Cardona & Landa to meet in final of 2017 WRT West Coast Championships

Alejandro Cardona, the #1 player on the World Racquetball Tour (WRT), has reached the final of the WRT West Coast Championships in Concord, California. Cardona got there by defeating Rodrigo Montoya, 15-13, 15-11, which denied Montoya the opportunity of winning back to back WRT events. Montoya won the Longhorn Open in Austin, Texas earlier this month.

In game one, it looked like it would be Montoya who was going to advance to the final, as he he held a 9-2 lead on Cardona. However, Cardona chipped away at that lead, and drew level with Montoya at 10-10. They again tied at 11-11, when Montoya took a timeout. That proved effective, as he scored two points afterwards to lead 13-11.

But Cardona held Montoya to 13, and proceeded to score four unanswered points. The game winner was an ace drive serve to the right side (Montoya’s forehand), although because the players had difficulty hearing the referee during the match, neither knew it was the 15th point.

Alejandro Landa will be Cardona’s opponent in the final, as Landa beat WRT #3 Andree Parrilla, 15-6, 15-13 in the other semi-final. In that match, Landa was in control throughout game one, but in game two Parrilla led early. However, Landa caught him at 8-8, and went ahead 9-8.

Parrilla called a timeout, but Landa continued to score, reaching match point at 14-11. Parrilla got the serve back with a winning backhand service return, and he scored two points, but then Landa regained the serve. A broken ball denied Landa the match on the next rally, but on the first rally with a new ball, Landa hit a forehand wide angle pass to the right side from center court that was out of Parrilla’s reach.

Cardona has winning records against all other WRT players, except two: Landa and Polo Gutierrez. Landa has beaten Cardona in two of their three WRT matches. They split matches back in 2013, and Landa won their most recent match in the final of last year’s Alamo City Open in San Antonio, where Landa won in two straight games.

The doubles semi-finals were scheduled for Saturday evening, but they have been pushed back to Sunday due to the length of the singles matches.

The singles final is Sunday at noon PST from Concord with the doubles final to follow, and you can watch both live via the WRT website.

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

Singles - Semi-finals Saturday

1) Alejandro Cardona d. 5) Rodrigo Montoya, 15-13, 15-11
10) Alejandro Landa d. 3) Andree Parrilla, 15-6, 15-13

Singles - Final Sunday

1) Alejandro Cardona v. 10) Alejandro Landa - Noon

Doubles - Semi-finals Sunday

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….