For the first time since February 2008, Paola Longoria, the #1 player on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) lost in the quarterfinals, as she was beaten by 8th seed Brenda Laime, 15-11, 13-15, 11-10, at the LPRT at the Beach event in Chesapeake, Virginia Friday. Laime has caused big upsets before, as she defeated the #2 player twice last season (once versus Montserrat Mejia & once versus Alexandra Herrera), but this is her first win over Longoria.
Laime led for much of the tie-breaker, including at 9-6. But Longoria tied it, when an avoidable hinder was called against Laime, as the referee deemed there was contact on Longoria’s backswing. The line judges agree with the referee’s call, which was a generous one at best.
In real time, it didn’t even look like a hinder. Slowing it down in replay, and it looks like Longoria is moving into Laime more than Laime is getting in Longoria’s way.
On the next rally, Longoria drive serves to the left side, and Laime skips her backhand return, putting Longoria on match point at 10-9. When Longoria has a open forehand set up, you thought “well, this is over,” and Longoria will have found a way through this difficulty.
But Longoria skipped that shot!
Longoria got an open forehand reverse pinch shot - one of her favourite shots to hit - on the next rally, and she skipped that!
You’d be hard pressed to find back to back unforced errors by Longoria in any game over the last decade, which is part of why she’s #1. But it happened today, and the second one gave Laime match point, serving 10-10.
On that rally, Laime drove serve to the right, and they exchanged shots until Longoria tried to hit an around the wall ball that fell into the front court allowing Laime a chance to hit a forehand winner, which she did, passing the ball wide to the right side to complete the upset.
The other three quarterfinal matches also featured at least one game that was decided by one point, and two of the match deciding games were decided by one. LPRT #2 Alexandra Herrera actually had two one point games versus 7th seed Kelani Lawrence, winning 15-14, 15-14. It didn’t look like that match would be over in two games when Lawrence was up 14-8 in game two, but Herrera - a two time winner on the LPRT - dug in and got it done in two.
In the other matches, 4th seed Erika Manilla came back from a game down to defeat 5th seed Jessica Parrilla, 14-15, 15-2, 11-3, and 6th seed Carla Muñoz upset 3rd seed Natalia Mendez, 15-11, 15-14. Manilla will play Laime in one semi-final, while Herrera takes on Muñoz in the other.
There are only six teams in doubles, but five of those teams are new, which should make for some interesting matches. We think only Lawrence and Hollie Scott have played together before.
The top seeds are Herrera and Parrilla, who will take on the winner of Lawrence and Scott versus Cristina Amaya and Maria Renee Rodriguez. The 2nd seeds are Valeria Centellas and Longoria, who’ll play the winner of Manilla and Mendez versus Laime and Muñoz.
You can watch the action from Chesapeake live via the LPRT YouTube channel. The singles semi-finals are at 4 and 5 PM Friday with the final at 5 PM Saturday. The doubles quarterfinals are 6 and 7 PM Friday with the semis Saturday at 11 AM and noon, and the final at 6 PM. All times EDT.
2022 LPRT at the Beach presented by INVICTA, September 8-11, 2022
Chesapeake, Virginia
Round of 32 - Thursday
1) Paola Longoria - BYE
17) Linda Tyler d. 16) Laura Bradt, 15-14, 15-5
9) Hollie Scott - BYE
8) Brenda Laime - BYE
5) Jessica Parrilla - BYE
12) Sheryl Lotts - BYE
13) Cristina Amaya - BYE
4) Erika Manilla - BYE
3) Natalia Mendez - BYE
14) Stephanie Synhorst - BYE
11) Maria Renee Rodriguez - BYE
6) Carla Muñoz - BYE
7) Kelani Lawrence - BYE
10) Valeria Centellas - BYE
15) Sunshine Arterburn - BYE
2) Alexandra Herrera - BYE
Round of 16 - Thursday
1) Paola Longoria d. 17) Linda Tyler, 15-1, 15-2
8) Brenda Laime d. 9) Hollie Scott, 15-3, 15-9
5) Jessica Parrilla d. 12) Sheryl Lotts, 15-9, 15-11
4) Erika Manilla d. 13) Cristina Amaya, 9-15, 15-6, 11-5
3) Natalia Mendez d. 14) Stephanie Synhorst, 15-5, 15-3
6) Carla Muñoz d. 11) Maria Renee Rodriguez, 15-5, 15, 12
7) Kelani Lawrence d. 10) Valeria Centellas, 13-15, 15-8, 11-3
2) Alexandra Herrera d. 15) Sunshine Arterburn, 15-0, 15-0
Quarterfinals - Friday
8) Brenda Laime d. 1) Paola Longoria, 15-11, 13-15, 11-10
4) Erika Manilla d. 5) Jessica Parrilla, 14-15, 15-2, 11-3
6) Carla Muñoz d. 3) Natalia Mendez, 15-11, 15-14
2) Alexandra Herrera d. 7) Kelani Lawrence, 15-14, 15-14
Semi-finals - Friday
4) Erika Manilla v. 8) Brenda Laime - 5 PM
2) Alexandra Herrera v. 6) Carla Muñoz - 4 PM
Doubles - Quarterfinals - Friday
1) Alexandra Herrera & Jessica Parrilla - BYE
4) Kelani Lawrence & Hollie Scott v. 5) Cristina Amaya & Maria Renee Rodriguez - 7 PM
3) Erika Manilla & Natalia Mendez d. 6) Brenda Laime & Carla Muñoz - 6 PM
2) Valeria Centellas & Paola Longoria - BYE
Follow the bouncing ball….
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