Remembering the past

On this day of remembrance we're looking back to 2006 and the US Open. There was a great deal of uncertainty on who would hoist the cup, as Kane Waselenchuk was unable to defend the title. Jack Huczek looked like the most likely candidate to take the title, because he'd won the first four tournaments of that International Racquetball Tour (IRT) season going into the US Open. Huczek hadn't even been pushed to a tie-breaker in any of the four tournament finals.

But Jason Mannino, the 1999 winner, had other ideas. In an epic semi-final match, which commentator Aaron Katz called "the best match I've ever seen with the most intensity and highest level of play," Mannino defeated Huczek in five games.

Mannino won the first two games with Huczek taking games three and four to force a tie-breaking fifth game - similar to Mannino's victory over Huczek in Kentucky last month.

In that fifth game, it was close all the way, but Huczek got a late lead at 9-7, and then 10-8. Huczek served for the match three times, but was unable to get the 11th point. Mannino tied it at 10-10 and then after a couple of side outs he finished off the match. Denying Huczek a chance to win the title that still eludes him.

In the final, Mannino faced Rocky Carson, who hadn't lost a game in the tournament. Carson led in both games one and two. He was up 9-6 in game one and 8-5 in game two, but he didn't get any more points in either game, as Mannino came back to win them both: 11-9, and 11-8, respectively.

Game three was all Mannino as he got an early lead at 6-2 and went on to win, 11-5, and claim his second US Open title.

Match Stats

The Racquetball Blog staff has been watching the 2006 US Open DVDs available from USA Racquetball. We also gathered stats for the matches from the quarter finals to the final (7 matches total) by counting the number of shots in each rally.

Each game in the Mannino-Carson final was over 4.00 shots per rally, which is relatively high. Of the 25 games in the 7 matches analysed, only seven averaged 4.00 or more shots a rally. The final match accounts for three of those seven games.

Curiously, the two games played with the longest rallies - on average - were from the quarter final match between Jack Huczek and Mitch Williams. While most matches averaged between three and four shots per rally, game two of Huczek-Williams had 4.52 and game four - the last of that match - had an astonishing 5.16!

The match with the shortest rallies was between Shane Vanderson and Alvaro Beltran, who had two games with rallies lasting under 3.00 shots per rally. They also had the game with the fewest rallies. In the fourth and last game of their match, won by Vanderson, was a mere 19 rallies. The 7 matches of the US Open had 37.40 rallies on average.

Follow the bouncing ball....

Weekend Round Up

There are a few bits from the weekend. But perhaps we should again have a shout out to Toronto for its successful bid to host the Pan American Games in 2015.

IRT: Chris Crowther won the Pomona Valley Open tournament in Claremont, California. He defeated Charles Pratt in the final, 11-2, 11-3, 11-4. In the semis, Crowther beat Thomas Fuhrmann, 11-8, 11-2, 11-4, and Pratt defeated Rafael Filippini, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9.

WPRO: Jennifer Saunders won the Women's Open division at the Rock 'N' Racquetball at the Coast tournament in Wilimington, North Carolina Sunday by defeating Keely Franks in the final, 15-14, 15-11. It's her second Open division win of the season, as Saunders also won in Dallas at the Texas Open in September.

In the semis, Saunders defeated Doreen Fowler, 15-8, 15-3, while Franks beat Cristina Amaya, 10-15, 15-13, 11-9.

CANADA: Coming up this weekend is Racquetball Canada's first National Team Selection Event of the season. Players will be competing in Regina, Saskatchewan for spots to represent Canada at the Pan American Championships in April that are scheduled to occur in Honduras.

Follow the bouncing ball....

WPRO - Longoria defeats Rajsich in Wilmington

Paola Longoria defeated Rhonda Rajsich for the first time this season, 6-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-6, in the final of the Rock 'N' Racquetball at the Coast tournament in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Sunday in the third event of the Women's Professional Racquetball Organization (WPRO) 2009-10 season.

Going into this event, Rajsich was ranked #1 ahead of #2 Longoria, but the lead is only slightly more than 100 points, so this victory may be enough to put Longoria back on top of the WPRO rankings.

The final was hard fought with the first two games going back and forth. In game three, Rajsich served for the game four times at 10-8, but Longoria fought off those game points and came back to win 12-10.

Longoria led throughout game four and held off a late charge by Rajsich to win 11-6. Longoria drove served - straight and Z - in the match while Rajsich used a mix of serves.

The next WPRO Tier 1 event is the Christmas Classic in Arlington, Virginia December 11-13, 2009.

Rock 'N' Racquetball at the Coast, November 6-8, 2009
Wilmington, North Carolina

Final

Paola Longoria d. Rhonda Rajsich, 6-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-6

Follow the bouncing ball....