Samantha Salas Wins First Career Professional Event
After a successful junior career, Samantha Salas (Monterrey, Mexico) took the Women’s Professional Racquetball Organization (WPRO) by storm during the 2009-2010 season. At the season ending event in California, the WPRO Tour newcomer reached the semifinals. When the 2010-2011 season kicked off in August, Samantha continued where she left off reaching the finals in Dallas and the semifinals at the Grand Slam event in Cali, Columbia. Last month on the sport’s grandest stage at the US OPEN Racquetball Championships, Salas played strong but again couldn’t break through for her first professional tournament victory.
After the US OPEN in Minneapolis, Samantha Salas signed a long term contract to exclusively use equipment from HEAD Penn Racquet Sports. After picking the YouTekTM Blackjack racquet, Samantha took to the court to get used to her new racquet. Just two weeks later she found herself in the finals of the WPRO’s Puget Sound Challenge. With her new equipment and support from HEAD Penn, Salas broke through and won her first career tournament at the professional level.
“We are thrilled to have Samantha as part of the HEAD Penn family,” said Doug Ganim of HEAD Penn Racquet Sports. “We are very proud she won her first professional tournament with HEAD’s Blackjack racquet and look forward to supporting her as she attempts to become the top ranked player in the world.”
As a junior player, Salas won a gold medal at the 2004 World Junior Championships. At the 2007 and 2009 Pan American Games she won silver medals while representing her home country of Mexico.
Samantha will look to add another WPRO victory next month in Virginia, followed a January event in Los Angeles.
