| Montserrat Mejía | |
| Nickname: | Montse |
| Nationality: | Mexican |
| Birth Date: | 1999 12, df=y |
| Birth Place: | San Luis Potosí City, Mexico[1] |
Montserrat Mejía (born December 4, 1999) is a Mexican racquetball player. She finished #1 on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour in 2022–23,[2] becoming the second Mexican to do so after Paola Longoria.[3] Mejía is the current Pan American Champion in both Women's Singles and Doubles (with Alexandra Herrera).
Mejía first made the podium at the International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Junior Championship in 2013 in Sucre, Bolivia, where she and Andrea Ramirez won Girls U14 Doubles.[4] That year Mejía lost in the quarterfinals of singles to fellow Mexican Erin Rivera.[5]
The next year Mejía and Ramirez were on top of the podium again at World Juniors, winning Girls U14 Doubles by defeating Bolivians Wanda Carjajal and Adriana Homsi, 6–15, 15–10, 11–9, in Cali, Colombia.[6] But in singles, Carvajal beat Mejía in the semi-finals, 15–7, 15–5.[7]
At 2015 World Juniors in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Mejía lost in the semi-finals of Girls U16 Singles to Jordan Cooperrider (USA), 15–5, 15–11.[8] She and Ramirez finished 2nd in Girls U16 Doubles after losing to Cooperrider and Erika Manilla.[9]
In 2016, Mejía lost to Gabriela Martinez of Guatemala in the final of Girls U16 Singles at the World Junior Championships in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, 15–13, 15–7.[10] But she won Girls U16 Doubles with Ana Laura Flores.[11]
Mejía won both singles and doubles at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Minneapolis, defeating Guatemalan Gabriela Martinez in the final of Girls U18 Singles, 15–13, 4–15, 11–5,[12] and taking the U18 doubles title with Denisse Maldonado.[13]
Mejía and Martinez again met in the final of Girls U18 Singles the following year at the 2018 World Junior Championships in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, where Mejía successfully defended the title, 15–14, 8–15, 11–6.[14]
Mejía first played internationally for Mexico at the 2018 Racquetball World Championships in San José, Costa Rica, where she and Alexandra Herrera played Women's Doubles. They reached the final by defeating Colombians Cristina Amaya and Adriana Riveros, 15–8, 15–4, but lost the final to Bolivians Valeria Centellas and Yasmine Sabja, 8–15, 15–14, 11–2.
The following year Mejía played at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. She played singles there, and made it to the medal round, losing to Ecuador's Maria Paz Muñoz, 15–14, 7–15, 11–5, in the Round of 16. But she helped Mexico to win the women's team title, as they defeated the US in the semi-finals and Argentina in the final.
Mejía won gold in both singles and doubles at the 2023 Pan American Racquetball Championships. In singles, Mejía defeated Guatemalan Gabriela Martínez in the quarterfinals, 11–13, 11–8, 11–9, 11–7, Argentine Natalia Mendez in the semi-finals, 11–4, 11–5, 8–11, 11–5, and in the final Argentina's Maria Jose Vargas, 11–8, 11–6, 11–9.[15] In doubles, Mejía and Alexandra Herrera won gold by defeating Guatemalans Gabriela Martinez and Maria Renee Rodriguez in the final, 11–6, 11–6, 12–10.[16]
Mejía finished the 2022-23 Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour season on top of the rankings, which was her first #1 ranking and broke the 11-year run of Paola Longoria.[17] She did it with a win at the last LPRT event of the season, beating Maria Jose Vargas in the final of the LPRT Battle at the Beach Season Finale, 15–7, 3–15, 11–3.[18] That was her 5th win of the season.
Mejía competed at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games, and won three medals. She got a bronze medal in singles, as she lost in the semi-finals to Gabriela Martinez, 11–9, 13–11, 7–11, 11–6.[19] But Mejía won gold in both doubles and the women's team event.[20] [21] In the doubles final, she and Alexandra Herrera came back from two games down to defeat Martinez and Maria Renee Rodriguez, 9–11, 8–11, 11–7, 13–11, 11–6.[22] [23]
Mejía has been successful both internationally for Mexico and on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour, winning six events in her career, and becoming the LPRT's #1 player in 2023.
This table lists Mejía's results across annual events.
| Event | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |||||||||
| US Open Singles | align=center | 32 | align=center | 16 | align=center | 16 | align=center | 16 | bgcolor=pink align=center | SF | align=center | 16 | align=center | P | align=center | - | align=center | |
| US Open Doubles | bgcolor=silver align=center | F | bgcolor=silver align=center | F | align=center | Q | bgcolor=silver align=center | F | bgcolor=gold align=center | W | bgcolor=silver align=center | F | align=center | P | align=center | - | align=center | |
| LPRT Rank | align=center | 29 | align=center | 21 | align=center | 13 | align=center | 17 | align=center | 17 | align=center | 7 | bgcolor=pink align=center | 3 | align=center | 10 | bgcolor=gold align=center | 1 |
Note: W = winner, F = finalist, SF = semi-finalist, QF = quarterfinalist, 16 = Round of 16, 32 = Round of 32, 64 = Round of 64, 128 = Round of 128. P = Cancelled due to COVID pandemic.