Category: LPRT

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2025 Golden State Open Recap

Vargas takes back over #1 on tour with her win in Golden State Open. Photo via usaracquetballevents.com

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Pro Singles: Conrrado Moscoso

– Women’s Pro Singles: Maria Jose Vargas

– Mixed Pro Doubles: Conrrado Moscoso & Gaby Martinez

Moscoso wins his 10th career singles title (he’s now 14th all time) and his third straight major Mixed Pro Doubles title (to go along with the 2023 and 2025 World Singles & Doubles titles). Vargas wins her 13th career title, tied for 10th ever, and takes over World #1.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=48678

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Men’s Pro Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/42ed4b

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In the 32s:

– @Robbie Collins dropped the first game to @Wayne Antone 15-1, then came back to win 15-10 and 11-0 thereout.

– @DJ Mendoza grabbed the first game against Bolivian vet Carrasco, but couldn’t finish it out, losing in three.

– Bolivian junior debutant Santiago Borja certainly made #2 Javier Mar work for it, losing into 14 & 11. Great showing.

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In the 16s:

– Martell made fast work of Carter 7,3 in the 8/9 seed matchup

– Parrilla came back from a blowout game 1 loss to edge Diego Garcia in three 11-9. This was an upset special for me, but Parrilla held him off.

– Carrasco earned his first career pro IRT tier1 quarterfinal with a walkover injury against Natera. Alan had major knee surgery earlier this year and struggled a bit in his round of 32 match against a junior, and had to step out of this match.

– Alonso squeaked past Gastelum 6,14.

– Moscoso crushed Bolivian native turned Argentine Miranda 0,2.

– Lastly, the big result of the round: #2 Mar, who we already had circled as a potential upset in this match, had to retire after losing the first game to Bolivian phenom Flores.

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In the Quarters, all four matches go breaker:

– Montoya was stretched to three against countryman Martell but advanced.

– Parrilla held off Manilla 11-9 in the third to move into the semis.

– Alonso was pressed by Carrasco, but moved on in a very close 13,(13),8 result.

– Moscoso was pressed all night by Flores, but found an extra gear in the breaker to win 14,(10),6.

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In the Semis, the two top players in the draw (Montoya and Moscoso) cruised into the finals with little trouble; Montoya frustrated his long-time rival Parrilla 8,2 and Moscoso blasted Alonso 4,0 to setup the dream final.

In the Finals, we had two players who seem like they’re a lot closer than they historically have been: Moscoso led the h2h for their careers 9-5, but had won the last 5 meetings to put some separation between them from a period a few years ago where Montoya really seemed to have his number. Rodrigo did his best here to reverse the trend, taking game one 15-13, but Moscoso took over from there, winning games two and three by 15-7, 11-5 margins that weren’t ever really in doubt.

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Points Implications of Men’s Pro results

Moscoso’s win should move him up to #5, which once again in a full draw would put him on a collision course with Kane prior to a final. Montoya moves up one spot and now sits #3, though there’s little separating #2 to #6 (270 total points). Any missed event and a big run from any of the #2 to #6 guys will put them right behind Kane, who despite missing this event still maintains a massive lead atop the rankings.

In other movement: Natera’s injury loss costs him; he drops from 6 to 9. Flores now sits 16th in the rankings, meaning he’s creeping closer to more manageable round of 16s with each passing event; he was the #15 seed as the #19th ranked player this past weekend, moving up 4 spots due to missing players, and that should just continue. Trujillo, a mainstay on tour for the last couple of years, has missed his 3rd straight Tier 1 and may be quietly stepping back from touring for now.

Here’s a link to my IRT Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which @Ryan Rodgers does with @R2 Sports App on behalf of the tour after each event, to allow some quick post-event analysis before the rankings post.

men

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z6eg6NJT6fjGMfRRyKTNLShAiDoz0TzzmQCt1_SbNBo/edit?usp=sharing

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Women’s Pro Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/300dd0

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In the 32s:

– MRR got a solid win over Mexican junior Gutierrez 13,11 in kind of a trap match.

– Rajsich won her most recent return to LPRT, 6,3 over the elder Perez-Picon sisters.

– Andrea Perez-Picon, the reigning 16U Mexican Jr Champ who has also won US Jr National titles in the past out of the 209 Stockton Jr. factory, got a win over fellow Norcal player Erica Williams to advance.

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In the 16s:

– Centellas got a solid win over Parrilla in the 8/9 matchup, a good sign for the Argentine as she gets back into regular touring.

– Mendez was pressed by MRR before winning in three

– Gaby dominated US National Sanchez 4,2

– Mejia took out former 4-time pro champ Rajsich in two

– Laime was stretched before topping Munoz in three

– Lotts got a career win, topping Amaya in three, earning her 4th career quarter final appearance.

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In the Quarters, all four matches go chalk.

– #1 Longoria was pushed by Centellas 9,10

– #4 Gaby Martinez cruised past Mendez 7,11

– #3 Mejia had a match, going toe to toe with fellow power hitter Laime before advancing 11-8 in the third

– #2 Vargas moved past upset-minded Lotts 6,10

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In the Semis, Longoria was pressed to a breaker by Gaby as she often is, but she persevered after some acrobatic rallies to move into the final. Meanwhile, Vargas-Mejia turned into a smooth win for the Argentine, who is dialed in this weekend and advances 7,9.

In the Finals, Vargas just controlled the match from start to finish, Longoria just couldn’t seem to hit her serves or her lines, and Maria Jose won 8,8 to take her third straight title on tour. As @Steve Castleberry pointed out to me, It has been nearly to the beginning of Longoria’s touring career since she failed to win a tournament one out of four in a row … Vargas has now won the last three events, matching her career best stretch that powered her to her first pro title at the end of 2023.

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Points Implications of Women’s Pro results

The Points are tight at the top, and I may have my XLS calcs wrong, but I believe with this win Vargas takes back over #1 on tour by around 20 points. My sources tell me Longoria may miss the next event due to conflicts with her new career in politics, which could spell trouble for her title defense. Other movements: despite Herrera’s absence she will jump Laime for #6. There should be a wholesale shuffling of the ladies ranked 14th to 18th with Lott’s big win, MRR’s strong return, and York/Synhorst’s absence this weekend.

Here’s a link to my running 2-year+ Women’s ranking worksheet.

women

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16o0aE4YophvlQdezlMVj_dqPRUoDQqwE5-LtsLbOncg/edit?usp=sharing

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Mixed Pro Doubles review

Natera’s injury suffered during singles resulted in his wife picking up a last minute sub … and she managed to “find” a suitable replacement in the legendary Alvaro Beltran. Alvi’s inclusion caused a last minute shuffling of the whole mixed draft and actually improved the draw, removing one blatantly too-early matchup and getting neutrals a better draw. Here’s a quick rundown of how the action went:

In the 16s:

– the Parrillas were pushed to an 11-10 limit by Guatemalans MRR and Galicia, a testament to how “back” Maria Renee seems to be based on her results this weekend.

– Last minute sub Beltran got to a breaker, but fell alongside Munoz to the Argentines MIranda and Mendez

– The Manillas, kind of inexplicably seeded 10th despite winning US Nationals Mixed two years ago, “uspet” the #7 seeds Carter & Lotts.

In the quarters:

– Mejia & Mar held off the tough young Flores/Centellas pairing.

– The Parrilla siblings took out the #4 seeds Miranda & Mendez

– Moscoso &Martinez had a great win over Vargas & Garcia in the match of the round.

– The Manilla siblings, seeded 10th, continue to upset and prove the seeding committee wrong with a solid 15,7 win over #2 Montoya/Laime.

Semis: the two favorites advanced, with Mar/Mejia dominating the Parrillas and Moscoso/Martinez crushing the Manillas.

In the final, Moscoso won his 3rd straight major Mixed Pro doubles title with a come-from-behind win over Mar & Mejia (14),10,2.

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Open Singles, Open Doubles, other notable draws

– Texan USA Junior National DJ Mendoza won a stacked Men’s Open singles draw, beating the surprise finalist Alvaro Guillen from Costa Rica

– Mexican former Jr star Ivanna Balderrama won a solid international junior laden Women’s Open/Elite draw, beating fellow Mexican Michelle Gomez in the final.

– Flores & Guillen took the big Men’s Open Doubles draw, getting a walk-over in the final but more than earning their title.

– Guatemalans MRR and Reyes won the small RR Women’s Open Doubles draw.

– Guatemalans continued to shine, taking the Mixed Open doubles draw as Mansilla/Sipac beat Mexicans Martin & Gutierrez in the final.

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Thanks for all the streaming, thanks for the Tourney directors, and the sponsors.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing

The 10th annual Asia Open Racquetball competition is next weekend in Seoul. After that, there’s an IRT Satellite just announced in the Chicagoland area. November features more IRT events plus a possible IRT/LPRT collab in Denver.

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@International Racquetball Tour

LPRT

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2025 Golden State Open Preview

Rhonda Rajsich with a rare pro appearance. Photo 202 USAR Doubles by Kevin Savory

One of the year’s biggest events is this coming weekend; the 2025 Golden State Open, the brainchild of two former touring pros in @David ” Bobby” Horn and @Adam Manilla, hosted by two of Stockton’s legends @John Ellis and Steve Cook. Both pro tours are onsite at the Bay Club Pleasanton in the East Bay portion of the San Francisco bay area, which means a huge prize purse fundraising effort was done and we get Mixed Pro Doubles for the second time in as many months.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=48678

There’s 38 men’s pros and 21 Women’s pros on hand, with fireworks and unexpected results anticipated. By the time you read this play has already started, with the round of 64 on the mens side getting a rare Wednesday evening start.

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Let’s preview the Draws. We’ll do the two singles draws and then the Mixed Pro draw. They’re hosting Open doubles draws for both genders, but the top pros are not entered.

Men first: as we covered in our IRTclub Fantasy Fastbreak podcast with @BBrian Pineda (see here for the link if interested: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1590097114629503/?multi_permalinks=3794248374214355&hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen ), we are missing the top three ranked players out of this draw and four of the top 10. Kane and Jake both have weddings (separate weddings we believe), Andres had a family commitment, and Lalo is elsewhere along with his girlfriend Herrera.

This leaves Rodrigo Montoya to get a #1 seed, a career high. In fact, most of the top 8 at this event are at career high seedings: Mar at #2, Natera at #3, Alonso at #6, and Carter at #8 are all career-best seeds, and the mashed up top 8 is going to give us some new and unexpected head-to-heads here.

More importantly, the absence of Kane in particular historically has been a big indicator that we may get a first time winner.

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In the round of 64 and 32, here’s a few matches to watch for:

– Mauro Rojas vs Emir Martinez: Rojas a former US Junior National champ, and Emir a former top Junior from Mexico. Tough opener, and as it turns out it went three before Rojas fell.

– There’s a few unknown Bolivians who made the trip and who could make waves: Arnez & Borja in particular. Santiago Borja is the two-time defending World 14U junior champion. Both won their openers to face off against top ranked pros in the 32s.

– Sendrey vs Wolfe in the 32s is a solid test for the teenager to see if he can take out a semi-regular IRT touring player.

– Mexican Junior Santiago Castillo, who owns a slew of Mexican Jr National titles including the 2024 16U title, faces off against IRT veteran @Thomas Carter in a match he can’t look past.

– Carrasco-Mendoza in the 14-19 matchup could be close: how much is Mendoza improving versus how quickly is the aging Carrasco’s skills fading?

– If Borja wins his first, he plays into #2 Mar. A good pro debut for the 15yr old.

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Round of 16:

– Martell-Carter in the 8/9 is an interesting matchup; they’ve never met in a top-level event.

– We’re projecting two lefties who both play out of the Bay Area a lot in Collins and Manilla into the 16s.

– Tough draw once again for Parrilla: last week Moscoso played into him early, this week is Garcia, who’s demonstrated his ability to beat nearly anyone on tour.

– Gastelum-Alonso could be close: they met at 2024 Mexican Nationals and Alonso prevailed in three, but Gastelum has come a long way. This is Pineda’s big upset pick.

– the dangerous Miranda meets Moscoso in the 7-10 matchup; this is too bad for Miranda, who has been eyeing a deep run.

– #2 Mar faces off against #15 Flores in a huge trouble area for the Mexican. If Flores plays up to his capabilities, this might be a huge upset.

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Projected Qtrs:

– Montoya over the Carter/Martel winner: Montoya will be favored no matter who comes out here, and has to like his draw this weekend in general. No crazy bolivian junior world champs, no Moscoso seeded 16th, etc.

– Manilla-Garcia: Manilla made a massive run here last year as the host; can he do it again?

– Natera v Alonso: both players are probably looking at each other going, “hey i should win this” and get back to the semis. Could be close

– Moscoso will be favored over whoever comes out of that bottom half, whether its a huge shock like Borja, an upset-minded Flores, or Mar holding serve against two top Bolivian juniors he’s set to face early.

Semis:

– Montoya over Manilla/Garcia winner: Montoya’s only obstacle to the final this week is injury.

– Moscoso over Natera/Alonso winner: this could be over fast.

Finals; I’m calling a Moscoso-Montoya final, with Conrrado taking the title.

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Women’s Pro Singles preview:

Like with the Men’s draw, the ladies draw is missing a few key players. Herrera is out, as is Lawrence and Salas (surgery). So that’s three top 10 ladies missing. What we do have in this draw is a bunch of top Junior Mexicans who we rarely see, including the Perez-Picon sisters. Plus, we get a rare sighting of Rhonda Rajsich, which is awesome to see the future Hall of Famer.

Preview of the draw:

round of 32s to watch for:

– top Mexican U21 player Cynthia Gutierrez makes her LPRT debut and faces Maria Renee Rodriguez-Josey in a tough one for the veteran

– Andrea Perez PIcon, the reigning Mexican 16U champ and finalist at World Juniors last December, faces Norcal’s ERica Williams. Andrea’s older sister Estefania feeds into the Legend Rajsich.

Projected 16s of note:

– The 8/9 between Centellas and Parrilla will be awesome.

– #4 Gaby Martinez projects to play rising USA player Annie Sanchez, who’s played some top players close lately.

– Mejia could face Rhonda in a generational battle of top players

– Munoz-Laime is probably the match of the round.

– Amaya-Lotts will be a battle.

Qtrs on: From here, I see the top four ladies advancing as they typically do: there’s such a gap between Longoria/Mejia/Vargas/Gaby to the rest of the tour right now, it’s hard to predict any upsets. I see Longoria topping Mejia in the final.

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Mixed Pro Doubles

I love Mixed pro doubles: we just have no idea who’s going to win some of these early matches. Normally I look at the two women’s players and try to use that as a determining factor (thinking that the weakest link on the court will get the most shots and will play the biggest part in the match result), but that doesn’t always tell the whole story, and the doubles acumen of the players involved needs to be given more weight. With Salas missing (one of the best mixed doubles players ever) and Longoria skipping out, there’s some new teams and tough matchups.

Here’s some matches to look for and some guesses how this draw will go:

In the 16s, easily the match of the round is the Manilla siblings versus the Argentine mixed national team of Garcia/Vargas: how this is an opening round match is beyond me.

In the quarters:

– Mar/Mejia should advance

– I like Natera/Munoz over the Parrilla sisters

– Moscoso/Martinez should beat whoever comes out of the above 6/11 match, but once again this is the toughest part of the bracket.

– Montoya/Laime is an amazing team and should top Miranda/Mendez.

Semis:

– Mar/Mejia should beat Natera/Munoz … but when these two teams met in the 2023 World Doubles competition it was an 8,9 win for the Chileans. So who knows. I think Munoz is a better doubles player than her counterpart, but Mejia is the harder hitter. Mar-Natera is probably a wash on the left, but Mar is a superior doubles player when he plays with Montoya on the right.

– Moscoso/Gaby over Montoya/Laime, but I have no confidence here. Montoya won the 2025 World Doubles mixed title with Paola in both 2023 and 2025, and Gaby should hold her own as a solid doubles player on the right. But, Laime is no doubles slouch and they could surprise here. Great match.

In the final, i’ll go with the winner of the bottom semi, who i’m thinking is going to be Moscoso/Gaby.

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IRT Club Fantasy: If you’re in the IRT Club, sign up to play Fantasy Racquetball along with myself, Brian Pineda, and other club members. Also, be sure to tune into our Fantasy Fast Break podcast, which we do before and after every IRT Tier 1 event!

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International Racquetball Tour

LPRT

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2025 World Singles and Doubles Recap

Andres Acuna wins his first tier 1 IRT title. Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Pro Singles: @Andres Acuna

– Women’s Pro Singles: Maria Jose Vargas

– Mixed Pro Doubles: Conrrado Moscoso & Paola Longoria

Acuna becomes the 46th man in the history of the pro tours (dating to Sept 1973) to win a Tier 1 title. Vargas wins her 13th career title and is now in the top 10 all time on the ladies tour. Lastly, Moscoso/Longoria repeat as winners of this event, topping the #15 seeds Carson & Key in an amazing run to the final.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=42889

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Men’s Singles draw.

Men’s Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/7a1248

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In the 64s:

– US Junior national team member @DJ Mendoza took a barn burner over DC-area Open player turned Florida Man @Dylan Pruitt, surviving 11-10 to move on. Tough matchup for both, and predictably it went the distance.

– European #1 German @Marcel Leunsmann made his IRT pro debut and pushed the solid @MIguel Angel Arteaga in game one 15-14 before running out of gas 14,4.

– We had a weird situation where a score in R2 was entered then changed; initially Camacho was listed as a winner over Carrasco by the very odd scoreline (0),0,0, indicating a triple donut. Turns out the real scoreline was a 6,(13),10 edge of your seat win for the Bolivian.

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In the 32s:

– Moscoso got a walkover/withdrawal from Carlos Ramirez to setup the anticipated round of 16 against Moscoso

– @Sam Bredenbeck got a really solid win over #12 @Jaime Martell Racquetball , 12,7. This is probably his career best win, certainly by seed of the opponent, but also by talent of the opponent.

– Bolivian 18U champ Flores crushed his fellow rising Junior Gastelum 6,9 to put himself into the 16s.

– Bolivian Vet Carrasco upset @Thomas Carter 13,6. This is a step back for Carter, the kind of matches he’s generally been winning lately has he’s climbed up the rankings.

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In the 16s, we get some big surprises and of course a heavyweight matchup

– In the 1/16, we get basically the two best players in the sport playing thanks to Moscoso’s injuries costing him a ton of ranking points. The two played their typical match; lots of power, great shot making, and a series of streaks that defined each game. Kane jumped out well ahead in game 1, Moscoso fought back briefly, then Kane powered into Game 2. There it was the reverse; Moscoso jumped ahead, Kane fought back, and then it was Kane fighting off game points at the end and taking the gam 15-14 to save a tie-breaker. It was good to see Moscoso not capitulate in game two after a heavy game 1 loss; he’s just 10-26 lifetime on tour when he loses the first game. Hopefully we don’t see another 1-16 like this at the next event.

– @Adam Manilla returned from injury and ground out a great 11-10 win over #8 @alan Natera to move on. Solid win by Adam, who is looking to get back into his lofty 4-5 range.

– @Jake Bredenbeck tamed the young Bolivian phenom @Jhonathan Flores 7,9 against this prognosticator’s predictions both here and on the IRT club podcast. Jake played well and just controlled the youngster.

– Miranda got a walkover against #3 Parrilla, whose back tightened up on him suddenly and wouldn’t release in time to play.

– Montoya was pressed to a breaker by Bolivian Carrasco before advancing, but the effort caused him to roll an ankle, which knocked him out of the next round.

– Mar destroyed Alonso 8,0 in a big time reversal of latest trends.

– In another top round matchup, #2 Acuna stepped up and took out the tough Argentine @dieDiego Garcia 5,6. A two-time international finalist this year, Garcia was thought to be a dark-horse for the semis, but Acuna had other plans.

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In the Quarters

– Kane destroyed Adam 0,2 in a lefty on lefty crime.

– Portillo outlasted Jake in a breaker to get back to the semis once again.

– Miranda gets his second straight walkover, this time over Montoya, to get to the semis without playing for two days.

– Acuna played amazingly well to outclass Mar 9,5. All props here; these were two straight great wins for the costa Rican.

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In the Semis

– Kane took out Lalo 7,12 to get to anther final.

– Acuna looked like he might get upset, as Miranda controlled game one, but he flipped the script to get to the final (7),13,3.

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In the Finals, what looked like a mismatch quickly turned into a battle. Kane from the onset didn’t look as if he was moving at 100%, but still made shots. Acuna’s drive serves were working to the left and to the right and kept in points. The two were neck and neck to 14-14, which is where Kane usually finds some magic to pull wins out of losses … but the pair went back and forth at game point several times before Acuna pulled it out.

This effort seemed to deflate Kane, who got down early fast in game two and started mailing it in. I didn’t see a postgame comment about what might have been the issue, but by match point against Kane wasn’t even trying. I did not see any post match intel on what may have been ailing him, but i’ll make two main points here.

1. Kane is 43. He’s not going to be 100% physically for every match anymore. So a big part of his title pursuit will be mitigating injury and staying healthy long enough on these tough weekends to get to the semis and finals regularly. Now, as we saw in this match, even at 43 he’s still the best player out there, he’s still in a position to crush drive serves on muscle memory and get a lot of free points on 3-shot rallies where his serve is flailed back for a setup. However, on those days where he has to play both a 16 and a quarter, he’s vulnerable. By Sunday, having played hard for three straight days, sometimes you’ll see him stiffen up, tweak something, etc. That’s just part of the story now.

2. I’m not taking anything away from Acuna here. You can talk all you want about how Kane wasn’t 100%, but that ignores how well Acuna has played Kane lately, and it ignores how good Acuna has been playing lately. He didn’t get to #2 in the world by luck, and the last few times he’s played Kane its been closer and closer. Kane beat him 12,14 earlier this year in Minnesota. The time before that it was 10,7 in Spokane. Andres took a game off Kane last year in Sioux Falls. Back in March 2022 Kane was crushing him 3,3 … no longer; now its a battle every time. So all props to Acuna here. I thought he would lose in the 16s and he won the event.

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With this win, Acuna becomes the 46th ever player to win a Tier 1 title. He joins an interesting looking group of 1-title holders on tour that includes a few current players (Portillo, Montoya) a few recently retired players (Mercado, Franco, Pratt), some 90s pros (Guidry, Sweeney, Croft), and some historical guys (Hawkes, Wagner).

see https://rball.pro/q60 for a list of all title holders historically.

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Men’s Points Implication of the results

Kane maintains a massive lead atop the rankings, but with a pivot to fall-to-spring scoring there’s a lot of time to catch up. Portillo moves to #3 with the result, probably a fitting ranking given his performance this season so far. Mar moves up to #7, which is a career high. Miranda will move up to #13 on tour, amazing given that he had barely played any events prior to 2025. Moscoso remains at #17, which runs the risk of another Kane-Conrrado round of 16 unless we have a couple guys miss the next event (which is of course possible, since many are facing long flights from South America). Flores up to #18.

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Women’s Singles draw.

Women’s Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/86790d

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In the 32s:

– A meeting between two top Americans turned into a disappointing injury fft, as @michelle key had to withdraw from her first round singles match against reigning US national champ Naomi Ros with injury. Key had just advanced two rounds in Mixed, so hopefully she’s sacrificing one draw for another.

– The legend @Rhonda Rajsich, who had played just two pro events since retiring in June 2022, got a come from behind win over tour regular @Stephanie Synhorst.

– Canadian #2 @Juliette Parent got a nice win over LPRT tour veteran @Maria Renee Rodriguez in three.

– In a showdown between the top U21 players in the world and one of her leading rivals who just matriculated out of Juniors, Bolivian @Camila Rivero topped @Annie Sanchez in two.

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In the 16s:

– Props to Naomi Ros for pushing Longoria to a tie-breaker. Every time Ros takes the court against a top player, she learns valuable take-aways that make her a better player.

– Salas advanced by 11-10 over Centellas, a battle of generational talents.

– @Carla Munoz got one of the better wins of her career with a TB win over #4 Herrera. She missed two events at the end of last season, which sent her ranking plummeting, but wins like this will get her back in no time.

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In the Quarters

– It was mostly chalk, as 1,2,3 top seeds advanced. With Herrera out, #5 Mendez took advantage and Munoz couldn’t beat them both in a row.

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In the Semis

– Mendez shocked Longoria in game 2, winning 15-2 but fell to give Paola another final.

– Vargas and Mejia renewed their rivalry, playing a very close 13,12 match to send Vargas to the final and setup 1v2.

In the Finals, Longoria and Vargas had their typical back and forth battle in the first two games, splitting them to go to yet another tiebreaker in their recent head to head rivalry. There, something happened that has literally never happened to Paola before: she took a donut in a pro match. Vargas topped her 11-0 in the breaker to take the title, giving Paola her first career donut. Not only that, but Longoria had only ever even been held to 1 point in a game four times , all of them before 2010. It’s just a crazy stat.

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Points Implications of results for the Ladies

Vargas makes a big jump up in the standings but still remains #2. She had a bad Denver 2024 event expire (she lost in the qtrs last year) but won, so she is now within 100 points of Paola for the lead. Gaby’s absence once again crushes her in the rankings; she’s now 600 points behind 3rd place. Herrera will drop to #6 with the upset loss. Parrilla will drop to #11 with the absence. Munoz remains #15, while Ros moves into the top 20 for the first time.

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Here’s a link to my Rolling 2year Calendar XLS for both tours, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which @Ryan Rodgers does with @R2 Sports App on behalf of the tour after each event, to allow some quick post-event analysis before the rankings post.

Note: with the new IRT ownership, the points have changed for IRT events for previous 2025 results and going forward. Here’s a quick overview of the points changes:

– 1st place: 420 (was 400)

– finalist: 280 (was 300): this clearly gives more credit for winning an event now

– semis; 210 (was 220); down a little

– qtrs: 140 (was 150): down a little

– 16s: 70 (was 90): so just making the 16s isn’t as big as it once was

– 32s: 35 (was 40): little change.

men

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z6eg6NJT6fjGMfRRyKTNLShAiDoz0TzzmQCt1_SbNBo/edit?usp=sharing

women

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16o0aE4YophvlQdezlMVj_dqPRUoDQqwE5-LtsLbOncg/edit?usp=sharing

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Mixed Pro Doubles review

As predicted in my preview, both in print and on the IRT Fantasy podcast, you could throw the seedings out of the window in the Mixed draw, as the first round gave us a slew of “upsets.”

By the time the round of 16 was over, we’d seen the #2, #5, and #8 seeds vanquished. The most impressive early run was by #15 Carson & Key, who won their opener against Texas juniors Mendoza & Ros, then ousted the defending Mixed Pro finalists Natera & Munoz rather easily to move on. The Manilla siblings, both of whom who have struggled with injury over the last year, shook off some early rust to blast the #5 seeds Parrilla & Mendez to move into the quarters.

In the Mixed qtrs, the top 3 seeds advanced, while Carson & Key kept their I-formation show going and took out 2018 Mixed pro champs Montoya & Salas in a breaker.

In the semis: Longoria/Moscoso advanced over Mar/Mejia in an amazing match, one point shy of the perfect match 14,(14),9. Carson & Key kept the show going with a similarly brutal tiebreaker win over the Herrera/Portillo pair to setup a #1 vs #15 unlikely final.

In the final: Key & Carson took game one, but the top seeds pulled the match out in a 3rd successive tiebreaker to win the title and defend their 2023 win.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Arteaga beat Cole Sendrey in the Open final.

– The all Junior team of Mendez & Flores won the Open Doubles over Team Guatemala (Caceres & Salvatierra)

– Annie Sanchez beat Guatemalan Reyes in the Women’s Open final.

– Sheryl Lotts & Lexi York took the “Pro/Open” doubles title, which had a slew of solid teams.

– Jaime Martell & Chanis Leon took the Mixed Open Doubles draw.

There were a slew of really solid Age group competitions too, with lots of Nationally recognized names present. Bravo to all the people who traveled to this event to play and support it. We may never get another one like it.

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Fantasy Racquetball Competition Wrap-up

The first round of the IRT club Fantasy brackets kicked off, and there’s a 10-way tie for first at the moment. I’m in 12th place, 1 point behind the main crew.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from both pro teams.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing

Next up is National Racquetball day and a slew of shootouts and events around the country. This includes an IRT satellite event in the DMV hosted by Sebastian Franco in Severna Park that’s catching a lot of the South Americans on their way out of town. The next big pro event is the Tracktown Open in Eugene Oregon at the end of the month.

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tags

@iInternational Racquetball Tour

@LPRT

Posted on

2025 World Singles and Doubles Preview

Can Jhonathan Flores make another run? Photo via IRT IG

Welcome to the fourth edition of Tournament Director Jim Hiser’s World Singles and Doubles tournament in Denver, the biggest pro event we currently have on the Racquetball calendar. Hiser, the former pro tour commissioner and long-time Executive Director of USA Racquetball , devised this event back in 2018 as a doubles-only showcase featuring (for what was believed to be the first time) a Pro Mixed Doubles draw.

Starting in 2021 (after skipping the Covid year), Hiser added in full pro singles draws for both the International Racquetball Tour and the LPRT but keeping the prize money for the Pro Mixed, making this a unique showcase of Mixed doubles talent. Nowhere outside of @International Racquetball Federation – IRF are there really top-level pro mixed draws, and IRF events don’t have nearly the depth that we get on tour thanks to one mixed team per country.

The Pro mixed winners in the past have been:

– 2018: Daniel De La Rosa/Michelle De La Rosa (now Key)

– 2021: Rodrigo Montoya/Samantha Salas

– 2023: Conrrado Moscoso/Paola Longoria

These are perfectly expected winners; what’s been fun has been some of the crazy teams that made the finals. In 2018, the all-Colombian team of Mario Mercado and Adriana Riveros made the final, two pros who don’t even tour anymore. In 2021, it was Sebastian Fernandez and Alexandra Herrera, who topped the DLRs in the quarters before falling in the final. In 2023, the (now) Husband and Wife team of Natera and Munoz shocked King Kane and Michelle Key in the round of 16, then raced to the final before falling. These surprise results are what make Mixed Pro so much fun; the matchups on paper just don’t seem to follow what happens on the court.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=42889

We’ll give abbreviated previews to all three draws (IRT, LPRT, and Mixed) here.

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IRT:

There’s 43 players here, with most of the top 20 on hand. Thanks to injuries last year, @Conrrado Moscoso is seeded 17th and unfortunately plays into #1 @Kane Waselenchuk in the round of 16. A tough pill to swallow; this should have been a semi or final. One good player will be going home super early.

There’s a couple of intriguing round of 64 matches between mostly local players, but the projected 32s could have some shocks. Look for former touring pro and @Formulaflow CEO @Mauricio Zelada to give #9 @Adam Manilla fits if the lefty veteran not fully healthy. Martell-Bredenbeck is a fun one. However the two biggest matches of the round will be Miranda-Sendrey and Flores-Gastelum, matchups of U21 types who are vying to be the future of the Men’s pro sport.

I see some possible big upsets in the 16s: Argentina’s @Diego Garcia has made the finals of the last two international major events and could easily beat #2 @Andres Acuna. The Flores/Gastelum winner may catch #4 @Jake Bredenbeck by surprise if he’s not careful. Lastly Mar-Alonso is a bruiser of a 7-10 matchup that could go either way.

My upset-heavy semis: Kane, Flores, Montoya, and Garcia, with a high-powered Kane-Montoya final.

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LPRT

The Ladies draw is missing its #4 player Gaby, and a couple other regulars in the top 16 or so, which may give us some new matchups. 4-time pro tour champ @Rhonda Rajsich is in Denver and may go a round or two, depending on how much she’s been playing.

In the 16s, look for a fun 8/9 matchup between @valeria Centellas and @Samantha Salas Solis , Amaya-Lotts could be a barn-burner, but the big mis-match is the underseeded @Carla Munoz, who missed a couple of events and is now seeded way down in the mid-teens, having to play @Alexandra Herrera way too early.

My semis are the 4 favorites: Longoria, Herrera, Mejia, and Vargas. My final is a rematch of the World Games final between Longoria and Vargas, with the #1 seed taking it.

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Mixed Doubles Preview

The two top seeds are last year’s finalists, but I’m not sure who is confident that either team will return to the final. This is an absolutely stacked draw. The former USA and reigning 2023 Pan Am Games champions (Adam & Erika Manilla) are the #12 seed. Montoya and Solis, who won this event in 2021, are the #7 seeds. The #2 ladies pro, who just made the World Games Mixed final, is the #9 seed. Two of the greatest doubles players in the history of the sport (Carson and Key) are the #15 seeds. So, suffice it to say, anything can happen here.

I favor Moscoso and Longoria to repeat, if only because they’re the top skilled players in the draw playing together. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them upset in the quarters. Meanwhile, Mar & Mejia are both basically the best doubles players by gender in the world and they’re together, and have a relatively straight forward path into at least the semis. Portillo & Herrera as the #3 seed are both top notch doubles players in their own rights, and as we’ve seen with Natera & Munoz, sometimes a couple off the court can really shine together on the court.

Should be a fun draw!

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Look for Streaming in the normal places you’d expect, on the IRT and LPRT feeds.

Coincidentally if you’re an IRT fan, consider joining the IRT Club; we’re kicking off a new season-long Fantasy Racquetball concept, and to go with it Brian Pineda and i are doing pre- and post-tournament podcasts. We’ll debut this week with our preview of the IRT draw and the Mixed draws here. Here’s our first episode:

Posted on

LPRT 2024-25 Season Recap Part 3: Outside the top 10 Players

Erika Manilla faces a long road ahead to get back into the top 4. Photo 2021 US Open via Kevin Savory

In our last recap article, we’re going to selectively discuss players who didn’t make the top 10 but who are notable, we’ll talk about players who dropped off the tour this year, and opine some at the end.

Notables in the 11-20 range on tour:

– #11 @Samantha Salas Solis missed out on #10 by a scant 3 points and thus misses out on a top 10 spot for the fourth year running. She’s now 38 and is finishing up her 22nd year on tour. She made 2 quarters this year, and can still get wins, and is still Paola’s doubles partner getting titles. How much longer will she tour? We only had 7 events this year, so a once-a-month trip to see old friends isn’t too hard to keep up with.

– @Valeria Centellas and Lexi York finished with almost identical results and points this year, coming in at #12 and #13. Both made all seven events, each made the round of 16 five out of seven times.

– #15 @Stephanie Synhorst made all seven events, made the round of 16 three times, and just out-pointed Carla to finish #15.

– @Carla Munoz finished last year inside the top 10, but missed three of the seven events this year to fall to #16. She’s obviously closer to a top 10 player but just couldn’t hang with the ladies ranked above her missing so much time this season.

– #17 Maria Renee Rodríguez Josey returned to the tour after taking a bit of time away for life, education, etc. She finished #17 with three round of 16 finishes.

– @Michelle Key, who went years without appearing on tour, made four events and just made it into the top 20 this year.

– Former top 10 player @Angela Barrios fell all the way to #21. Barrios is always a tough draw when she does play, whether internationally or professionally, but is like many Bolivian players who struggle financially to make all tour events.

– Naomi Ros, who holds both the USA Racquetball National Adult title and the U21 Junior title right now, finished ranked 22nd.

– @Susana Acosta made it to two events, enough to ensure her 27th season in the rankings.

– Laura Brandt played in two events and finished tied for #28 with a few other ladies, but did so at the age of 57., She became the 3rd oldest player ever to make a round of 16 on tour.

– Two former top 4 players also finished with just enough results to get into the top 30: @Frederique Lambert and Erika Manilla . Lambert’s racquetball career now is mostly limited to Canadian National events, while Manilla’s hip injury has turned out to be far more difficult to recover from than she likely thought. Since exiting the 2024 US Nationals with the injury, she’s played just one LPRT event (in Dec 2024) and then attempted to earn back the US national singles title in May 2025. A healthy Manilla pushes for a top 4 spot on tour, but now she has to work her way all the way back from being ranked well outside the top positions.

– A slew of ladies finished “tied” for #34 with 18.75 points, basically the number of points one earns by making a round of 32 in a singular event. Included in that crew was the @Rhonda Rajsich, who entered her first LPRT pro event in years at the Arizona Open. Also notable in that group is 16U and busy national tournament participant Victoria Rodriguez , former top Mexican Junior @Lucia Gonzalez, and NorCal Outdoor specialist @Erica Williams.

—-

Some notable names who failed to even log an appearance this year:

– Sunshine Arterburn finished #21 last year; zero appearances this year.

– Argentine lefty @martina Katz showed some promise last year in limited appearances and was missing this season.

– Bolivian veterans @Jenny Daza and Yazmine Sabja Aliss missed out on this season. Former top Bolivian junior Michaela Meneses seems like she’s done with the sport.

– Former Junior legend @Adrienne Fisher Haynes didn’t play this season.

– Irish star Aisling Hickey got some surprise results last season but didn’t log an appearance this year.

– No traveling visits from the Ecuadorian Munoz regulars.

– Masiel Rivera has gone from being a top10 threat to no appearances in just a few years.

– Long-time touring pro @Adriana Riveros may ahve finally called it quits.

– Texan @Linda tyler is usually good for an event or two but hasn’t been seen in a while.

Lots of missing Mexican youngsters as well, who normally help fill out these draws and cause some surprises. The tour depth dropped for the 4th year running; we only had 43 distinct players play this season, down from 60+ a few years ago just after covid. A sign of the times.

That’s it for the season! LPRT kicks off with @jim hiser’s big World Singles and Doubles extravaganza in August.

Posted on

LPRT 2024-25 Season Ending Recap Series part 2: The top 10

Longoria is back on top. Photo via 2019 US Open/Kevin Savory

Hello Racquetball fans. This is part 2 of the LPRT 2024-25 season ending recap series. In Part 1 last week, I loaded up the official year end standings for the tour and did the data entry into the www.proracquetballstats.com database to show the rankings properly in various season-wide reports.

Here, we’re going to review the top 10 ladies of the year. In a fun twist, I’ll also refer back to my recap from last season where I made a far-too-early prediction on this year’s finish. The two reports to have up while reading through this report are the Season Summary Report https://rball.pro/84115e and the Season-ending rankings https://rball.pro/5eca5e .

– #1: Paola Longoria .1521.5 points, 22-5 for the year. 2 titles, 4 finals, 1 semi.

Longoria is back on top after a two year hiatus, She was dominant all year, making every final until the last event (where she already had the title wrapped up). She re-took over #1 on tour in December and didn’t look back. This is her 14th career pro title and at age 35 seems to have settled down after a couple of years of life changes (she got married and got elected to the Mexican congress). I predicted last year she’d either finish #1 or retire; clearly not retiring. Now i’m predicting she stays right where she is; at #1, though not nearly as dominantly as in year’s past.

– #2-T Monserrat Mejia: 1218 points, 18-5 for the year. 2 titles, 1 final, 3 semis.

Amazingly, both Vargas and Mejia finished tied for 2nd on tour with the exact same results and record for the season. The two met four times though, with Mejia winning 3 of the 4, but there’s no tiebreaker here. Mejia’s 5 losses on the season were to Longoria three times, Laime, and Vargas. After dominating the 2022-23 season, she fell to zero titles in 23-24, but rebounds this year with 2 wins, bringing her career total to 8 titles. I predicted she’d stay at #3 last year, but she’s stepped up. I’m predicting she returns to #2 next season.

– #2-T @Maria Jose Vargas : 1218 points, 18-5 for the year. 2 titles, 1 final, 3 semis.

Vargas takes a small step back from her dominant 5-win 23-24 season but stays tied for 2nd. Despite tying for 2nd, Vargas is trending downward, having lost 3 of 4 versus Mejia. I thought she would take the title again last year; now i think she’ll finish 3rd next season.

– #4. Ana Gabriela Martínez 919 points. 15-5 for year. 1 title, 1 final, 3 semis.

Gaby really put it together this season, getting her 3rd career title and finishing 4th, her highest ever season finish. She only missed one event, which really helped keep her ranking high. She managed to go the entire season w/o facing Mejia and gave Longoria two of her losses this season. I predicted last year she’d continue to languish in the 9-10 range on tour, but clearly she’s part of the upper tier of four players right now, each of whom had a title this year. I think she sticks right in the #4 spot next season again unless she misses too many events. The wildcardd for Gaby finishing top4 will be @Erika Manilla ‘s health and Herrera’s attendance.

– #5 @natalia mendez, 528 points, 9-7 for the season. 7 quarters in 7 events

Mendez was a model of consistency this year, never once getting upset in the 16s and earning exactly a quarter final berth in all seven events. This was enough to let her stick at the #7 seed for most of the season, then jumping the next two rivals for #5 at season’s end. I sense though she was lucky not to get an upset-special round of 16 this year and probably finishes closer to #10 next year, as I predicted last y ear.

– #6. @Brenda Laime Jalil 492.5 points. 8-6 for season, 2 semis, 3 qtrs

Laime remains in the #5-#6 range for the third straight year, but did it with a slightly different pathway than in year’s past. Two years ago she was Jeckyl and Hyde, making 3 finals but also losing in the 16s four times. This year she cut down on early upsets (only one upset in the 16s at the NoVa event) and had more consistency. Had she not missed the Arizona Open she may very well have finished 5th. I think she continues to finish right in this spot until she can get more breakthrough wins.

– #7 Kelani Lawrence 487.5 points, 8-7 for season 6 qtrs and one 16s upset

Lawrence had almost an identical season to Mendez, save for one round of 16 upset to Parrilla in the Xmas classic last December. She continues to be a model of consistency on tour, nearly always advancing into the quarters but falling at that Juncture. She has made just one semifinal in her entire career, but the quarters 20 times. Nonetheless, she’s now finished in this 6-7 range for two years in a row and i think she’ll continue to be right here next season.

– #8 @Alexandra Herrera , 451.5 points, 7-5 this season, 2 semis, 3 qtrs, 2 missed

Herrera, a mainstay in the top 4 for nearly a decade, missed two events this year that likely cost her enough points to drop from #4 to #8 on tour. Her big rival this year turned out to be Gaby as they met in the 4/5 quarter final spot three times this season. She managed to avoid her doubles partner Mejia, but the two missed events cost her. If she can make all the tournaments, I think she returns to that 4-5 range. however, the #8 spot is a really tough spot to get away from; even if she wins a round of 16 she projects right into the top player on tour, who she’s got wins against but whom has had her number lately. She may be stuck here for a bit.

– #9 Jessica Parrilla , 320.25 points, 6-7 for season, 2 qtrs and 4 round of 16s

There’s a bit of a drop-off from 8 to 9 in the points, defining a bit of separation on tour between the ladies ranked in the 9-11 range versus those ranked in the 6-8 range. Leoni returns to the top 10 after missing out last season, and managed to do it with a couple of solid wins over Lawrence and Laime to earn quarterfinals appearances. She also held off round of 16 upsets to keep this spot. I sense though she may get pushed down a bit going forward, especially in the 9-10 seed spot.

– #10: Cristina Amaya Cassino , 302.5 points, 3-7 for season, 1 qtr

Amaya just pipped Salas for #10 and thus stays in the top 10 for the second season in a row after dropping well out for a few years. This pivot in performance for a lady in her mid 30s is crazy, and well earned for Amaya. Her biggest win of the season was over Munoz in Chicago, which was instrumental in finishing at this spot. Also, kudos and bravo to Amaya for her awesome Racquetball News TV Weekly series: if you’re not following her on Youtube or Facebook you should be.

https://www.facebook.com/racquetballnewstv

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Next up, we’ll cover the rest of the tour notables, talk about some trends in the sport and on tour, and talk about what may happen next year.

Posted on

LPRT 2024-25 Season Ending Recap Series

Gaby wins the season opener in an 11-10 thriller. It was her only win of the season. Photo via Gaby

Hello Racquetball fans! The latest LPRT finished up in late June, with @Paola Longoria winning her 14th career Pro year-end title. As is our custom, we’ll do a few posts to recap the season.

In this post we’ll just put in links to the season-summary resources here at Pro Racquetball Stats, to which we’ve just finished adding the year-end standings. Next we’ll do a recap of the top 10 players, then in the last post we’ll cover the rest of the tour with notables and what not.

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Key Reports that show Interesting Year End Data:

– Year-End Standings in the database: https://rball.pro/67385e

Longoria ended up winning the title by more than 300 points. That’s exactly the number of points earned for a regular season tour event, so one missed event going forward and Vargas or Mejia could catch her going forward. The race between the top 3 is tight.

– All Finals this season: https://rball.pro/adb65d

We had 7 events this season, one fewer than last season. The tour lost the San Antonio and Chesapeake events, picked up the NoVa invitational, but will presumably lose the Glass Door event next season unless the Peters family/Chicago crew can find another site. They’ll pick up World Singes & Doubles and hopefully the US Open in 2026, but are still missing some of the big-money events they had at the beginning of the decade in places like Aguascaliente, Kansas City, Longoria made the finals of 6 of this season’s 7 events, only missing the last tourney where she already had the title sewn up.

– Distinct Winners per season: https://rball.pro/62777f

This season we saw four different winners in seven events, with very even distribution. @Gaby Martinez took the season opener, then the top 3 ladies each won twice this season. It was the consistency of Longoria versus her rivals that propelled her to the top.

– Season Summary report: https://rball.pro/a82149

This is my go-to report to see the best summary information for the entire tour in one place. This shows every player who appeared on the season, their season-ending rank, and they’re ordered # of tourney wins, # of finals, # of semis, etc. I’ve also got their age at the end of the season, their career and seasonal W/L records, etc. Interesting factoid from this report: there were just six distinct players all season who even made a Semi final. That’s amazing.

– Highest Seeds To… Report: https://rball.pro/62ff50

The highest seed to win this year was Gaby as a #9 seed. Twice we saw an #11 seed make their way to the quarters (both times Jessica Parrilla ).

– Draw sizes for the season: https://rball.pro/98d393

The tour was relatively consistent last fall: 23-25 entrants per event. That bumped up a bit this spring to peak at 27 entrants for both AZ and Boston, but fell off in June to a season low 18 players in Charlotte.

– Complete list of Year-end title winners: https://www.proracquetballstats.com/lprt/lprt_year_end_titles.html

This text-page shows Longoria’s 14 titles, now double the next closest player (Michelle Gould).

– LPRT Tour History; https://www.proracquetballstats.com/lprt/lprt_tour_history.html

This is a years-running list of “important events” that have happened on tour. If you see a major event i’m missing by all means let me know and I’ll add it in.

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That’s it for today. Next post we’ll cover the top 10.

Posted on

LPRT Sweet Caroline Recap

Brenda Laime wins her 4th doubles title on the season. Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: @Maria Jose Vargas

– Doubles: @Brenda Laime Jalil and Natalia Mendez Erlwein

Vargas finishes off her season with a win, while Laime wins her 4th pro doubles title of the season. Longoria had already clinched the year end title. More in the points section later.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=49103

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/61cdf6

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In the 32s, two of the best U21 players in the world (Bolivia’s Camila Rivero and USA’s Naomi Ros) topped LPRT tour vets Rodriguez and Synhorst to move on).

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In the 16s, chalk. All top 8 seeds moved on in the season’s final event. The only round of 16 to even go to a tie-breaker was in the 7/10 match, with @Kelani Lawrence advancing over Christina Amaya.

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In the Quarters, again chalk but with some closer matches.

– With @Alexandra Herrera now dropped to the #8 spot, the 1-8 is tougher than it normally is, and indeed @Paola Longoria had to go to the breaker to move past the lefty Herrera 6,(9),2.

– #4 @Ana Ana Gabriela Martínez cruised past #5 Mendez in two.

– #3 Vargas crushed Laime 6,2 in a battle of hard hitters.

– #2 @Montse Mejia wasn’t too troubled in advancing past Lawrence 7,6

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In the Semis, the clear-cut top four players on tour have separated themselves at this point, with a massive gap in the points ranking between #4 and #5. Herrera used to be part of this upper group, and Manilla’s hip injury continues to prevent her from even playing, else we’d be closer to a “big 6” rather than our current “big 4.”

And, true to form, when you have a group of closely matched players, week in and week out you just never know who’s gonna win. And this weekend, we got two upsets in the semis.

– Gaby took out Longoria by the surprising scoreline 3,12 to get to her second final of the season. If Martinez hadn’t missed an event this season, she might e pressing for #2 on tour.

– Vargas flipped the script on Mejia in the 2/3 semi final, winning an incredibly streaky match 6,(3),1.

In the Finals, Vargas powered past the Guatemalan 8,5. Gaby entered the event a little under the weather but made it to the final before running out of gas.

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Points Implications of results

With the win, Vargas made up the ground she was trailing Mejia for #2 on the season and now the two players are in a virtual dead heat for the #2 year end spot. It will come down to point fractions and who was able to win a game in an eventual loss; we’ll keep an eye out for hte final season rankings. No other changes in the top 16 came from the season ender, with the exception of the absent Carla Munoz missing points for the second straight event and now dropping all the way to #16. She’ll face an up-hill climb to get back to the quarters next season.

Here’s a link to my LPRT Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which @Ryan Rodgers does with @R2 Sports App on behalf of the tour after each event, to allow some quick post-event analysis before the rankings post.

women

https://docs.google.com/…/16o0aE4YophvlQdezlMVj…/edit…

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/46a919

Laime and Mendez finish off the title as the #1 seeds, topping Vargas and Centellas in the final. Thus, 3 of the four finalists were Argentine, and all four are Bolivian-born players who have left to represent other South American federations.

Meja and Herrera, who dominated the pro doubles circuit last season (they won 6 of the 7 doubles titles in the 23-24 season) won just once together this year as Laime became the top dog. Laime had 4 titles this year with 3 different players. Vargas switched partners, moving from Mendez to Centellas, and managed to make the final in 6 of the season’s 7 events but could garner just one title. Meanwhile, the reign of Longoria/Salas seems over; they made just two finals this season as both players are facing career choices going forward.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., JTRball, and Tj Baumbaugh

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2…/edit…

Next week is USA Junior Nationals, the last of the big USAR events of the season.

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tags

@LPRT

Posted on

LPRT Sweet Caroline Open Preview

Longoria has sewn up the year end title. Photo via Fran Davis Racquetball

Right on the heels of the Northern Virginia Invitational, the traditional season ending event for the LPRT is upon us: the Sweet Caroline Open. Normally held in Greenville, SC, at the club that serves as the home for the LPRT’s official Hall of Fame, this year due to club renovations (thankfully that, and not yet another historic racquetball club closing) being held at the Dowd YMCA in Charlotte, NC. The ladies of the tour drove south down 95, passing through my hometown in Richmond, before heading into North Carolina proper.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=49103

Basically the same set of ladies who competed last weekend in DC, with a couple of changes at the tail end of the seedings. However, thanks to some major ranking shakeups, the quarters project to be completely different than last week.

With her finals finish last weekend, Longoria has sewn up the year end title, her 14th. The top 8 finishes are mostly set; only a huge run of upsets would change the final season rankings from where they sit now. There’s a bit of room in the 9-10-11 spots where someone could nab a “top 10” finish for the season, if the players cared about such a thing. So, a bit to play for this weekend.

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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:

There’s just 2 matches in the 32s, and both could be interesting. In the 16/17 MRR takes on reigning US National champ @Naomi Ros in a good test for our young champion. Meanwhile, in the 15/18 matchup, the reigning U21 world junior champ from Bolivia @Camila Rivero is in town, taking on tour vet @Stephanie Synhorst.

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round of 16:

– I’d like to see what Ros can do against Something-time Mexican champ @Paola Longoria (I don’t have any idea how many Mexican national titles Paola has, thanks to shoddy record keeping at the FMR, but I do know she’s won every title save for one since 2014, and likely every title from around 2008-2014, so i’d estimate it at either 16 or 17).

– With Herrera all the way down at #8, she faces #9 Parrilla for a shot at Paola.

– All Argentine grudge match between Mendez and Centellas, in a battle of the long-time representative and the player they’re trying to replace her with.

– Laime got upset early last week; can she hang with hard-hitting Salas to live up to her seed?

– Lotts plays into Vargas, and she can hang with the big hitting Argentine.

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Projected Qtrs:

– Longoria over Herrera: the time where Alexandra could beat Paola seems now past.

– Gaby over Mendez: We never seem to talk about Ana Gabriele Martinez’ draw until suddenly she’s in the semis, taking on Paola.

– Vargas over Laime: Laime seems to either make the final or lose in the first round.

– Mejia over Lawrence. With her win last week Montse moves up to #2 and takes on the American Kelani, who has a couple hour’s drive from her Va Beach home to get to Charlotte for this one.

Semis: I like the top four seeds once again

– Longoria has another close one against Gaby but moves on

– Mejia has the hot hand, Vargas knows she’s out of the title race and loses.

Finals; Longoria finishes off her season with a title in the last event.

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Doubles review

Longoria & Salas take the weekend off from doubles, which paves the way for Mejia & Herrera to get a title, even if they’ve been supplanted in the rankings.

Posted on

LPRT Northern Virginia Invitational Recap

Mejia wins the battle, but Longoria wins the war. Photo unk.

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Montserrate Mejia

– Doubles: Maria Jose Vargas & @Valeria Centellas

Exec Summary: Mejia denies Longoria and wins her 8th career title, now sitting in 12th place alone. Nonetheless, Longoria secures the 2024-25 year end title, her 14th.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=48794

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/11b4f8

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In the 32s, a couple of notable results:

– Sanchez took out MRR to move on.

– Synhorst topped the veteran Acosta in a solid win

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In the 16s, just a couple of notable matches to mention:

– Lexi York took #5 Herrera to a breaker but fell

– The sole upset was #11 Parrilla taking out #6 Laime.

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In the Quarters

– #1 Longoria did what she normally does against #8 Lawrence, grinding out a solid win

– #4 Gaby made fast work of #5 Herrera.

– #3 Mejia took out her long-time rival Parrilla 8,7

– #2 Vargas was pushed by her former doubles partner Mendez but advanced 2,11

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In the Semis

– Longoria came out on top of a close 13,14 match against Gaby, who always seems to play Paola tough.

– In the increasingly tough 2/3 battle, Mejia came out on top over Vargas in a breaker. She advances to her 3rd straight final in as many chances after going months without doing so.

In the Finals, Mejia had it going on this day, winning13,5 to take the title, her 2nd in the last three events.

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Points Implications of results

Despite losing in the final, Longoria has officially sewn up her 14th career pro title. She has an insurmountable 334 point lead in the season-to-date standings, and with just one non-Grand slam event remaining she cannot be caught. Longoria returns to the top after missing out on the last two year end titles, and heads into the new season with a commanding lead, having made the final of all 6 stops thus far this season.

In other interesting rankings movement: going by Season-to-date standings, Mejia has not yet sewn up #2 but is close to doing so, but should jump Vargas for that slot in the year end event. Mendez has made a huge jump and projects to finish 5th. After years of being in the top 4, Herrera looks to slip all the way to #8. Munoz’ absence here costs here dearly; she’s projecting to finish #13 now. Lastly, three players are tied with the exact same number of points for 14th place (York, Lotts, and Synhorst), which will make the last event super interesting if they all attend.

Here’s a link to my IRT Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which @Ryan Rodgers does with @R2 Sports App on behalf of the tour after each event, to allow some quick post-event analysis before the rankings post.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16o0aE4YophvlQdezlMVj_dqPRUoDQqwE5-LtsLbOncg/edit?usp=sharing

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/40849b

Centellas got her first pro doubles title in nearly 5 years, teaming with Vargas to take out the Longoria/Salas team.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing

The Ladies are right back at it, driving down I95 from DC to get to Charlotte for the season-ending Sweet Caroline Open, normally held in Greenville SC but moving this year due to club renovations.

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tags

@lpLPRT