Susana Acosta - Trailblazer

Question: which woman has played the most US Open Championships and reached at least the semi-finals? If you said “Cheryl Gudinas,” you’d be partially correct, but only because Gudinas played this year. Prior to this month, the answer was actually Susana Acosta.

Acosta first played in the US Open in 1998. Gabriela Martinez - current International Racquetball Federation (IRF) Women's Singles World Champion - wasn’t even born then. Neither was Montserrat Mejia, who won the US Open Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) doubles title with Alexandra Herrera this year. Paola Longoria was 9 in ’98.

After 1998, Acosta played in every US Open until this year: 21 years. That’s a longer streak than any other woman, and is only surpassed by Rocky Carson, who’s played every US Open since 1998. Rhonda Rajsich could tie Acosta next year.

Acosta reached the US Open semi-finals in 1999, her 2nd US Open. She was in the semis again in 2013, and that 14 years is the longest stretch between semi-final berths of any woman except Rajsich. Remarkably, those are the only two times Acosta has been in the US Open semis.

She was the first Mexican player to crack the top 10 of the women’s pro tour, when she finished 5th in 1999-2000. Acosta was 6th the following season, and 10th in 2002-03. But over the next seven seasons, she played fewer than half the events, so Acosta didn’t return to the top 10 until 2010-11, when she played all the events and was 6th once again. Her career high came two seasons later in 2012-13, when she finished 4th.

For all her pro tournaments, Acosta never played a final, and was only in 9 semi-finals over 141 tournaments. But it was in doubles that Acosta excelled.

A left-handed player, Acosta was part of the Mexican doubles team (with Rosy Torres) who won Mexico’s first women's gold medal at a major competition, when they defeated the USA team of Jackie Paraiso and Kim Russell in the Women’s Doubles final of the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She also medaled in Women’s Doubles at the IRF World Championships twice with Torres as her partner. They were bronze medalists in 2002 and silver medalists in 2004, when they lost to final to Paraiso and Russell in Korea.

Acosta also won four gold medals at the Pan American Championships, in 2004, 2005, 2010 and 2014. The first two wins were with Torres while the last two were with Samantha Salas.

Acosta has been a trail blazing player for Mexican racquetball. She’ll be 43 in December, and ending her US Open streak suggests she’s close to the end of her career. However, Acosta played in the 1st LPRT event of the season, so she’s not done yet.

Follow the bouncing ball….