Sunday, April 1, 2012

PARC - 2012 Pan American Championships - Day 2

Still no surprises through two days of competition at the XXV Pan American Championships in Temuco, Chile, as the higher seeds continue to win their matches.

But Monday could bring some interesting matches as the highest seeds in the pools will be playing off against each other to see who wins the group and thus gets a better seeding for the elimination round that begins Wednesday.

The top women's seeds all won Sunday, including #1 seed and defending champion Rhonda Rajsich (USA) and #2 seed Mexican Paola Longoria, winner of the last five Women's Professional Racquetball Organization (WPRO) events, as well as Susana Acosta (Mexico), Jennifer Saunders (Canada), Frédérique Lambert (Canada) and Carol Loma (Bolivia) .

Some intriguing Monday matches will be Loma versus Maria Paz Muñoz of Ecuador with the winner winning the group (Loma is seeded 6th overall and Muñoz 7th) and Lambert and Maria Jose Vargas of Bolivia, as they are the 5th and 8th seeds, respectively.

One surprise on Sunday came in men's singles as Luis Perez of the Dominican Republic defeated Mexican Misael Leija, 11-15, 15-8, 11-10, and now has a chance to win Group C, if he can beat Chilean Francisco Troncoso on Monday; Troncoso lost his first two matches, which suggests Perez has a good chance to win the group.

But the other higher seeds all won in two straight games, including last year's champion Daniel De La Rosa of Mexico, Canadians Vincent Gagnon and Mike Green, and Bolivians Kadim Carrasco and Carlos Keller.

There was a surprise in men's doubles as the home side of Chileans Sebastian Roessler and Santiago Canedo upset the 2nd seeded Canadian team of Nathaniel Husulak and Tim Landeryou, 15-11, 10-15, 11-10. Husulak and Landeryou are now in danger of finishing third in their group if they don't beat the Costa Rican side of Ivan Villegas and Bruno Casalvolne, who defeated Roessler and Canedo on Saturday.

No surprises in women's doubles. Samantha Salas played her first tournament match since the Pan American Games last October, and she and Longoria defeated the beat the Venezuelan team of Mariana Paredes and Mariana Tobon of Venezuela, 15-1, 15-10.

Pool play action continues in Temuco Sunday and Monday, and PARC is streaming some of it live via the internet through their website.

Follow the bouncing ball....

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