of the match, playing the right side for Ecuador, as he hit more winners the other players (Camacho & Rios both had 17). Also, Ugalde hit the shots that ended both game one and two. In the first, he hit a forehand pinch shot that was flat into the front right corner, and he ended the match with a shot to the left corner that Fumero appealed as a skip, but both line judges agreed with the referee's call of a winning shot.

Group play concludes Monday. Tuesday will be an off day. The elimination round begins Wednesday. Results of previous years were used to create the groups, and the group results are used to seed players for the elimination rounds.

The International Racquetball Federation (IRF) has partnered with the World Racquetball Tour (WRT) for streaming of this event, so look for matches to be streamed via the WRT website starting on Thursday March 24.

XXIX Pan American Racquetball Championships
San Luis Potosi, Mexico - March 19-26, 2016
Results Summary

Women's Singles - Monday

Group A

Paola Longoria (Mexico) d. Carola Loma (Bolivia), 15-3, 15-9
Carla Muñoz (Chile) - BYE

Group B

Frédérique Lambert (Canada) d. María José Vargas (Argentina), 15-5, 15-5
Jenny Daza (Bolivia) d. Paula Padilla (Honduras), 15-3, 15-2

Group C

Gabriela Martinez (Guatemala) d. Jessica Parrilla (Mexico), 15-7, 15-12
Ivonne Carpio (Ecuador) d. Melania Sauma (Costa Rica), 15-4, 15-5

Group D

Jennifer Saunders (Canada) d. Cecilia Cerquetti (Argentina), 15-7, 15-11
Cheryl Gudinas (USA) d. Pamela Sierra (Honduras), 15-5, 15-7

Group E

Veronica Sotomayor (Ecuador) d. Sofia Soley (Costa Rica), 15-7, 15-3
Michelle Key (USA) d. Maria Rene Rodriguez (Guatemala), 15-12, 15-6

Women's Doubles

Group A

Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas (Mexico) d. Melania Sauma & Sofia Soley (Costa Rica), 15-4, 15-1
Frédérique Lambert & Jennifer Saunders (Canada) - BYE

Group B

Maria Jose Vargas & Cecilia Cerquetti (Argentina) d. Gabriela Martinez & Maria Rene Rodriguez (Guatemala), 15-5, 15-7
Maria Paz Muñoz & Veronica Sotomayor (Ecuador) - BYE

Group C

Kelani Bailey & Michelle Key (USA) d. Pamela Sierra & Lissel Padilla (Honduras), 15-5, 15-1
Jenny Daza & Carola Loma (Bolivia) - BYE

Men's Singles

Group A

Daniel De La Rosa (Mexico) d. Juan Francisco Cueva (Ecuador), 15-1, 15-1
Set Cubillos (Colombia) - BYE

Group B

Jake Bredenbeck (USA) d. Fernando Kurzbard (Argentina), 15-12, 15-6
Fernando Rios (Ecuador) d. Marco Sarmiento (Honduras), 15-2, 15-0

Group C

Javier Mar (Mexico) d. Christian Wer (Guatemala), 15-5, 15-7
Sebastian Franco (Colombia) d. Carlos Medrano (Honduras), 15-1, 15-4

Group D

David Horn (USA) d. Franco Capandegui (Argentina), 15-4, 15-3
Alexander Pirie (Costa Rica) v. Rodrigo Salgado (Chile)

Group E

Mike Green (Canada) d. Abraham Mercado (Puerto Rico), 15-3, 15-2
Conrrado Moscoso (Bolivia) d. Edwin Galicia (Guatemala), 15-9, 15-5

Group F

Andres Acuña (Costa Rica) d. Francisco Troncoso (Chile), 15-11, 15-3
Samuel Murray (Canada) d. Aaron Booker (Puerto Rico), 15-2, 15-1

Men's Doubles

Group A

Alejandro Lanada & Javier Moreno (Mexico) d. Hanzel Martinez & Juan Jose Salvatierra (Guatemala), 15-5, 15-1
Pedro Castro & Tim Landeryou (Canada) - BYE

Group B

Jake Bredenbeck & David Horn (USA) d. Rodrigo Salgado & Francisco Troncoso (Chile), 15-3, 15-1
Franco Capandegui & Fernando Kurzbard (Argentina) d. Carlos Medrano & Sergio Ortega (Honduras), 15-7, 15-3

Group C

Fernando Rios & Jose Daniel Ugalde (Ecuador) d. Felipe Camacho & Teobaldo Fumero (Costa Rica), 15-10, 15-11
Felipe Arenas & Sebastian Franco (Colombia) d. Aaron Booker & Abraham Mercado (Puerto Rico), 15-3, 15-6

Follow the bouncing ball….