Wanted to do a quick preview of the Intercollegiates event going on this weekend. Play started Wednesday 4/3/19 and finishes up Saturday, so they’re already well underway, but wanted to get this out before the back end of the tourney.
In the Mens #1, the defending champ Erik Garcia from CSU Pueblo is back, seeded #1 and seems to be the overwhelming favorite. UTexas player Alejandro Almada is the #2 seed, Jeremy Dixon from BWU #3 and Oregon State’s Nick Buring #4. I’d imagine the draw will go chalk and Garcia will repeat. With all due respect for the rest of the Gold #1 boys draw, the 2nd best player in Tempe very well may be the #2 player out of CSU Pueblo Lukas Le.
In the Womens #1 draw though, we have a dog fight with at least 5 players who have pro or international experience. The #1 seed and defending champ from CSU-Pueblo is Carla Muñoz Montesinos, who represents Chile internationally and finished last year ranked #10 on the LPRT. To repeat though she’ll have to get through a draw that includes: – #2 Seed Erika Manilla of N.Arizona and who beat Munoz last month at the Pueblo shootout and was the 2016 world junior 18U champ – #3 Hollie Scott of UWashington, who beat LPRT top 10 player Amaya at a pro event in January and who was the 2014 US 18U champ. – #4 Lexi York from Oregon State, who was the 2015 USA 18U champ – #5 Melania Sauma, playing on her home courts at ASU and who represents Costa Rica internationally, lost to Manilla in the 2016 18U final and who has been playing in Adult IRF events for years. – #6 Elyse Duffie, who made the quarters of 18U world juniors last fall, losing to eventual champ Montse Mejia.
That’s a lot of good players, and the quarters will be fun. I predict that Munoz will top York in one semi, and Manilla will squeak by Scott in the other semi, and Manilla takes out Munoz in the final in a tiebreaker in a repeat of the PAC Shootout final.
– In the final, he topped Rocky Carson (6),14,2. But the evolution of that final score was pretty fascinating to watch: o Moscoso got out to a 6-0 lead. o Carson scored 15 unanswered to win 15-6 in game 1. o Carson got out to a 10-3 lead in game 2, at which point it looks like Carson is going to cruise to an easy 2-game win. o Moscoso came all the way back, saving a couple of match points o then Moscoso cruised to the 11-2 tiebreaker win.
So basically the final was a series of three huge streaks: o Moscoso was 6-0 in points to start the game, then Rocky took a TO. o Carson then went 25-3 in points o Moscoso then went 23-6 to finish the match
I found this to be a pretty amazing set of streaks. As an outside observer, I thought Rocky tired in the tie-breaker while Moscoso got energized. There were several balls left up that I just don’t think he had the energy to get to and he didn’t adjust to the lob-Z that Moscoso settled on to run off point after point. Age, altitude, and court time (it was Rocky’s 8th match on the weekend) all perhaps contributing factors … as well as the letdown of Rocky being in complete control of the match and letting Moscoso take Game 2. But hand it to Conrrado, who found another gear, just as he did in the 11-0 tiebreaker win over Landa in the quarters.
– Moscoso becomes the 40th ever IRT pro tournament champ. He joins Charlie Pratt, Alex Landa , Sebastian Franco, and Andree Parrilla as first time IRT tour winners in the last two seasons. He also joins an interesting group of one-tournament winners in the IRT’s history, which includes Ben Croft, Rich Wagner , Mike Guidry, Tim Sweeney, and outdoor legend Brian Hawkes.
– He becomes the first Bolivian to make a final, let alone win a tournament. He’s the second South American to win a tournament (Sebastian Franco was the first), and just the third South American to make a final ( Mario Mercado and Franco being the first two). Its only the fourth time in IRT history that a Bolivian has even made the quarters; The first ever was MoMo Zelada making the Quarters of the Nov 2015 Atlanta, then Zelada made another quarter a few months later, and Moscoso of course made the 2017 quarters where he lost to Kane.
– Moscoso represents just the 5th ever country to have won an IRT event: USA, Canada, Mexico, Colombia and now Bolivia.
– Moscoso beat the #1, #2 and #3 seeds en route to winning the event. That’s kind of hard to do. The only real way to do this is to enter a tournament as a specific seed that feeds into either the #2 or #3 seed early and then beat the #1 seed in the final. Moscoso entered as #23, which played into the #10, #7, #2 seed quarter. Jack Huczek also accomplished this when he won his first event as the #10 seed in Jan 2002 in Boston. And Kane Waselenchuk , when he won as the #39 seed, also ended up taking the same seed “line” as Conrrado did, beating #26, #23 and #10 to qualify, then #7, #2, #3, and #1 to take the title.
– Moscoso, as the #23 seed, becomes the 2nd highest seed on record to win an event. He trails Kane Waselenchuk , who won his first tournament back after his 2-year hiatus in Sept 2008 as the #39 seed. These two are also the two highest seeds to even make a final, and #23 is the 3rd highest ever known seed to make a semi (Rodrigo Montoya made a semi as a #29 seed in one of his first ever pro evets).
– Conrrado wins a pro event in just his 3rd ever pro tour appearance, which is by far and away the fewest appearances prior to winning that has ever been seen. I’m not sure we’ll ever see this again, unless there’s some international phenom who basically wins the first ever pro event he plays. Here’s some of the other fastest known runs to a first title: o Kane, Cliff Swain and Sudsy Monchik all won their 7th ever pro appearance. o Marty Hogan won his 8th appearance. o Jack won his 13th ever appearance.
You can run this analysis by selecting any player then running the “Player Firsts..” report. It will give their tour debut, first win and the number of tournaments inbetween (along with ages at each event).
—– Anyway, hope you enjoyed some stat-based facts about Moscoso’s big win! Hope to see him more on tour in the future.
In the opening round/Round of 32s, no real surprises. There were 7 matches, and there were 6 three-game wins by higher seeded players. The sole upset was #18 Romina Rivero over #15 Daniela Molina, which earns her a shot at the 2nd seeded player.
In the 16s … a few upsets. – #1 Samantha Salas dropped the first game to Bolivian youngster Micaela Meneses before advancing in four. – #9 Bolivian Yazmine Sabja Aliss put together a solid match, downing #8 Colombian Amaya Cris in three games. – #12 Bolivian Angelica Barrios shocked #5 seeded Nancy Enriquez in three straight 5,6,3. Barrios was the 2017 16U champ and is playing in her age 18 season, and this win avenges a loss Barrios had to Enriquez at the 2018 US Open. – #4 Rhonda Rajsich took out home-town Bolivian veteran Jenny Daza Naviain three straight to move on. – #3 Maria Jose Vargas was stretched to the brink before downing Bolivian 16U world champ Valeria Centellas 11-9 in the 5th. – #6 Natalia Mendez took out Bolivian native Brenda Laime Jalil in three straight forward games. – #10 Masiel Rivera Oporto, Bolivan native now living outside the DC area, avenged a loss earlier this pro season and took out #7 Adriana Riveros in a barn burner 11-9 in the 5th. – #2 Alexandra Herrera downed Bolivian junior Romina Rivero in three.
Before moving on, i wanted to point out the nature of the Bolivian players who advanced into the 16s. Meneses is the 2x defending 14U world champ, playing in her age 15 season. Barrios was the world junior 16U title in 2017 and thus is in her age 18 season. Centellas is the reigning 16U champ and also has one more year in 18s. Rivero was the 14U champ in 2015 and 2016 and thus is in her age 17 season this year. All told including Sabja (world 18U winner in 2009) there’s 5 different former Bolivian junior national champs in this draw.
The future is coming for women’s pros, and its coming from Bolivia.
In the Qtrs, one significant upset: – #1 Salas was taken to the brink against Bolivian #1 Sabja, advancing by the quite-close scores of 10,10,11. There really was not that much between these two players on the day. – #12 Barrios took out her second top seed in as many rounds, defeating Rajsich in four. – #3 Vargas took out her doubles partner #6 Mendez 6,5,4 in the first ever competitive singles meeting between the Argentinian #1 and #2 players. – #2 Herrera dropped the first against Bolivian Rivera, but then took over the match and dominated the rest of the way, advancing in four games (2),6,2,2.
In the Semis: – #1 Salas split games with #12 Bolivian junior Barrios before taking over and cruising to the final in four games. – #3 Vargas looked to be cruising to an easy win, but then dropped games 3 and 4 and barely held on with an 11-9 5th game win over #2 Herrera.
In the Finals, Vargas over came a 2 games to 1 deficit and outlasted Salas with a great comeback, winning 11-9 in the fifth. Vargas wins her 4th pro title of her career and also gives her just her 2nd pro win over Salas in 7 meetings.
——————- On the doubles side, the Argentian #1 team of Vargas & Mendez (both of whom are naturalized Bolivians) outlasted the #1 seed of Salas & Rajsich (playing together for the first time) in the final to take the win and give Vargas the double on the weekend.
The altitude really played into these matches; normal kill shots were way up, rallies extended, lots of ceiling balls off the back wall. And, the size of the venue and the size of the crowds made it really seem like a major international event, especially when home town players were playing.
Here’s the notable Singles results by round to me:
In the 64s: – Carlos Keller Vargas pounded 18U Junior team member Gerson Miranda 9,0, showing the gulf between Bolivia’s adult and junior champs. – Similarly pre-tournament favorite Luis Conrrado Moscoso Serrudo blasted 18U junior team member Fernando Ruiz Michel 6,2. – Several local Bolivian players took out seeded/traveling players: Sebastian Oata surprised #22 Christian Wer 6,14, Franco Gutierrez beat #21 Edwin Galicia 11,5, Jairo Perez took out #20 Hanzel Martinez Perez and Fabian Gutierrez beat #14 Set Cubillos.
In the 32s: – #16 Kadim Carrasco topped #17 MoMo Zelada in two, the only real surprise to me of this round. Carrasco really took it to Zelada, who has been playing solid ball lately, winning 1,9 to advance to the main draw. – #24 Carlos Keller Vargas took out #9 touring pro Thomas Carter 11-7. I thought Keller (a former PARC champ) would win here, but kudos to Carter for stretching him to the breaker. – #23 Moscoso blasted #10 Felipe Camacho 3,4 to make the main draw. Again, an expected result based on both players’ past international results, but surprised by the lop-sidedness of the win. – #15 Diego Garcia Quispe beat Guatemalan veteran #18 Juan Salvatierra 10,10 to advance to the main draw, an excellent result for the 17yr old.
In the 16s: – #1 Rocky Carson took it to Carrasco and won 2,4. Carson took advantage of the high altitude and really ramped up his drive-serve game. – #8 Jake Bredenbeck couldn’t convert on game point in the first game, opening a path for home town favorite Keller Vargas to advance 14,6. A loud, partisan crowd cheered Keller to victory. – #5 Mario Mercado took care of business against #12 Robert Collins 10,11. – #4 Andree Parrilla saved game point in the first game and then battled to a close two-game win over Eduardo Lalo Portillo 14,9. A back and forth match went Andree’s way on this day, but Portillo continues to improve and show that he will soon be among the elite on tour. – #3 Alvaro Beltran outlasted upset-minded Eduardo Garay Rodriguez 10 and 13. Garay dove all over the court and came at Beltran with significant pace, but Alvi made shots when he had to and put balls away when it counted. – The biggest upset of the tournament: #11 Gerardo Franco Gonzalez took out #6 Rodrigo Montoya Solis 11-10. Montoya reportedly arrived at the tournament just the morning of this match and it may have cost him against a player he should have beaten. Franco earned this win though, saving off match point against and diving all over the court. – #23 Moscoso blitzed by #7 seed David Horn to setup a fantastic quarter final against Landa. – #2 Alex Landalet the youngster Garcia get way up in game one, came back, then blew him away in game 2 to advance 13,2.
In the Qtrs: – #1 Carson left no doubt as to who the #1 seed was, advancing past home-town favorite Keller 8,11. Before the tournament I thought perhaps Carson would be at a disadvantage in this event thanks to his match load last weekend and the travel, but his fitness and his game has elevated here this weekend. – #5 Mercado, Bolivian native who now lives in the DC area and represents Colombia, really controlled #4 seed Parrilla throughout and advanced 7,11. I thought Parrilla was a dark-horse to make the final before this tournament, and was really surprised by how solid Mercado played here. – #3 Beltran left little doubt about his quality, downing upset-minded #11 Franco 11,5 to move on and ensure that the two oldest players in the draw made the semis. – In the most anticipated match of the event, #2 seed Landa was beaten by Bolivian #1 Moscoso in a scintillating match 9,(11),0. Moscoso drove the action with blistering drive serves, fantastic kill shots from all over the court and with knee-sliding re-kills that perpetually caught Landa off-guard. After losing steam in the middle of the second game, Conrrado caught fire in the tie-breaker and ran away to the 11-0 defeat. Its not often a former #1 player in the world gets donuted, and indeed this match elevates Moscoso to near the top of the world game.
In the semis… – #1 Carson fought back the upset-minded #5 Mercado, advancing in a tie-breaker win. – #23 Moscoso dominated #3 Beltran 10,6.
In the final, Rocky ran of 15 unanswered points to cruise to a game one win and was well on his way towards and embarrassing 2-game crushing when suddenly Conrrado made it a game, saved a couple of match points, and got a fluky rally win to take game 2 15-14 and get it to the tiebreaker. There, Rocky had no answers for Moscoso’s confident shot-making and the game got away from Carson quickly … Conrrado re-killed shots from absurd angles and frustrated Carson over and again and took the breaker 11-2 in dominant fashion. Moscoso found a serve that Carson struggled with, and Rocky couldn’t adjust in time to stay in the game.
Moscoso becomes the 40th ever IRT pro tour champ and earned it on the weekend, downing the #1, #2 and #3 seeds en route to victory.
The Bolivian #1 pair of Moscoso & Roland Keller took the doubles title against Carson & Camacho 9,9, giving Moscoso the double on the weekend.
————————
Wrap: An amazing tournament that saw the surprise winner and the expected “what if” questions about the absence of Kane Waselenchuk. Rocky should ascend to #1 with the finals appearance, while Conrrado’s points total should put him just outside the top 10 (not that it matters; we likely won’t see him again until the US Open). Post publishing update: I guess the 2018 points expired earlier than I thought; Rocky remains at #2 while Moscoso rises to #17 based on irt-tour.com points standings updated as of 4/1/19.
I think I now agree with Sudsy Monchik, who has been extolling Conrrado’s skills for a while. I think you have to start thinking about Moscoso as being at the top of the tier of players just past Kane and Rocky, and we can only hope as fans of the sport that he finds more ways to play the tour and give us what we want; regular match ups against Kane, Rocky, Landa, DLR, Montoya and the rest of the world’s best.
