Category: IRT

We are back in Chicago for the latest IRT event, and it looks to be a doozy. The 37th annual Shamrock shootout is back in its normal spot around St. Patricks’ day, and the tour is happy to be back in Chicago as well.
R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38590
There’s 31 men’s pros entered here this weekend, the weekend after many countries held their national selection events ahead of next month’s Pan American Racquetball Championships (PARC) in Bolivia. This has caused some of the normal international players to take the weekend off.

Top players missing from the draw include #12 Carlos Keller (fresh off his finals appearance in Bolivian Nationals), but he’s the only player in the top 20 missing here. A great draw. We see a return to action of @Javier Mar, who was nursing an injury for months that kept him out of singles action. We also see @Educardo Garay back in action after missing the past couple of events.

Lets preview the draw. With only 31 players, there’s two qualifying rounds. I see mostly straightforward wins from expected winners in the first round, so lets pick up with the Round of 32. Nearly every round of 32 match is going to be compelling, with interesting storylines.
Here’s what i’m looking forward to there:

• #16 v #17 Garay versus @Thomas Carter . Garay probably is the better player, but hasn’t played in months on tour. Can Carter pull an upset?
• #9 @Jake Bredenbeck takes on @Jordy Alonso, a dangerous lower seed who can play well above his ranking. I don’t think this is an upset, but Alonso may push him.
• #12 @Sebastian Franco is an upset watch against up and coming Mexican junior @Erik Trujillo. He’ll look to setup a rematch against a top 8 pro in the 16s.
• Two American lefties take on each other as @Adam Manilla and @Robert Collins battle it out. Look for the Colorado pro to take out the Hawaiian pro.
• In Mar’s return to action, he faces a tall task in the fast improving #14 @Andres Acuna. Acuna is fresh of a title in Minnesota where he topped two top-10 players, and Mar’s rustiness probably prevents him from playing up to his normal top levels. Look for Acuna to move on.
• – In my favorite match of the round, @Rodrigo Montoya takes on @Sebastian Fernandez in what should be an enjoyable shootout of power and athleticism. On paper Montoya is the better player, but Fernandez has the capabilities to move on.

round of 16:

• #1 @Daniel De La Rosa should move on easily from Garay or Carter.
• #8 @Rocky Carson faces a tough opponent in Bredenbeck. They met in Atlanta, a close 14,11 win for Rocky. Can Jake close the gap? Look for the veteran to move on again.
• #5 @Samuel Murray gets started against the Franco/Trujillo winner, and should move past either player.
• #4 @Alex Landa likely faces lefty Manilla in the 16s, a tricky match for the former #1. Manilla’s online training gig has him on the courts a ton, whereas Landa is seemingly at a career cross roads. Upset watch here.
• #3 @Kane Waselenchuk was a last minute confirmation for the event, and is inarguably a favorite. He starts off against a friendly face in Acuna, who may get some points but will serve mostly as Kane’s warmup for the latter rounds despite his recent successes.
• #6 @Eduardo Portillo is back in action after a knee injury suffered in Atlanta kept him out of action for 2 months. He is set to face the veteran Beltran, who can still play. Where is Lalo in his recovery? If he’s still a step slow, Beltran’s crafty game will be hard to beat. Upset watch here.
• #7 @Conrrado Moscoso is fresh off his latest Bolivian National title, but faces a very tricky opponent in Mercado here. Mercado plays him tough every time; expect two tight games.
• – #2 @Andree Parrilla is Mr. Chicago: his first ever pro final was here in 2017, and his first ever pro win was here in 2018. He’s made the semis the last three years after that. He loves this court and will be hard to beat. But his projected round of 16 opponent will be a troublesome one: if its Montoya, its a player in his same age class who has been playing him (and often beating him) for years. If its Patata, its a guy who won’t back down and will make him earn every point. Look for a struggle here but for Andree to prevail.

Projected Qtrs:
There’s really only one quarterfinal i’m looking forward to … but here’s all four projected.

• #1 DLR will top #8 Carson to move on. DLR has topped Rocky every time they’ve played lately and will again here.
• #4 Landa, if he gets here, should handle his doubles partner #5 Murray, if he gets here. But both players have had iffy results lately, so this could also be some combination of Franco and Manilla. Possible wildcard semi finalist coming out of this quadrant.
• #3 Kane should cruise past his long-time rival Beltran, or will test Lalo’s rehabbed knee for him in this quarter to move on.
• The big one: #2 Parrilla versus #7 Moscoso. They’ve met three times; once at the 2017 US Open (a 5-game Moscoso win that was part of his coming out party), then a Parrilla win in 2019, then a Moscoso win last December at Worlds. They’re neck and neck in my personal rankings; this is a coin flip. These are the two winners of the last two pro stops. Parrilla loves Chicago, Moscoso beat him in their last matchup and is coming off a title in Bolivia. I’m going to go with Moscoso in an upset.
  Semis:
• DLR over Landa if the seeds hold: Landa holds a pretty definitive career W/L record over DLR … 9-3 on the IRT and 10-5 in all top-level competitions. However, they have not played since March of 2020, which is basically when Landa plateaued as a professional. I think DLR is a step ahead now, and moves into the final here.
• Waselenchuk over Moscoso; this is a great match, a rematch of the fantastic 2019 US open final. Kane has never really been threatened by Conrrado … and in fact destroyed him the last time they played in Austin in 2019. Conrrado needs a strategy to win, much as Andree had a strategy going into the Atlanta final. I’m not sure Conrrado as a player has the capability of devising a strategy right now; that’s why he takes losses against lesser players despite probably being the 2nd most talented player on earth. Look for a Kane win.
• 
  Finals; we finally get (hopefully) Daniel versus Kane. Current #1 versus long-time #1. Man, I hope it happens.
  DLR, like Parrilla, is a thinking man on the court, a player who depends less on power and more on shot-making. He can handle Kane’s power. When they’ve played recently, Daniel gets his points. The scores were Kane wins, but it was 9 and 10, 8 and 10, 11 and 6. That was 2-3 years ago; what happens now?
• I’m thinking tie-breaker, with Kane pulling it out and returning to the winner’s circle. But if Daniel maintains his cool and is not overwhelmed by the import of the match, this could be another upset win over the long-time King.

Doubles review
We thought perhaps we’d get a return to competition the venerable pairing of Kane and @Ben Croft, but they’re not in the draw. What we do have though is a stacked draw of solid international teams here to prepare for Beach Bash and for PARC.

From the top I like #1 DLR/Beltran to take out the Bolivian champs Moscoso/Keller in one semi, while the #2 Montoya/Mar takes out the team Beastmade Clothing Bredenbeck/Murray pairing in the other semi. In the final. a frequent matchup on tour and in Mexican Nationals will see the younger pairing winning out over the veteran Mexican pair.

Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.
Look for Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots!
Thanks to the Tourney Directors Dan Jaskier andGeoff Peters for putting this event on!
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There was a smaller IRT Tier 4 this past weekend, held in Omaha, Nebraska, who were visited by the Manilla brother/sister crew. Here’s a quick recap of the results.

r2sports home page: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38121

In the IRT Pro division, current #14 ranked Adam Manilla cruised to the singles title without dropping a game. Along the way he vanquished Iowan Alex Midkiff in the quarters, Kansas Lefty Derek Izzi in the semis, and then under-rated Minnesota top amateur @John Goth (who made the US National team in 2012) in the final. Goth had advanced to the final by topping Adam’s sister @Erika Manilla in the quarters and US Junior national team member Andrew Gleason in the semis.

In the Pro Doubles division, #1 seeds Gleason and Kansas’ @John Hudson swept through the 4-team round robin to take the title. Coming in 2nd was the surprise team of Aaron Kurowski and Gabrielle Shnurman.

In the Mixed Doubles division, the Manillas teamed up to win the division topping the Kurowski/Shnurman team in the first place game.

Congrats to Tourney Director Caroline Reitmeyer for bringing some pro racquetball to Nebraska!

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We’re entering a bit of a lull in the racquetball calendar; the next major event is not until the 2/20/22 weekend, when the LPRT heads to the Florida coast where host @sudsySudsy Monchik is holding the 2022 Vero Beach Open. Maybe i’ll do a Pro Racquetball Stats Ask Me Anything session on facebook live one night in the next couple of weeks.Racquetball Tournament in Omaha, NE USA. Dates: 1/28/2022 – 1/30/2022.R2SPORTS.COMNRT 2022 Kick Off TournamentRacquetball Tournament in Omaha, NE USA. Dates: 1/28/2022 – 1/30/2022.

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:
– Pro Singles: Andree Parrilla
– Pro Doubles; Conrrado Moscoso & Roland Keller

Parrilla does the impossible and vanquishes the King, and gets a second career IRT win. Moscoso & Keller edge past a familiar rival team, one they’ve played 6 times in the last 2 years.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=38056

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/F1138C

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In the 64s:
– Mexican Jordy Alonso got a solid win against former IRT touring pro David Horn 14,7.
– Mexican 18U junior @Mauricio Delgadillo had a great pro debut, topping IRT regular Sam Bredenbeck 13,13 to move into the 32s.
– Mexican Rodrigo Rodriguez struggled with Guatemalan veteran @Christian Wer, going to a tiebreaker before moving on (11),10,4.
– Mexican @Jaime Martel had a slow start this week, dropping the first game to Guatemalan Geovani Mendoza before moving on in the breaker (11),6,0.
– Mexican veteran @Abraham Pena played a solid game and dispatched Maryland’s @DyDylan Pruitt 10,4 to move into the main draw.

In the 32s, we saw some interesting results and some upsets.
– In the always-competitive #16/#17, we got a barn burner. #16 @SeSebastian Fernandez was pushed to the very edge, advancing over #17 @AlaAAlan Natera in an 11-10 tiebreaker thriller.
– #8 Rocky Carson and #25 @CharCharlie Pratt Racquetball played a predictable match, each trying to out-think the other and stretching each other to a tie-breaker before Carson prevailed 11-5 to move on.
– #22 Erick Trujillo was the beneficiary of an injury to veteran @AlAlvaro Beltran , who lost the first game 15-1 then retired. Trujillo thus earned the magic ticket to face the King in the next round.
– #6 @Kane Waselenchuk started off his return to the tour with a straightforward 2,3 win over Mexican youngster @Elias Nieto . Kane shook off a bit of rust but was not really threatened by his round of 32 match.
– #7 @CoConrrado Mosco was the unlucky top 8 seed to get the dangerous Martell in this tournament; he advanced but it was pretty close 14,11. This is two IRT events in a row for Martell, who as a full time player on tour probably gets into the teens relatively quickly; we’ll see if he sticks to the tour full time in 2022.
– In the always-close #15/#18 slot, @ThThomas Carter got a solid win over Bolivian @Kadim Carrasco 11-8 in the breaker to force a meeting with Landa.

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In the 16s, we started to see some major developments in this tournament, as the challenges and part-timers were mostly vanquished and the veterans started to meet up.

– #1 Daniel de la Rosa was set for his expected stiff challenge from Patata, having faced him in the 16s in the last two events as well. But eight points in, Fernandez retired due to injury. Fernandez had tweaked his back in the round of 32 win, played about 5 minutes into his round of 16 and called it off. An unfortunate development for Sebastian, but DLR moves on with little fanfare.
– In the #8/#9, a battle of two team USA players turned into a close encounter, eventually won by the veteran Carson, who took out #9 Jake Bredenbeck 14,11 to setup a rematch against long-time rival DLR in the quarters.
– #5 Eduardo Portillo ‘s day came to a quick halt; at 1-4 in the first game he was also forced to retire due an unspecified injury against Sebastian Franco . Franco was definitely the underdog to Portillo here, who has been on a run and was a favorite to make the semis in this event. This definitely opens up the top half of the draw for all parties.
-#4 Andree Parrilla frustrated #13 @AAndres Acuña on the court and grinded his way to an 5,12 win Parrilla used an effective Z serve most of the match, which Acuna struggled to attack, often attempting to jump the Z-serve but then jamming himself and making for easy points for the Mexican. Parrilla moves on.
– #14 Rodrigo Montoya got his best win on tour in nearly two years by taking out #3 @Samuel Murray in a tiebreaker (12),9,6. Montoya may have World titles and Pan Am gold medals on his resume, but his pro results have been inconsistent. But this is a great win for the young Mexican, and one of his best ever wins on tour. Murray won this event last year but exits early. Murray eventually forfeited his doubles match later in the evening, with some implying he picked up an unspecified injury in this match that helped him to the door, so its an early exit all around. For the neutrals, we now get a Montoya-Kane match that could have some fireworks.
– Whatever rust there was on Kane’s game in the round of 32 was completely gone by his round of 16, as he obliterated Mexican junior phenom @Erick Trujillo 1,1. Kane’s serving was crisp, as was his shot making. There was the familiar booming sound of his kill shots, and the excellent shotmaking from the back court. Look out; he’s back and he doesn’t seem like he’s lost a step.
– #7 Moscoso advanced past a potentially tricky @Mario Mercado 8,13. Mercado has been playing really great ball lately, with a ton of “upsets” on his resume leading up to his first tier 1 win last November in Arizona. So far, the sometimes mercurial Moscoso has held serve and not taken the surprise loss; he now gets a shot at #2 Landa to move on.
– #2 Landa moved past #15 Carter with relative ease 8,12 to setup what projects to be a challenging quarter final for the Mexican.

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In the Quarters…

– #1 DLR cruised past his long-time rival Rocky 8,8 to move into the semis. This was the 30th time they’ve met professionally, with DLR having taken their last three meetings
– #4 Parrilla held serve against the surprise quarterfinalist Franco 10,11 to quietly move into the semis. Parrilla has two solid wins on his belt and has yet to really be troubled, and now gets a shot at #1 DLR in the semis.
– #6 Waselenchuk played a fireworks-filled match against fellow power-player Rodrigo Montoya , who hung with him for most of the first game and was ahead 9-6 before Kane characteristically “turned it on” and ran away with the game and the match. From 6-9 down Kane scored 24 of the next 28 points to win 15-9, 15-4. Early in game one, Montoya’s serve and power seemed to nettle Kane, who gave up points here and there, but he played himself into more consistent power form by the middle of game one and completely ran away with game two. Montoya could do little to stem the flow of points from Kane, and was in danger of taking a twinkie before netting a few points at the end. For any who think Kane’s lost a step or a tick off his fastball, this match showed he can still out power one of the best power players on tour.
– #2 Landa outclassed #7 Moscoso 9,6 in a match that wasn’t as close as the score suggests. Moscoso spent most of the match taking ill-advised shots and giving away points left and right on lob serves and defensive returns from Landa. He essentially gave up mid-way through game two and just went through the motions to even get it to 15-6. It was a real disappointment, in that I legitimately thought the Bolivian would be “up” for the challenge and the thought of a Kane matchup in the semis.

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– #6 Kane absolutely demolished #2 Landa 1,5 in a match that barely took 30 minutes end to end. Landa had zero answers for Kane early, as he ran out to an 8-0 lead with little effort in game one. I texted a colleague and literally said at that point, “double donut is in play.” Landa’s mobility looked lacking, perhaps another remnant of months-long issues with his back bothering him, combined with Kane’s lethal attacks made for a quick game one. Kane began lob serving at some point, easing off as it became apparent he was going to be able to win this contest without exerting max effort.
– #4 Parrilla came from a game down to shock the #1 player DLR 11-7 in the breaker. The game was played in spurts, as Parrilla ran out to a quick game one lead only to have DLR run off 10 straight points to take it. In game two, Parrilla ran out to an insurmountable 11-2 lead, but DLR pulled way back and for a short moment looked as if he could take the match in two. A couple of arguable points ended game two with some argument, and there was a tense feeling between the players (and with the referee) the rest of the way. The Tiebreaker was excellent, back and forth action up till around 9-7, when a very light hinder claim went uncalled for DLR and he literally stopped playing in the middle of the point. This immature action was more reminiscent of a C player, not the #1 player in the world, and he lost that point and eventually the match 11-7 in the breaker. Thus Parrilla advances to just his fourth career pro final (in 55 career Tier 1 events) and gets the top half’s shot at the King.

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In the Finals, a pretty amazing match. Many thought we’d see a continuation of the steamrolling Kane has done through this draw. But Andree has a history of playing Kane tight and had something to say about the flow of the game. It was neck and neck for the entire first game, and Parrilla had first crack at a game point when he inexplicably held up on a very borderline avoidable claim, which seemed to get into his head and cost him game one 15-14. Instead of letting that call get to him and losing focus mentally, Andree hunkered down and gave Kane a beat-down like he hasn’t seen since the early 2000s, taking game two 15-2.

In the breaker, Kane took control and it looked like game two was just an aberration, jumping ahead 7-3. Parrilla fought back though, and lessened the gap. Parrilla was using a Z-serve with great effect, getting service winners and uncharacteristic weak returns. Meanwhile, Kane’s first serve percentage plummeted in the breaker, and Parrilla made a ton of shots. For me, this was all evidence of a gassed Waselenchuk just trying to get to the finish line. Despite his fatigue, Kane worked his way to match point at 10-7 for, but Parrilla calmly waited out a ball off the back wall and buried the return. From there, Andre never left the box again, serving out the match and scoring 4 straight in a flash to take the title 11-10. One of the best matches we’ve seen on tour in quite a while ended with a possibly transformative result for the tour.

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Points Implications of results

Assuming that the tour continues to expire points on the same cadence as before, this event should replace the two Jan 2020 events in Austin and Sioux Falls in the rolling calendar. Parrilla should thus move from #4 to #2 on tour, as he’s replacing two round of 16 losses in early 2020 with a massive 600-point grand slam win. The rest of the top 10 remains the same, just pushed down one slot (meaning Kane still sits at #6).

Other interesting moves:
– Beltran drops from #11 to #13 and he seemingly gets closer to possible singles retirement.
– Acuna rises from #16 to #14, which continues to put himself in place to face winnable round of 16s.
– Carrasco enters the top 20.
– Trujillo makes a big jump up to #23; he’ll be closing in on a 9-16 protected seed soon.
– Martell makes a big jump up as well with this and last week’s results: I’ve got him projected as #33 now; lets hope he continues to feature on tour.
– Rodrigo Rodriguez jumps from the 50s to the mid 30s.
– Jordy Alonso jumps from the mid 70s to the mid 40s.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/3C740A

In the 16s:
Injuries suffered by players playing singles earlier in the day Friday led to the withdrawing of two top teams and the hampering of two more, gutting the Pro doubles draw of some of its favorites but keeping in tact some stellar matchups. The #2 seeds Murray/Landa and #5 Portillo/Carson withdrew before playing, giving first round wins to Alonso/Rodriguez and @juaJuan Jose Salvatierra and @Javier Martinez respectively. Fernandez, who dropped out of his singles match with an injury, recovered enough to gut out a win with Parrilla in his opener. Beltran, who withdrew from singles after a heavy first round loss, came back to participate in an easy first round win as the #1 seed. The biggest upset went to the #9 team of Acuna/Natera, who took out the Bredenbeck brothers in a tiebreaker.

In the quarters:
– #1 DLR/Beltran held off the upstart Acuna/Natera team in the first, then cruised to a 14,6 win.
– #4 Moscoso and doubles specialist Roland Keller blasted the Guatemalan pair of Salvatierra & Martinez 5,8.
– #3 Montoya and @Javier Mar faced tough opposition from the Bolivian pairing of Mercado & Carrasco, advancing in two closely fought games 11,12.
– #7 Parrilla/Fernandez shook off ailments and took advantage of the #2 seeds withdrawal to advance to the semis over the young Mexicans Alonso & Rodriguez 12,6.

Doubles Semis:
– The reigning Bolivian national champs upset the #1 seeds DLR/Beltran 11-7 in a breaker to move into the final.
– Montoya & Mar cruised past #7 Parrilla/Patata to setup an excellent final.

In the final, we get a fun matchup. This is the sixth time these teams have met since mid 2019; they met at 2019 PARC, the finals of the 2019 Pan Am Games, the 2019 US Open, the 2021 World Doubles in Denver, and most recently in the finals of 2021 Worlds in Guatemala. Ahead of this match, they’re split 3-2 in favor of the Mexicans.

And on the court, we got a treat. The Bolivians evened the recent score of results by taking a two game match 14 and 14. In both games, the Mexican pair got to 14 first and served for the game, but in both cases the Bolivians saved game point against, got back in the box, and served it out. Great showing by both teams.

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Other Draws

In the 25-man Men’s Open Singles, the quarters went essentially chalk (with just small upsets at the 8/9 and 7/10). From there, the semis were nearly chalk as well, with #1 Mercado topping #9 Cuevas, #5 Trujillo upsetting #4 Natera, #3 Martell cruising past #6 @Sam Bredenbeck , and #2 Acuna defeating local Georgian Austin Cunningham
In the semis, it was #1 and #2 prevailing; Mercado took a 14,14 win over the up and coming Trujillo, while Acuna labored to get past the always-tough Martell. In the Open singles final, Mercado grinded his way to an 11-7 breaker win over Acuna.

The men’s Open Doubles also went chalk to the semis, where the reigning world champion team of Montoya/Mar (the #3 seeds in the pro doubles draw) destroyed the #4 seeds Cunningham/Pruitt to make the final. From the bottom side, double specialist @Roland Keller teamed with Carrasco to top the all-American Pratt/@Robbie Collins pairing. Mar/Montoya got a walkover win in the final.

In the 3-team Mixed Open draw, Carrasco teamed with @Kelani Bailey to defeat her fellow team-USA teammate @Hollie Scott (playing with Sebastian Fernandez) 11-8 in their RR group final to take the crown.

In the 6-player Women’s Open, the two LPRT touring players Lawrence and Scott each topped their small RR group to advance to a winner-take-all final. There, Lawrence continued her recent dominance over Scott, winning in two 9,9

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew

Thanks again to the Tourney Directors Rob Lyons and @Chad Bailey for putting this event on! Thanks for all the sponsors as well; without you we have no pro racquetball.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …
https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9S…/

There’s a Tier 5 in Nebraska that is drawing a bunch of top players from the mid-west. The 53rd annual Florida State Singles is being held in Sarasota, always a solid event featuring a bunch of top players. Kane & Sudsy are hosting another iteration of their Experience, this time in Vero Beach, Florida. The next pro event is in mid Feb when Sudsy also serves as a pro tour host, having the LPRT come visit his new home town in Vero Beach.

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The IRT returns to Atlanta for its first big tourney of the new season, and its a Grand Slam thanks to the continued patronage of Donald Williams and his firm @Suivant Consulting .

Its time for the 2022 Suivant Consulting Grand Slam.

In the early days of the sport, Atlanta was a frequent host on the men’s pro tour, hosting a Catalina event in 1980 and then hosting the DP/Leach Nationals in 1983 and 1984. The city returned to hosting in the mid 1990s, being the main host of the VCI named events. But then there was a hosting gap from 1997 to 2015, when pro racquetball returned to the city and has been an continued presence ever since. Recreation ATL is the host club in Lilburn, a north-east suburb of Atlanta proper, host to a very active racquetball community that hosts tournaments all year long.

This year’s tournament, as is now well known to the racquetball community, marks the return of 14-time Pro tour champion Kane Waselenchuk to the court. Kane’s been an infrequent presence on tour ever since Covid shut things down in March 2020; he’s played in just two of the six IRT tier 1 events hosted since, and only played singles in last year’s US Open. Despite not having taken an on the court loss since April 2019 (when he was hampered by a hand injury), he has slid to #6 on tour based on points and faces an interesting gauntlet of matches to get to a prospective final.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=38056

There’s a big draw for this event: 46 pros are entered, making for an excellent and deep tournament. Despite it being a grand slam, we are missing a couple of the more regular IRT touring pros at this event: #12 Carlos Keller Vargas , #14 @Adam Manilla, #15 Eduardo Garay , and #20 @Javier Mar are missing out of the singles draw. Mar is at the event, but only playing doubles (he did the same at the US Open, an interesting trend for a player who I still rate as one of the top players in the world).

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Lets preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that I’m looking forward to. Because this is a grand slam, the main draw starts in the 32s so there’s just one qualifying round on Thursday; the round of 64.

– #32/#33 NY up-and-coming junior @Josh Shea gets an interesting matchup against IRF veteran Guatemalan @Javier Martinez. Martinez has shown himself to be a tough opponent, taking top-20 IRT pros to breakers on tour recently. Shea had a great showing in his first IRT event last November, taking out Canadian team member @Pedro Castro before falling 11-9 to @Sam Bredenbeck . I like Shea to take the next step and make the main draw here.
– #21 @Erick Cuevas versus #44 @Alejandro Bear: two Mexicans facing off; Bear is relatively new to the scene while Cuevas has been a tour regular for some time. Can the newcomer force the issue against Cuevas?
– #28 @Bobby Horn vs #29 @Jordy Alonso: perhaps the best match of the round, you have a former top 10 player in Horn who has stepped back a bit in the past two years versus a player in Alonso who is not a frequent IRT player, but who has a number of big wins on the old WRT and took Keller to an 11-8 breaker loss in his last IRT appearance. I’m looking forward to this match.
– #29 Atlanta native @Austin Cunningham has an interesting match-up against Argentine veteran #36 @Shai Manzuri. I’d expect the younger player to outlast Shai, who has been playing for Argentina at IRF events since 1998, but there’s a reason Manzuri continues to be selected to represent his home country.
– Look for #35 @Rodrigo Rodriguez to upset #30 Guatemalan vet @Christian Wer in the opener; the lefty Rodriguez has splashed onto the scene lately with big wins.
– One more fun matchup for Thursday is #31 @Dylan Pruitt versus #34 @Abraham Pena. Pruitt is a frequent tour player, having just matriculated out of US Juniors, while Pena is a veteran Mexican player of the previous generation, representing Mexico at IRF events in the mid 2000s before the likes of De la Rosa and Beltran started taking all the Team Mexico slots. Pena plays an athletic, powerful game but Pruitt is excellent at playing controlled racquetball on the court, making for a great contrast in styles.

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Projecting the 32s: here’s some possible matchups, though the depth of this draw could make for some upsets and make these predictions moot:

– #16/#17: once again Patata gets stuck into the #16/#17 match. This time, @Sebastian Fernandez takes on @Alan Natera Chavez at this juncture. I like Fernandez here; he topped Natera at the same juncture last November in Arizona.
– #9 @Rocky Carson projects to play his USA teammate and frequent doubles partner @Charlie Pratt in the 32s. Pratt has shown he can take out Rocky in the past, but I sense Rocky is the favorite here.
– #5 @Lalo Portillo projects to play the winner of Horn/Alonso. That should be a great round of 32 irrespective of the 64-winner.
– #3 @Samuel Murray projects to play the lefty Rodriguez in his opener. Rodriguez will score points here; probably not enough to win, but enough to press Big Canada.
– #11 @Alvaro Beltran projects to play his young countrymate @Erick Trujillo in the 32s. Probably not the player Beltran wanted to see; Trujillo already has significant wins over solid IRT players and just finished blowing through world juniors. Upset watch here.
– #26 Jaime Martell faces a stiff challenge, going up against the winner of last November’s Sarasota IRT event in #7 @Conrrado Moscoso. Martell pushed DLR in last week’s Wintergreen and should hang with Moscoso but I sense the Bolivian has too much firepower here.
– #15/#18 @Thomas Carter versus @Kadim Carrasco; these two met at this exact juncture in this event one year ago, a slim 11-8 win for Carter. This match will come down to form; who is sharper? They’re evenly matched and i give Carter the slight edge.

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Round of 16 predictions
– #1 @Daniel De La Rosa is set to face Fernandez for the third straight tournament at this juncture. Look for a close match as Patata uses his athleticism to stay in the game, but for DLR to pull away in two games.
– #9 @Jake Bredenbeck is set to face Carson in another all-USA team matchup. Ironic that three of our team members are all in the same mini-quadrant here. I like Jake here in the mini upset.
– #5 Portillo over #12 @Sebastian Franco, who he’s topped a couple times lately and shouldn’t trouble him too much. Franco is recovered from surgery and didn’t show much in the way of wear last weekend at Wintergreen.
– #4 @Andree Parrilla versus #13 @Andres Acuna. After months of work getting out of the dreaded “16-seed hole,” Acuna looks to build on his win over Landa in the last IRT event and his run to the final of Worlds against Parrilla. These two players are similar in age and have been meeting in World Juniors for years, but their pro experiences against each other are limited. Andree crushed Acuna at this event last year, but Acuna topped Parrilla in Sept 2019 to advance to his first ever pro quarter. Acuna has improved mightily in the last year; upset watch here for me.
– #3 Murray vs #14 @Rodrigo Montoya : a very interesting matchup here; Montoya continues to be an enigma to predict; he has stellar wins but curious losses all throughout his resume. He absolutely has the ability to out-power Murray (he topped Sam in the 2019 Pan Am Games en route to the gold medal), but will he? Will the winner of this match be the one doing the least amount of bracket watching? On paper, the prediction is Murray, but upset watch here.
– #6 Kane Waselenchuk is set to face the winner of Beltran and Trujillo. If its Beltran, it makes for an interesting matchup between the top player in the world and a guy who is not afraid of him at all. Beltran has always shown the ability to hang with Kane with his excellent shot making abilities, but Kane might be a man on a mission this weekend.
– #7 Moscoso takes on #10 @Mario Mercado , a player who will play Conrrado tough. Last time they met it was a two game win for Moscoso, but he was made to work for it. Mercado has been playing great ball lately, got a win over Lalo in Maryland last weekend and really pushed the #1 player in the final, and could surprise Moscoso if he’s not focused.
– #2 Landa should outclass either of Carrasco or Carter advancing to move on.

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Projected Qtrs: There’s a lot of what-ifs in this draw, so take these projections with a grain of salt.

– #1 DLR over #9 Jake: it was 11-10 to DLR the last time they met in Sarasota last fall; it probably will be close again, but DLR wants a matchup with Kane.
– #5 Lalo over #4 Parrilla: another quarters rematch from Sarasota, where Portillo easily handled Parrilla and I predict it happens again.
– #6 Waselenchuk over #3 Murray: Canada on Canada crime; Kane moves on here.
– #7 Moscoso over #2 Landa: I’m not sure Landa is recovered enough from his back ailments from last fall to hang with the younger, more powerful Moscoso here.

Semis:
– #1 DLR over #5 Portillo; yes Lalo beat DLR 11-10 in Sarasota; i don’t think DLR is coasting through this event.
– #6 Kane over #7 Moscoso; well, if you asked me which matchups i’d most like to see on tour, this is a close #2 to the final we’re likely to see. They’ve only met four times, but neutrals were really treated to some fun top level shot making each time. This was the 2019 US Open final, and gave us a scintillating game one between these two players. Lets hope for another barn burner.

Finals; if all goes well, we will see the match everyone wants to see. The current #1 DLR versus the presumed #1 Kane, irrespective of his current ranking. The big questions for this match:
– we’ve watched DLR really mature over the past year, playing lots of controlled, smart racquetball on the court, beating all comers. Can he maintain his poise against the relentless power and pressure of Kane?
– how rusty is Kane? He’s played exactly three pro singles matches since March of 2020. In that time he’s gone from age 38 to 40 and has been contemplating his future in the sport. But, when he comes to a tournament, he comes to win.

Prediction: Kane over DLR 12,10

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Doubles review

The doubles draw looks awesome: #1 DLR/Beltran and their heirs-apparent in Mexico #3 Montoya/Mar are my favorites to advance to the final. however, the top half features two tough teams in #4 Keller/Moscoso and #5 Lalo/Carson that will make for a fun semi. From the bottom half, Fernandez and Parrilla make for an interesting pairing, and of course the #2 seeds Murray/Landa will have something to say about my prediction.

Finals prediction: Montoya/Mar over DLR/Beltran.

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Look for streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for Dean Baer , @Favio Soto, @Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots!

Thanks to the Tourney Directors Chad Bailey and @Rob Lyons for putting this event on!

Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on FB. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but FB stripped it.

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Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

• Singles: Conrrado Moscoso
• Doubles; Rocky Carson & Lalo Portillo

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37424

Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/14339C

In the 128s and 64s, here was some of the notable results for me:

• 18U New Yorker Josh Shea took out Canadian-turned-Chilean Pedro Castro, but then couldn’t overcome #17 Sam Bredenbeck, falling 11-9 in the 64s.
• Floridian Alex zamudio got a solid win over Bolivian Roland Keller in the first round before falling in a tiebreaker to another Bolivian in Kadim Carrasco.
• Little known Bolivian Esteban Reque Zambrana took out two IRT regulars in Juan Pablo Rodriguez Castrillon and Scott McClellan to move into the round of 32.
• Erick Trujillo had flight issues unfortunately, which gave Guatemalan Javier Martinez a walk-over into the 32s.
• Top Florida player @Nolsen Jimenez took out two Guatemalan regulars in Edwin Galicia and Christian Wer to move into the 32s.

– Long-time Costa Rican touring pro Felipe Camacho took out Guatemalan Geovani Mendoza to earn a spot in the 32s.

In the 32s:

• In the always close #16/#17 match, Sebastian Fernandez was stretched to a tiebreaker by the younger Bredenbeck brother before advancing.
• Forced down into the round of 32, #9 Alvaro Beltran played a very tight match over Guatemala’s @Juan Jose Salvatierra, advancing 13,14.
• #12 Sebastian Franco advanced past an improving Erick Cuevas 8,12.
• #14 Eduardo Garay Rodriguez was really pushed to the limit by Carrasco, advancing 11-8 in the breaker.
• #11 Carlos Keller Vargas really had to dig deep to advance past Guatemalan #1 Martinez, splitting the first two games close 14 and 13 before breaking away in the tie-breaker.

– Floridian Jimenez stayed close with last week’s winner Mario Mercado, losing 13,13 to the IRT touring pro

In the 16s:

• #1 Daniel De La Rosa made quick work of #16 Fernandez, as compared to last week.
• #8 Jake Bredenbeck made even quicker work of Beltran, crushing the veteran Mexican 6,3
• #5 Lalo Portillo99 dominated #12 Franco 11,0 to move on.
• #4 Andree Parrilla gave little room for the red-hot Adam Manilla to operate, advancing 11,3.
• #3 Samuel Murray staved off a late game two challenge from Garay to move on 3,14.
• #6 Rocky Carson made quite a statement in his win over Keller, absolutely dominating the vastly improving Keller 1,4 to move on. There might have been an injury issue here, as Keller;s doubles team forfeited later in the evening.
• #7 Conrrado Moscoso reminded the tour of his presence, beating last weekend’s winner Mario Mercado in two very close games to move on.

– The sole upset of the round was one that’s been months in the making, as the oft-seen grudge match between #2 Alex Landa and #15 Andres Acuña finally turned in an upset. After a close game one, a seemingly disinterested Landa fell rather quickly in game two to lose 14,7. There might have been an injury involved; Landa has had a nagging back issue for months, but this party did not see any evidence of it on the court (though later in the evening the Landa/Murray doubles team forfeited due to “injury” so… maybe that was a factor). This is just he second ever quarter final for Acuna, the first being in Sept 2019.

In the Quarters

• #8 Jake certainly made it closer than it was last week in Arizona, mounting a furious comeback in the breaker to have match point on his racquet before losing 11-10 to #1 DLR.
• #5 Portillo got a rare win against his former doubles partner #4 Parrilla, cruising to an 11,6 win.
• #3 Murray cruised past #6 Carson 13,8 to move into the semis.

– #7 Moscoso won an international tinged matchup against Costa Rican #1 Acuna in two to move closer to the finals.

In the Semis

• #5 Portillo topped #1 DLR in an 11-10 thriller to advance to his 2nd ever finals. The two were locked in a tight tiebreaker when DLR jumped to a 10-7 lead, but Lalo got the serve back and then ran out the match. Great comeback and a career win.
• #7 Moscoso took care of business in an 11-8 tiebreaker huge comeback over Murray to make the final.

In the Finals, we got the close match that was expected and hoped for, given two underdogs both fighting for something they rarely have a chance at. The two players played a great , entertaining match; the tiebreaker was awesome, featuring some really great rallies back and forth. Moscoso found a little strategic tweak on his serve towards the end of the breaker and it seemed to make the difference, as he broke away for an 11-9 tiebreaker win and the title. Portillo is thwarted in his attempt to get his first career win, while Moscoso adds title #2 to his resume.

Points Implications of results; i’m not entirely sure how the points are being calculated right now. But at some point the tour will have to expire points from the fall of 2019, and when they do Daniel is going to have a monstrous lead in the rankings. He has definitely sewn up the year end title, and when that becomes official nearer to Dec 31st we’ll be covering it of course.

Doubles review
Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/36DE6B
There were no real surprises in the 16s, as seeds held. The real fun started in the quarter finals, where all four top seeds fell.

• #8 Parrilla/Fernandez, a newer pairing after Parrilla had played most of the last two seasons with Portilo, took out #1 DLR/Beltran 14,8. After a close game one, game two was not nearly as close as the score indicated.
• In a projected rematch of the Bolivian national doubles final, the reigning champs Keller/Carrasco forfeited with injury to the dangerous and multi-international champion Moscoso/Keller pairing. We’re not sure which party was injured, but wonder if it was a factor in Keller’s blowout pro singles loss.
• #6 Carson/Portillo just crushed team Zurek Construction, LLC Franco/Garay 7,3. Carson played the forehand side (a rarity for him in indoor, though he’s well accustomed to playing forehand in doubles due to his decades of outdoor experience), and Lalo is becoming a formidable doubles team.
• #7 Mercado/Manilla, two excellent doubles players and a great lefty/righty pairing, got a walkover against Landa/Murray.
  In the wide open Semis:
• Moscoso/Keller saved match point against in game two and then took the breaker.
• Carson and Portillo also saved match point against, winning an 11-10 breaker.

In the final, Carson reminded everyone why he’s a top doubles player and led his team to a dominant 12,3 win for the title.

Men’s Open, other draws

It was the top 4 seeds into the semis in Men’s Open. There, Acuna topped Cuevas, while Sam Bredenbeck got a solid win over Camacho to make the final. There, Acuna took out Bredenbeck for the title. Acuna is a frequent Men’s open finalist/champion in the last few IRT events.

Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew
Thanks to the Tourney Directors X and X for putting this event on!

Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on FB. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but FB stripped it.

Next up?
Per our handy master racquetball calendar …
https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

Worlds! Is happening in Guatemala in two weekends. It will be great to have the international community back in action. We’ll take a break for Thanksgiving weekend, then kick into gear for both World Adults and World Juniors in Guatemala City.

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