For their part in the shared pro spotlight at the Holiday Classic in Denver, the women offered their own brand of outstanding racquetball right from opening rounds. In the round of 32 there was some amazing play, and some that was simply unbelievable! Also, for the first time in a long time, all of the eight top seeds advanced. There were no true ‘upsets’ to report; but there was one match that will be remembered here in the foothills for a long, long time. 

Quite a First Round
For her first match, No.11 seeded Laura Fenton, champion of too many national and world tournaments to mention here, went up against Colorado’s own Lourdes Sanders [pictured at left]. Right off the bat, Sanders surprised her veteran opponent by handing her an opening game loss, 11-8. Sanders had served well and seemed to select just the right shot at just the right time. But Fenton’s own shot capabilities, variety of serves, and the patience of a saint, brought her back strong to take the next two 11-7 and 11-3. Any fourth game becomes a test of mental toughness and court strategy, and these players pulled out all the stops. They each abandoned the classic serve and volley game for a more defensive approach, with greater emphasis on court positioning, patience, and ball pace. At the same time, many well-executed serves were returned as out and out winners, and it was Sanders who pulled out the 11-8 win to tie it at two games apiece. 

The fifth opened with Sanders serving a drive that came off the back wall that Fenton flat rolled for the sideout. Taking the service box, Fenton stood motionless holding the ball in one hand and staring at the sidewall for what seemed to be a good fifteen seconds. Then she served, and what followed was simply amazing. In an alarming and aggressive display of racquetball at its absolute finest, Fenton ran up 10 straight points. She simply did not miss, and covered the court as if she had radar. The match looked all but over. Some spectators left, while others exchanged surprised glances. 

The general consensus seemed to be that it was only a matter of time before it was over, and not much at that. At 0-10 Sanders took a time out. When she returned, she took her now familiar stance and was ready to receive. Fenton served. Sanders attacked the ball before it traveled anywhere near the back wall and hit a return winner straight in. Sanders then served for two points. Fenton served for match, and Sanders again rolled it out for a winner. Sanders then served for three points. With the next sideout, she took another timeout, at 5-10. It was a good run, as they say, but everyone was still pretty much convinced that it was just about over. Sanders quietly returned to the back court. Fenton’s hard serve came off the back wall, Sanders moved quickly into position, and again hit a return winner. It was Fenton’s turn for a timeout. When she returned Sanders won another two points to bring it to 7-10. 

At this point the crowd started to wander back to what had become quite a match. Fenton served for match, and again Sanders blasted in another clean winner. Then neither player could buy a point, but each returned service for a series of sideouts. Finally, Sanders earned another point, then another. At 9-10, Fenton took another timeout, but when she returned, Sanders snagged point 10. The game that started off as a landslide was suddenly dead even. The two exchanged serve twice more before Sanders went up 11-10 … but you have to win by two. She served again to begin a long rally that, much to the amazement of the crowd and the dismay of Laura Fenton, ended on Sanders’ final shot in the series. It was a winner, and so was she. The crowd showed their appreciation with a very loud standing ovation for both players. Laura, somewhat stunned and amazed as anyone would be, was very cordial and showed good sportsmanship congratulating Lourdes on a match well played. Clearly this was the most exciting comeback of the event, and a performance peak for Sanders.

Sixteens
The round of 16’s saw upsets for two of the top seeds - No. 8 Susana Acosta was defeated by No.9 Adrienne Fisher in an exciting five game match (3), 8, (8), 2, 1, and No. 7 Kristen Walsh was eliminated by No.10 Lori-Jane Powell 2, 8, (10), 5. The other six seeds advanced (including Kim Russell over Sanders in four), with only a few dropped games and one full-fledged tiebreaker (when Brenda Kyzer pushed Rhonda Rajsich to five). 

Quarters
Cheryl Gudinas made short work of Adrienne Fisher in straight games of 3-points each, while it took four games for Jackie Rice to defeat Lori-Jane Powell 4, (5), 1, 1. Kerri Wachtel defeated Kersten Hallander in three 8,6,2, and Rajsich logged another exciting five-game win over Kim Russell (4), (4), 9, 6, 3. The semis shaped up into a standard format, to pit No.1 Gudinas against No.4 Wachtel in the top end of the draw, and No.2 Rice vs. No.3 Rajsich on the bottom half. 

Semifinals
Moving quickly toward the final, Gudinas, winner of seven straight LPRA stops the top ranked woman on tour, defeated Wachtel, ‘01 U.S. Open Champion 4, (2), 3, 7. Wachtel played very well, and on more than one occasion had Gudinas tripped up and against the ropes. But Gudinas dug deep to beat the one opponent of only two to have beaten her in the preceding twelve months. It was a very exciting match and both players showed great speed, shot making ability and strategy. In contrast, the remaining semifinal saw Rice take control of the match from start to finish, ending it in three straight 11, 7, 3. With the exception of the first game, Rajsich, one of the strongest and most dynamic players on the tour, was never really in the match and Rice advanced again to yet another LPRA final against Gudinas. 

Final
It was standing room only for the LPRA final, sandwiched between the IRT semis on Saturday. Once again it was the now-familiar faceoff, that seems to end the majority of the ladies tour stop. Many favored Gudinas from the statistics; she’d beaten Rice 78% of the time. Others hoped for an upset and chatter began early as locals speculated about a Rice victory. As the match began the chatter seemed to ring true, as Rice took the first game 11-8. Then second game, unlike the first, was quick and went to Gudinas 11-3. Not to be outdone, Rice raised the level of her game, particularly her shot-making, and won the third game 11-5. 

The fourth was crucial for Gudinas. Lose it and go home with a second place check (the first in a long time). But the fourth game proved to be anything but easy for both players. It was one of those 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 creepers, in which neither player really ran off any points. Gudinas managed to win, but she did so by the very narrowest of margins 13-11! 

The fifth game was a surprising one. Right from the start it was all Rice. She seemed not only to control the pace of the game, but also came up with several back-to-back excellent shots to win the fifth 11-5, for her second tour victory of the season.