First off, if you haven’t seen the Fantasy Fastbreak podcast I do with Brian Pineda before and after every IRT event, then you’re missing out. Go here for us talking through this draft and talking IRT Club Fantasy Racquetball
https://www.facebook.com/racquetballtour/videos/1555995488722938
After a year’s hiatus, the IRT returns to a relatively new spot on the schedule in Eugene, Oregon for the 2025 Track Town Open. Originally the brain child of former US National team members and Pacific Northwest residents @Charlie Pratt Racquetball and Wayne Antone, this tournament brings back the IRT and the full strength of a Tier 1 stop to Oregon once again. Nearby Portland is one of the biggest junior development areas in the world, and we see a ton of former top juniors entered into both the pro draws and the event in general.
The 2023 version of this event represented a couple of really historic moments on tour. It was the last tournament that 3-time tour champion @Daniel De La Rosa ever won, and this win (and an early loss by then-#1 Moscoso) essentially sealed the 2023 title for the soon-to-be-departing Pickleball pro. It was also directly in the wake of this event that Jake Bredenbeck ascended to hold the #1 spot on tour, which he held until the season’s final event.
R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=50060
There’s 23 entrants into the pro singles draw here, as the tourney’s location makes it a tough travel challenge for central and South Americans. The event is missing a couple of top competitors: #3 Lalo Portillo is out, something that I’d guess might be more prevalent now that he’s a fully certified airline pilot. Then, a big chunk of the 11-20 guys are not here, including Miranda, Trujillo, Garcia, Flores, and Sam Bredenbeck. This means on the one hand fewer upsets in the early rounds, and it means opportunity for the top players to book some needed points.
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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:
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In the 32s:
– Several local players get their IRT pro tour debuts this weekend, including Tony Teach, Sean Brooks, and Travis Haines.
– Oregon native, former touring pro, holder of the 2017 Pelham Memorial Tier 1 title, and former US National team coach @Charlie Pratt gets a rare appearance on tour; he plays #13 Moscoso. If Pratt had played into anyone else in the 9-16 range maybe he has a chance, but Conrrado will cruise past him.
– I like the @Wayne Antone Racquetball / @Robert Collins opener; could go either way.
– Two tour regulars in Carlos Ramirez and Jim Douglas get to play each other for a spot in the main draw.
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round of 16 Notable matches:
– Manilla and Alonso face off in the 8/9; great match. Should go the distance.
– Montoya gets the Gastelum/Spencer winner and needs to keep focused to move on. Gastelum gets a good test against a fellow Mexican.
– @Conrrado Moscoso comes into this event #13 on the back of some newly achieved points; this at least gets him out of a 1-16 matchup with Kane. Instead he plays into the #4 seed in @Andree parrilla, which I’m sure he’s not happy about.
– @Jake Bredenbeck gets the Collins/Antone winner. I don’t think there’s an upset here, but all of these guys are US National team veterans who can get points off of each other.
– top Mexicans Mar and Martell project into each other; I don’t have them meeting in a top-level event since Mexican Nationals in 2019.
– Natera continues to work his way back after ankle surgery earlier this year with a winnable match versus Carter in the 7/10.
– Last event’s champion Acuna starts his march back to the final against the Ramirez/Douglas winner.
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Projected Qtrs:
– #1 @Kane Waselenchuk over Manilla in a rematch of World Doubles lefty on lefty quarters. Hopefully Adam scores a few more points this time.
– we get a possible banger of a match between the two hardest hitters on tour in Moscoso and Montoya. For neutrals, huge fan of this potential matchup.
– Mar vs Bredenbeck rekindles an old rivalry that dates back to their first meeting in early 2016. Mar hasn’t lost to Jake since, including a meeting on tour in Pleasanton last year. Advantage Javi.
– Acuna gets his first test in Natera in the quarters; they met three times in three straight events in late 23-early 24, all three easy Acuna wins, and with Natera perhaps not yet 100% post surgery this should be Acuna moving into the semis for the 4th time in his last 5 events.
Semis:
– Kane and Moscoso project to play in my predictions in the semis, not the 16s as in Denver. And that might workout just fine for the Bolivian, who gets Kane after a couple of rounds of matches instead of fresh and lively on a Thursday. Furthermore, this will be Kane’s 2nd match of Saturday, as the pros will play both quarters and semis on one day. Will it matter? Kane won 5,14 two weeks ago, an interesting result to me in that Moscoso is usually more of a front-runner (meaning, when he loses in two, it’s usually close in the first game and a blow out in the second). I’m thinking this goes breaker, and Kane may be pressed a bit more than he’s used to before advancing.
– Acuna projects to face Mar in this scenario, a player he just waxed in the Denver quarters. I see no reason for a different result here.
Finals; a rematch of Acuna and Kane. Something tells me Kane wants to exact some revenge here and will get plenty of beauty rest Saturday night in order to be ready for a beating Sunday. Look for a two-game statement win from the King.
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Look for Favio Soto, Samuel Schulze, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots!
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@International Racquetball Tour