Rajsich & Landa win singles at XXX Pan American Championships

Rhonda Rajsich (USA) upset Paola Longoria (Mexico), 7-15, 15-13, 11-9, to win Women’s Singles at the XXX Pan American Racquetball Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica, in a match that took approximately two hours to complete. In the Men’s Singles final, Alejandro Landa of Mexico defeated Charlie Pratt of the USA, 15-10, 15-11.

Longoria looked like she would successfully defend her Pan American Championship title, as she took game one comfortably, 15-7, including hitting six drive ace serves to the left. But Rajsich was undeterred, as she jumped out to a big lead in game two at 9-0.

That lead looked like it would ensure a tie-breaker, but few leads are safe against Longoria, who cam back to 9-7 before Rajsich got her 10th point. Rajsich followed that up with four more points off two backhand skips by Longoria and two forehand winners to make it 14-7. Game over, yes?

No, as Longoria fought off eleven (11!) game points, and creeped back into the game, closing the gap to 14-13. But Rajsich got the serve back with a backhand return, and then - finally! - won it when Longoria skipped a forehand shot.

In the tie-breaker, they were back and forth early. Rajsich took a 3-1 lead helped by two ace serves: a drive right, and a Z to the right. But Longoria responded by taking the next four points to lead 5-3. A backhand winner got Rajsich back in the service box, and she scored three points of her own to take the lead, 6-5.

Rajsich never trailed after that, although Longoria did tie her at 7-7 and 9-9. Rajsich got the serve back with a forehand cross court serve return that Longoria appealed was a skip, but the line judges upheld the referee’s call of a good shot. Rajsich called a timeout to plan how to close it out.

When play resumed, Rajsich hit a drive serve short, and on her second serve she hit a backhand half lob to the left side that Longoria plowed into the floor. It was an uncharacteristic error by Longoria that gave Rajsich match point at 10-9. On the first match point rally, Rajsich was hindered by Longoria as she was moving to play the ball off the back wall. Rajsich appealed for an avoidable, but the line judges upheld the referee’s hinder call.

On the second match point, Rajsich got an opportunity to hit a forehand winner, and she made no mistake to take her first Pan American Championship in Women’s Singles since 2011, and her third overall.

That 2011 Pan American Championship was the last time Longoria failed to win an international tournament, as she lost to Rajsich in the semi-finals, which was a match that also went three games. Since then Longoria had won 10 straight Women’s Singles titles at international events (in that period Longoria only missed the 2014 Pan American Championships, which was won by Maria Jose Vargas of Argentina).

After the match, Rajsich said she was “drunk with emotion,” and thanked her team for their support. Also, Rajsich dedicated the win to her late father, Dennis, who died in October, as well as her best friend’s mother, who passed away recently.

In the men’s final, they were close early in game one, and tied at 5-5 and 6-6. But then Landa edged ahead, going up 10-6 including two drive serve aces, one to the right and one to the left. He maintained the lead, and Pratt couldn’t get any closer than three, as Landa took game one, 15-10, with a forehand kill shot after Pratt’s return of a lob on the right side went into the middle.

In game two, Pratt took the lead early, as he went up 8-2, and looked like he would force a tie-breaker. But Landa dug in and scored seven of the next eight points to tie the game 9-9. Landa’s point streak continued, as he went up 11-9, but a forehand skip gave Pratt back the serve. Pratt tied the score 11-11 with a great forehand that he took as the ball bounced around and out of the back left corner.

At that point, Landa called a timeout. On the next rally, Pratt had to dive to try to keep the rally going, and in doing so skipped a backhand shot. They exchanged sideouts, and then Landa scored four straight points, with the match winner a backhand cross court shot that was just out of Pratt’s reach.

“I knew it was going to be a tough battle,” Landa said afterwards, as “Charlie played well this tournament.” Asked about his feelings during the match, Landa said “I like to get mad. Sometimes it helps me. Sometimes it doesn’t.” Today Landa generally played within his comfort zone, and he earned a gold medal as a result.

XXX Pan American Racquetball Championships
San Jose, Costa Rica - April 8-15, 2017

Women's Singles - Final Saturday

2) Rhonda Rajsich (USA) d. 1) Paola Longoria (Mexico), 7-15, 15-13, 11-9

Men's Singles - Final Saturday

3) Alejandro Landa (Mexico) d. 4) Charlie Pratt (USA), 15-10, 15-11

Follow the bouncing ball....