Congrats to your winners on the weekend:
– Men’s Pro Singles: Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball
– Men’s Open Doubles: Rodrigo Montoya & @Javier Mar
Montoya gets the Costa Rica double gold.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=49239
——————
Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
—————-
In the 32s:
– Hernandez crushed Ecuadorian vet Ugalde 2,4.
– Costa Rica’s Gabriel Garcia took out Guatemalan vet Salvatierra in two. good win.
– Interesting result: a little known Costa Rican named Felipe Segreda defeated regular IRT touring pro Carlos Ramirez 9,14.
– Another interesting international result: Guatemala’s #2 Jose Caceres took out top Ecuadorian Cueva in the 15/18 match.
—————-
In the 16s:
– Hernandez made Acuna bend but he didn’t break, advancing 10,14.
– Gastelum with a great win over Miranda 8,9. There’s a handful of players right in the same age/cohort who seem to be beating each other up whenever they play and it includes Miranda, Gastelum, Trujillo, Hernandez, and to a lesser extent Acha and Barrios from Bolivia.
– Speaking of Trujillo, he took out Bolivian U18 star Flores in an 11-10 thriller. I honestly thought Flores had a shot at winning this tournament.
– Diego Garcia cruised past Alonso 13,2 in a result that should surprise no one at this point.
—————-
In the Quarters
– Acuna destroyed Gastelum 1,1. Matchups matter: If Miranda had moved on i would have made this a lot closer. But Acuna survived one Mexican U21 star to crush another and move on.
– Mar d Trujillo; again, had this been Flores, i think we’d be singing a different tune. Mar’s tactically superior game plan outshines his young countryman’s Every time.
– Montoya d Garcia in a wbf-ns. What?? Garcia infamously had a wbf-ns when he misread the start time announcement for his IRT match in Chicago; is it possible he did it again? How can you have a no-show in a pro event that you’ve literally flown in for? Unless this was mis-entered as an inj-fft … there’s more to this story.
– Parrilla outclassed Carter 1,2.
—————
In the Semis, after all the possible upsets I predicted … we have the top four seeds advancing, mostly easily.
– #4 Mar outlasted #1 Acuna 11-9 in the third in a win that probably was expected irrespective of the seeding
– #2 Montoya ground out an 8,10 win over long-time SLP rival Parrilla to setup a final against his double partner.
In the Finals, Montoya handled his doubles partner as he normally does 10,10.
—————-
Points Implications of results
I’m not sure because we don’t know the “tier” of this IRT satellite. If its a tier 2 (meaning a prize purse north of $10k but below the Tier 1 standards) then the points go 120 winner, 90 finalist, 60 semis, 40 quarters. If its a 5-10k event, then lower those points by 25%. I don’t think these points are going to make much of a difference in the year end race, but another 120 for Montoya certainly doesn’t hurt.
—————-
Doubles review
Seeds held to the semis with the doubles teams, though a couple of the teams really had to work to get there. In the 4/5 match Hernandez/Trujillo had a barn-burner with Team Argentina (Miranda/Garcia), advancing 11-8 in the third In the 2/7 match, the very solid Ecuadorian team of Ugalde/Cueva really pressed Team San Luis Potosi (Parrilla & Alonso), finally falling 11-9.
In the semis, #1 Montoya/Mar dropped a game to their young Mexican rivals Hernandez/Trujillo but advanced. Meanwhile, Alonso & Parrilla were pushd to the absolute edge, saving match points against to win 11-10 against hte home-town favorites Acuna & Garcia.
In the final, Mar & Montoya beat their rivals 9,10 for the title.
——————
Next up?
Per our handy master racquetball calendar …
Next weekend is the LPRT season ending Sweet Caroline open in Charlotte, as well as the Mexican Junior Olympics. The last weekend of the month is USA Jr Nationals.
——————-
tags