Vargas v Herrera in the 2024 LPRT Arizona Open final

There’s one expected and one unexpected finalist at the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) Arizona Open in Tempe, Arizona. LPRT #2 Maria José Vargas was - by her seeding - expected to be there, although she had to defeat former #1 Paola Longoria in the semi-finals, doing so 15-12, 15-14.

But Alexandra Herrera, LPRT #8, was not expected to be in the final, or even the semi-finals. However, she upset LPRT #1 Montserrat Mejia, and Herrera’s doubles partner, 15-13, 6-15, 11-6, in the quarterfinals, and then offed LPRT #5 Erika Manilla, 15-14, 15-5, in the semis to reach an LPRT final for the first time since last August in Colorado.

Overall, Vargas has a 11-2 advantage on Herrera over their matches on the LPRT. Also, Vargas has won two of the three LPRT events so far this season.

In the doubles, it’ll be #1 versus #2 in the final, and Herrera has a chance to do the double this weekend, as she’s in both the singles and doubles finals. In doubles, top seeds Herrera and Mejia defeated 5th seeds Gabriela Martinez and Maria Renee Rodriguez, 15-8, 15-5, in the semi-finals. In the other semi-final, 2nd seeds Longoria and Samantha Salas beat 6th seeds Angelica Barrios and Carla Muñoz, 15-6, 15-4.

Play concludes Sunday with the finals at 11 AM (singles) and noon (doubles). You can watch the action live from Arizona via the LPRT YouTube channel. All times Mountain.

LPRT Arizona Open - Presented by The Madison Trust
Tempe, Arizona - January 12-14, 2024

Singles Quarterfinals - Saturday

8) Alexandra Herrera d. 1) Montserrat Mejia, 15-13, 6-15, 11-6
5) Erika Manilla d. 4) Brenda Laime, 15-13, 14-15, 11-8

3) Paola Longoria d. 6) Gabriela Martinez, 15-14, 15-2
2) Maria José Vargas d. 7) Angelica Barrios, 15-2, 15-7

Singles Semi-finals - Saturday

8) Alexandra Herrera d. 5) Erika Manilla, 15-14, 15-5
2) Maria José Vargas d. 3) Paola Longoria, 15-12, 15-14

Singles Final - Sunday

2) Maria José Vargas v. 8) Alexandra Herrera - 11 AM

Doubles - Semi-finals - Saturday

1) Alexandra Herrera & Montserrat Mejia d. 5) Gabriela Martinez & Maria Renee Rodriguez, 15-8, 15-5
2) Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas d. 6) Angelica Barrios & Carla Muñoz, 15-6, 15-4

Doubles - Final - Sunday

1) Alexandra Herrera & Montserrat Mejia v. 2) Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas - Noon

Follow the bouncing ball….