Paola Longoria, the #1 player on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT), will take on 2nd seed Jessica Parrilla on Sunday in the final of the 2017 Paola Longoria Experience in San Luis Potosi, Mexico after they won their respective semi-final matches Saturday night. In one semi-final, Longoria defeated Gabriela Martinez, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9, in what was a replay of last year’s World Championship final, which Longoria also won.
In the other semi-final, Parrilla beat Monserrat Mejia in four games, 11-4, 2-11, 11-8, 12-10. Late in game four, it looked like Majia would force a tie-breaker, as she was up 10-7. However, Parrilla fought off a couple of game points, and tied the score at 10-10. She closed out the game and match with two drive serve aces to Mejia’s backhand.
Longoria won in three straight games, but Martinez was in game one early, as they were tied at 6-6 and Martinez actually led 7-6 before Longoria put together a run of five points to win it. Game two wasn’t close, as Longoria had a 8-1 lead before winning 11-5.
Game three was also close early, but Longoria led throughout and got to match point at 10-4. Martinez staged a comeback and got to within one at 10-9, but it was too little, too late as Longoria got the serve back, called a timeout, and came in with a good drive serve to the left that Martinez returned with a backhand cross court shot, which gave Longoria an opportunity to put the ball away, and she did so with forehand pinch shot winner.
In doubles, the 2nd seed team of Cristina Amaya and Adriana Riveros came back from a game down to defeat 6th seeds Carla Muñoz and Sofia Rascon, 14-15, 15-13, 11-2. Amaya and Riveros were also down in game one, 14-7, and almost pulled it out, only losing by one point at 15-14. Game two was similar, as Muñoz and Rascon were up 12-6 before Amaya and Riveros put a run of points together and force a breaker by winning game two 15-13.
As often happens after two close games, the tie-breaker turned out to be lop-sided. In this case it was Amaya and Rascon who piled up the points early with a 9-0 lead, so they went on to win comfortably. Amaya forced the winning point as she drove serve to Rascon on the right side, and Rascon skipped the return.
Amaya and Riveros will face top seeds Longoria and Mejia, who comfortably defeated Sheryl Lotts and Rhonda Rajsich, 15-0, 15-6, in the other semi-final.
You can watch the finals via the LPRT YouTube channel or their Facebook page https://www.lprtour.com. The singles final will be 2 PM Sunday with the doubles final afterwards.
2017 LPRT Paola Longoria Experience, August 18-20, 2017
San Luis Potosi, Mexico
Semi-finals - Saturday
1) Paola Longoria d. 12) Gabriela Martinez, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9
2) Jessica Parrilla d. 11) Monserrat Mejia, 11-4, 2-11, 11-8, 12-10
Final - Sunday
1) Paola Longoria v. 2) Jessica Parrilla - 2 PM
Doubles - Semi-finals - Saturday
1) Paola Longoria & Monserrat Mejia d. 5) Sheryl Lotts & Rhonda Rajsich, 15-0, 15-6
2) Cristina Amaya & Adriana Riveros d. 6) Carla Muñoz & Sofia Rascon, 14-15, 15-13, 11-2
Doubles - Final - Sunday
1) Paola Longoria & Monserrat Mejia v. 2) Cristina Amaya & Adriana Riveros - 3 PM
Follow the bouncing ball….
Saturday, August 19, 2017
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