Saturday, August 5, 2017

Montoya & Bredenbeck win semi-finals at 2017 WRT LifeTime Denver Open

Rodrigo Montoya, the #1 player on the World Racquetball Tour (WRT), has reached the final of the 2017 WRT LifeTime Denver Open in Centennial, Colorado with a semi-final win over his doubles partner, Andree Parrilla, 15-12, 15-1. In the final, Montoya will play 7th seed Jake Bredenbeck who defeated 22nd seed Andres Acuña, 15-10, 15-10, in the other semi.

Montoya and Parrilla were close early in game one of their match, but Montoya had a slight lead at 7-5. From there he scored six unanswered points to lead 13-5. However, Parrilla kept working away, and closed the gap to two points again at 14-12. Parrilla fought off four game points before Montoya was able to end the game with a backhand down the line shot.

Game two was all Montoya, as he took an early lead at 5-0, and pushed on to win 15-1, taking the match in two straight games.

Bredenbeck also defeated Acuña in straight games, and he led the entire match, taking 6-0 leads in both games one and two. Acuña didn’t roll over, though, and he cut the lead to two points in game one, when he trailed 10-8.

But Bredenbeck extended the lead again to 12-8, and got to game point at 14-9 after two drive serve aces to the left side - Acuña’s backhand side. Acuña did fight off the first game point, and scored a point before surrendering the serve back to Bredenbeck, who then closed out the game, 15-10.

In game two, Bredenbeck was up 7-0 before Acuña scored. He extended the lead to 12-4, and Acuña took a timeout. When play resumed Bredenbeck served off speed Z serves to the left side, rather than the drive serves he had been using. Although it appeared he was taking his foot off the gas, Bredenbeck did score twice with those Z serves, making the score 14-4. But then Acuña got the serve back, and proceeded to run a six points to make the score 14-10.

But an error by Acuña stopped his run, and allowed Bredenbeck the opportunity to end the game and match, which he took advantage of.

Montoya and Bredenbeck have met four times on the WRT with Montoya winning three of those matches and Bredenbeck one.

You can see the final live Saturday at 5 PM MDT via the WRT Facebook page with the doubles final to follow the singles final.

2017 WRT Life Time Denver Open, Centennial, Colorado August 3-6, 2017

Singles - Semi-finals - Saturday

1) Rodrigo Montoya d. 4) Andree Parrilla, 15-12, 15-1
7) Jake Bredenbeck d. 22) Andres Acuña, 15-10, 15-10

Singles - Final - Saturday

1) Rodrigo Montoya v. 7) Jake Bredenbeck - 5 PM

Doubles - Final - Saturday

1) Rodrigo Montoya & Andree Parrilla v. 2) Alejandro Cardona & Gerardo Franco - 6 PM

Follow the bouncing ball….

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