Outdoor Racquetball Championships : Costa Mesa’s Adams Reaches Final Against Longtime Rival
Lynn Adams of Costa Mesa advanced to today’s women’s singles final of the Southern California Outdoor Racquetball national championships with a 21-3, 21-7 victory over Kathy Van Dusen of Santa Ana on Sunday at Orange Coast College.
Adams, the world’s top-ranked indoor player who is seeded second in this tournament, will face top-seeded Martha McDonald of Gainesville, Fla., in the championship match for the eighth consecutive year. The match is scheduled for 12:45 p.m.
McDonald, who has won two consecutive championships here, earned the right to face Adams by defeating Sherri Knecht of Costa Mesa in her semifinal match, 21-5, 21-5.
McDonald took an early lead with her quick, well-placed forehands and never let up.
“Sherri’s not consistent with her racquet shots,” McDonald said. “She gave me a lot of points because of her inconsistency.”
Adams, who had a five-match winning streak over McDonald at Orange Coast before losing to her the past two years, started slowly in the first game but came back with an aggressive volleying game against Van Dusen, the third-seeded player.
“The outdoor game is so different from the indoor game,” Adams said. “It takes time to figure out what you’re going to do when you don’t play much outdoors.
“To beat her (Adams), you have to play every point as if your life depended on it,” McDonald said. “Just when you think you have her down, that’s where she is most liable to come back.”
Six players remain in the open men’s singles field. They will play third-round matches beginning at 9 a.m. today. The third-round men’s singles winner who has given up the fewest points in the tournament will advance to the championship at 3 p.m. The other finalist will be determined by a playoff involving the two winners of the other third-round matches.
Top-seeded Brian Hawkes of Huntington Beach advanced to the third round, defeating Jim Carson of Irvine, 21-10, 21-4.
Hawkes’ opponent today will be Rick Sardello, who defeated Jay Kaiser of Huntington Beach, 21-13, 21-12.
Another seeded player, third-seeded Dan Southern of Huntington Beach, was upset by unseeded Greg Freeze, also of Huntington Beach, 21-14, 21-14. Freeze will face another unseeded player, Riverside’s Kelly Gelhaus.
Gelhaus defeated John Urias of Santa Ana, 21-15, 21-20.
Eric Fernandez of Huntington Beach and Mike Gustaveson of Huntington Beach will play in the other third-round match.
Fernandez, unseeded, scored a 21-19, 14-21, 11-5 victory over fifth-seeded Robert Gaul of Fountain Valley. Gustaveson defeated second-seeded Kevin Booth of Newport Beach, 21-18, 9-21, 11-5.