2017 WRT West Coast Championships - Quarterfinals

Two tie-breakers in the quarterfinals of the World Racquetball Tour (WRT) West Coast Championships in Concord, California. Alejandro Landa, one of the winningest players in the short history of the WRT, knocked off 2nd seed David Horn, 12-15, 15-12, 11-3, and in the semi-finals he’ll play Andree Parrilla, who won the other three game match by defeating Miguel Rodriguez, Jr., 15-13, 8-15, 11-5.

In what we would have thought would be a close match, Rodrigo Montoya defeated Jose Diaz in two straight games by comfortable margins, 15-16, 15-5. Although the scores weren’t close, it wasn’t a quick match. For example, in game two 38 rallies had them at only 7-5 in Montoya’s favor. Unfortunately for Diaz, he didn’t score any more points from there, as Montoya went on to win in two straight games.

Cardona, the WRT’s #1 player, had a relatively comfortable game against Christian Longoria in game one, winning 15-5, but in game two Longoria had the mid-game lead at 9-6. However, Cardona came back to reach match point at 14-11 with a drive serve ace to the left side (Longoria’s backhand). But at that point, Cardona made an unforced error by skipping a forehand pinch shot.

Longoria took advantage of that error to score two more points, one from another skip by Cardona, which made the score 14-13. Cardona called a timeout, and got the serve back when play resumed. However, Longoria again fought off match point with a forehand touch shot. He tied the game 14-14 with a backhand, but with the opportunity to force a tie-breaker Longoria tried to hit a forehand pinch shot from deep, and the ball went into the floor. On his 3rd match point chance, Cardona made no mistake, as he hit a forehand kill shot that ended the game and match.

The singles semi-finals begin Saturday afternoon at 3 PM PST from Concord, and you can watch the action live via the WRT website. The singles final will be noon PST Sunday with the doubles final to follow.

2017 WRT West Coast Championship, January 27-29
Concord, California

Singles - Quarterfinals Saturday

1) Alejandro Cardona d. 8) Christian Longoria, 15-5, 15-14
5) Rodrigo Montoya d. 13) Jose Diaz, 15-6, 15-5

3) Andree Parrilla d. 11) Miguel Rodriguez Jr., 15-13, 8-15, 11-5
10) Alejandro Landa d. 2) David Horn, 12-15, 15-12, 11-3

Singles - Semi-finals Saturday

1) Alejandro Cardona v. 5) Rodrigo Montoya - 4 PM
3) Andree Parrilla v. 10) Alejandro Landa - 3 PM

Doubles - Semi-finals Saturday

4) Alejandro Cardona & Freddy Flores v. 9) Felipe Camacho & Alejandro Landa
2) Rodrigo Montoya & Andree Parrilla v. 6) Gerardo Franco & Mauro Rojas

Follow the bouncing ball….