Saturday, December 10, 2011

WPRO - Christmas Classic 16s

For perhaps the first time in a long time the top 8 seeds are all through to the quarter finals of a Women's Professional Racquetball Organization (WPRO) tournament, specifically the 20th Christmas Classic in Arlington, Virgina. Indeed, none of the matches in the Round of 16 on Friday went more than four games and only three of the eight matches went that far.

The two top seeds won in three games straight, blanking their opponent in one of those games. Top seed Paola Longoria defeated Grace Hughes, 11-1, 11-0, 11-3, and second seed Rhonda Rajsich won over Mercedes Arias, 11-1, 11-4, 11-0.

Arias's earlier match with Tracy Hawthorne was the only match of the day to need a tie-breaking fifth game, as Arias - a member of the US Junior National Team - came out on top 14-16, 4-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-1.

The player outside the top 8 seeds most likely to make the quarters would have been Kristen Bellows, a former top 4 WPRO player. But she lost to 6th seed Krystal Csuk, 14-12, 7-11, 11-5, 11-6.

Once upon a time - in fact, it was a decade ago in 2001 - Bellows and Csuk were team-mates on the Baldwin-Wallace racquetball team before Bellows (nee Walsh) transferred to University of Utah, in her home state.

The quarter finals and semi-finals will be played on Saturday with the final slated for Sunday.

20th Christmas Classic, Arlington, Virginia
December 9-11, 2011

Round of 16

Paola Longoria d. Grace Hughes, 11-1, 11-0, 11-3
Jennifer Saunders d. Da'monique Davis, 11-5, 11-2, 11-6

Cristina Amaya d. Laura Brandt, 11-0, 11-0, 11-8
Adrienne Fisher d. Kimberly Ferina, 11-6, 11-5, 7-11, 11-5

Kerri Wachtel d. Anita Maldonado, 11-1, 11-3, 11-3
Krystal Csuk d. Kristen Bellows, 14-12, 7-11, 11-5, 11-6

Susana Acosta d. T. J. Baumbaugh, 11-1, 6-11, 11-4, 11-3
Rhonda Rajsich d. Mercedes Arias, 11-1, 11-4, 11-0

Quarter finals

Paola Longoria vs. Jennifer Saunders
Adrienne Fisher vs. Cristina Amaya

Kerri Wachtel vs. Krystal Csuk
Rhonda Rajsich vs. Susana Acosta

Round of 32

Paola Longoria vs. BYE
Grace Hughes d. Ana Paola Nunez, 10-12, 11-6, 11-4, 11-4

Jennifer Saunders vs. BYE
Da'monique Davis vs. BYE

Cristina Amaya vs. BYE
Laura Brandt d. Marie Barron, 11-5, 11-6, 11-2

Kimberly Ferina d. Claudia Andrade, 11-9, 11-6, 11-4
Adrienne Fisher vs. BYE

Kerri Wachtel vs. BYE
Anita Maldonado d. Erika Hawley, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7

Kristen Bellows vs. BYE
Krystal Csuk vs. BYE

Susana Acosta vs. BYE
T. J. Baumbaugh vs. BYE

Mercedes Arias d. Tracy Hawthorne, 14-16, 4-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-1
Rhonda Rajsich vs. BYE

Follow the bouncing ball....

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