Welcome to the 40th annual iteration of this event, and unfortunately the last iteration, as the Jaskier family has made the difficult decision to close the famed Glass Court Fitness club in Lombard after decades of ownership and operation. The unique “fishbowl court that is surrounded on all sides by viewing areas and sports equipment will host its final pro event, and the tour will lose a mainstay in its schedule. This club closing was followed just this morning with news that Recreation Atlanta will also be closing, another dagger for independent court ownership in our sport.
This is the 40th iteration of the tournament, now sponsored by Papa NIcholas coffee, and for the last 11 it has been associated with the IRT. Chicago as a town has been a major player in the Men’s pro racquetball world, thanks to the likes of Dan Jaskier , Dave Negrete , @Geoff Peters , and the Klimaitis family, who have donated time, money, and attention to the sport for decades. Chicago was the long-time host of the Halloween Classic, held the Motorola Pro Nationals in the mid 2000s, and held a bunch of NRC and Catalina nationals back in the hey dey of the sport late 70s/early 80s.
There’s something in the water specific to the Lombard club too, as we’ve seen all sorts of crazy results here in the last decade on tour. Here’s a sampling:
– in 2024, Jhonathan Flores went on a tear, beating a ton of top pros to make the quarters out of nowhere.
– in 2022, @Rocky Carson went on his last big run, making his last final as a #8 seed by beating then-#1 DLR before falling to Kane.
– in 2021, Jake beat then #1 Landa for one of his best career wins and got to the final.
– in 2018, a crazy tournament resulted in a final between Parrilla and Horn, each vying for their first title. Parrilla won, and it remains the only final Horn ever made on tour.
– in 2017, Parrilla made his first career final as a #14 seed, beating DLR, Landa and Carson along the way.
Despite all these great runs from players not named Waselenchuk, Kane has won 7 of the 10 titles competed here since 2015, and enters its last event as the dominant #1 seed this season and clear favorite to win another title, especially given that his two biggest rivals on tour (Moscoso and Montoya) both took major injuries last week in Minnesota. Moscoso is completely out of the Lombard event with his knee issue, as he hopes it heals up for his Bolivian Nationals later this month and then for PARC in mid April. Meanwhile, Montoya may just go through the motions in Chicago, depending on just how bad he injured his shoulder.
R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=47136
There’s 37 entered into the singles draw this weekend (one last minute entry that forced a draw-redo at the final hour and which forced some rewrites of this preview at the last second): having these back-to-back IRT events makes for great draws, as internationals can get two events in for the price of one flight.
Top 20 players missing: #5 Manilla still out with a shoulder tweak from earlier this year, #6 Moscoso as discussed above. The rest of the top 20 is here and playing, and the round of 16 will be stacked. Also returning here for the first time in more than a year is Samuel Murray, who has zero points and gets the #35 seed, and plays right into #3 Montoya .. who may or may not be too hurt to play. Read on.
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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:
In the round of 64, there’s 5 matches with some of them involving our own Jr National team members.
– U21 champ Acha has a winnable match against Mexican De Alba
– US National team member Grant Williams gets a good test against Bolivian @esteban Reque.
– USA juniors Horner and Herrera II meet for a spot in the 32s.
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– Lastly, long-time touring vet Sam Murray is back on tour after more than a year away. Murray WON his last IRT appearance, thus breaking a number of the queries on the website which assume that a player lost their last match on tour. HE’s back, he has zero points, and is seeded 35th so he gets an opener. He gets the tough junior bolivian Hector Barrios, but should advance.
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In the Round of 32:
– Kane should get his start against reigning U21 champion Acha, a nice touch.
– In the 16/17 matchup, a fun on between the younger Bredenbeck brother Sam and prolific tournament player Cole Sendrey. This should be an interesting test for both players. They’ve never met in a pro or national setting. Sam has more firepower, but Sendrey has the game to beat him.
– Martell-Horn. Wow, is it 2015 on the WRT? These two players met in 2010 in Martell’s IRT debut in San Diego, and the last time of their 10 meetings was in 2019 at the US Open. They’re 5-5 against each other lifetime, but Martell has been more active on tour lately, so advantage Jaime.
– Carter- Carrasco is an interesting matchup of long-time touring pros who don’t get to play that often. Thomas has won their last 3 meetings and should advance here.
– Gastelum vs Flores: wow, this is a potential U21 World final. These two amazingly met last year in this exact same event (in Open, not Pros), a Gastelum win, but Flores has come a long way since, and has significantly better wins. A reminder: Flores made the quarters here last year and took a game off of Kane. Flores might be one of the best 10 players in the world, if only he toured full time.
– Murray-Montoya. If Montoya isn’t 100% (as I suspect he is not), then this is an upset in the making. Does Rodrigo even finish the match? He could barely swing a racquet on Saturday, and now he’s forced to face a Tier1 winner and long-time top 10 player in Murray? I think Sam advances here, and Montoya doesn’t finish the match.
– Trujillo-Mendoza. Well, this is a statement match. Trujillo may be in the top 10 now on the IRT and rising fast, but he keeps taking losses to players in his age group. Lost to Miranda last week, lost to Acha in U21 in December, Lost to Sanchez at Mexican Jr Nats in 2024, lost to Hernandez at MexNats24. But on the flip side, Trujillo has some great adult wins that bolster his current #9 ranking. Meanwhile, Mendoza has not been able to break through in US Junior Nationals, but got a very solid win over Acha last week. Is Mendoza taking a leap forward, or is Trujillo going to plaster him here?
– Acuna vs Castillo: this was set to be Acuna vs Murray until a last minute draw change: now Acuna gets a far, far easier path into this draw as the #2 seed for the first time.
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round of 16:
– Sendrey may get a first meeting against the King, for the wonderful opportunity of losing 2,4.
– Martell vs Jake: Jaime goes from one all-WRT meeting (Horn) to another one with Jake. These two played nearly 10 times on the old pro circuit, with Jake winning nearly all of them (career 10-1 on WRT And IRT). Last time they met was in 2023, a 1,4 beatdown by Jake. However, these two players are going in opposite directions right now. I still think Jake wins, but don’t be surprised if Jaime pulls an upset here.
– For his troubles of getting a career high ranking and seeding at #4, @alan Natera
likely faces off against one of the best Juniors in the world in Flores. And I think he is in jeopardy of losing to Flores, who has the hot hand right now and can get this win.
– Thanks to the presumed inj-fft of Montoya, the #3-#14 matchup opens up and turns into an interesting youth versus veteran matchup of Murray vs Miranda. I think Miranda is hot and can beat Murray, but Sam is also one of the best tacticians on tour. I’ll go with youth over rust and predict the Argentine (who should have been in the semis last week) to advance.
– Mar vs Alonso, a great matchup of tactical experts from Mexico. Both took unexpected upset losses to early 20s South Americans last week and will be looking to rebound. Alonso seems like the fairer bet to move on here. I have no record of these two meeting in a pro or nationals event, but its likely they’ve played at some local tournament over the many years they’ve been competing.
– Portillo-Trujillo; Lalo is the most dangerous 10 seed we’ve seen in a while. If Trujillo gets here, Lalo is just too good.
– Acuna – Garcia: another difficult matchup for the new #2 seed. Garcia beat him at Worlds last year in the group stage, and took a game off him at the Pleasanton pro stop. Garcia is hot, with comprehensive wins over Alonso and Jake last week, and I can see an upset here.
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Projected Qtrs:
– Kane over Martell
– Parrilla over Flores: Andree always plays well at this club and has some sentimentality for the area.
– Miranda over Alonso: playing a hunch
– Lalo over Garcia; Lalo may only be the #10 seed but he’s playing far better than it.
Semis:
– Kane d Parrilla in a rematch of a final here years ago.
– Lalo ends Miranda’s run.
Finals; Kane beats Portillo in a rematch of the Lewis Drug Pro Am. Scores are like 7,10.
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Doubles review
If, as I suspect, Montoya drops out, the #1 Montoya/Mar pair will open up the top-side, likely for last week’s WBF-benefactors Trujillo & Alonso, who are seeded fourth and could cruise into the final from the topside.
From the bottom half, the best matchup may be in the quarters as Parrilla/Portillo have to face Miranda/Garcia, a great Mexico vs Argentina matchup. I like the winner of that to the final, and to eventually win. Lalo is too good on the doubles court and I favor him and Andree to win the title.
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Hope you tune in this weekend, join the new IRT Club to support the tour and get access to more courts, and generally support what looks like it could be a great event with some fresh new faces making noise.
Associations
International Racquetball Tour