Author: Todd Boss

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LPRT Boston Wrap-Up

Four in a row for Mejia. Photo unk.

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Montse Mejia

– Doubles: Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas

Mejia wins her 4th straight event and extends her winning streak to 16 matches on tour, and she’s now put herself in a clear position to capture the year end title with solid results the rest of the way out. She leads the “season to date” points race by more than 160 points.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40583

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/5gz

In the 32s, no surprises. Costa Rican junior @Maricruz Ortiz was the unlucky opponent of @MMaria José Vargas on her return from Maternity leave; she played the former #2 ranked player tough but lost 11,11. Ortiz followed this up with a solid win in the Women’s Open doubles over Nancy Enriquez and her time playing with and training with Veronica Sotomayor and Sudsy Monchik is paying off.

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In the 16s:

– Angelica Barrios got a solid win over a similarly talented competitor in Brenda Laime in the 8/9 game.

– Vargas primed herself for another deep run, topping #5 Jessica Parrilla in a breaker.

– Argentina shocker: Valeria Centellas cruised by #4 Natalia Mendez in two. These two doubles partners are frequent training partners, and these matchups when it counts are always unpredictable.

– In the 7/10 match, @Hollie Scott got a solid win over #7 @Carla Munoz .

– #2 Montse Mejía , winner of the last 3 tournaments, was pressed by Mexican veteran Nancy Enriquez but advanced in a breaker.

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In the Quarters, another shock loss.

– Barrios took out #1 Paola Longoria in a tie-breaker 7,(13),7. All props to Barrios, who joins Laime, Mejia, and Vargas as “Players who have beaten Longoria this season.”

With all due respect to Barrios’ win, the story here has to be Longoria’s continued losses on tour. She’s now lost 5 times this season: she had just six losses in the previous seven seasons COMBINED. Something has definitely shifted for Longoria, who as i’ve pointed out before is nearing 34 years of age and who may be seeing her skills decline just enough to end her dominance on tour.

In the other 3 quarters, expected work from the tour’s top players:

– Vargas made fast work of Centellas 0,9 to move into the semis.

– Manilla crushed her US national team doubles partner Scott in two

– Mejia dominated another Mexican veteran Salas 9,2. Not to pick on Salas here, but its worth noting (with respect to Longoria’s slide this season) that Salas is basically two years older than Longoria, and went from making 9 finals in the 2018-19 season. Since that point, she’s made exactly ONE final in 27 tournaments. Sometimes that age 33-34 tripping point can be a light switch of results on the court.

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In the Semis

– Barrios continued her run with a win over Vargas. Barrios has always been a tough matchup for Vargas, and now improves to 4-2 against her former countrywoman in all competitions.

– Mejia takes out Manilla in two solid games 7,9

In the Finals, Mejia ground out game one against a challenging opponent in Barrios, then had a furious comeback to stave off a breaker and win the second game at 14.

Its her 4th straight tourney win (something that puts her in the top 20 of all time), her 16th straight tourney win (tied for 14th all time), and really makes a statement on her place on tour right now.

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Points Implications of results

Longoria’s early loss costs her dearly; there was already going to be a 90 point swing between Mejia and Longoria by virtue of the 2022 Boston Open expiring, and Mejia’s better results closes the gap significantly. Longoria’s lead at the top of the tour is now below 300 points. This is significant because the looming Sweet Caroline Grand Slam was missed last year by Mejia, meaning she has no points to defend and stands to make up a whopping 300 points just by entering the last event of the LPRT season. Unless Paola can turn it around, it is looking more and more like Montse will pip her for the title by season’s end.

Herrera missed this event to receive an award in her home town; she’s now essentially locked into 3rd place for the season, well behind Montse for 2nd, and well ahead of Manilla for 4th.

Other top 10 machinations: Parrilla and Mendez switch places even though both were upset in the quarters. Barrios’ big run moves her up to 7th above Munoz.

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Doubles review:

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

Neutrals got the final they wanted, as #1 Longoria/Salas cruised past Scott/Lawrence in one semi 5,8. In the other semi, Mejia and Manilla are getting more comfortable playing together and dominated the Argentine pair of Centellas/Mendez to make the final as well.

The final was a tense, argumentative affair, as the vets from Mexico tried to hold off the young guns on tour. In the end, they staved off a furious comeback after splitting the first two games, and Longoria/Salas win their 37th career pro doubles title together 4,(14),7

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Women’s Open, other draws

– As noted above, Maricruz Ortiz took out Enriquez to win Women’s Open.

– Ortiz also took the LPRT U21 draw, beating Centellas in the semis and Katz in the final.

– Jolene Sullivan & Jose Flores Jr. took the small Mixed Open RR group.

– Bolivian Miguel Arteaga topped Flores to win the 20-man Open singles draw.

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

Thanks to the Tourney Director @Stuart Solomon for putting this event on!

Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

Beach Bash next weekend, then IRT in Chicago. LPRT is back at the end of April in San Antonio.

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tags

LPRT

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Minnesota HoFame IRT Tourney recap

Montoya the latest player to join the IRT Tier 1 club. Photo Kevin Savory 2022 Portland IRT event

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Rodrigo Montoya

– Doubles; Rodrigo Montoya & Javier Mar

Montoya becomes the 45th ever winner of a Tier 1 event in the Men’s pro tour.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40006

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/q4j

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In the 32s, no surprises and mostly blowouts; only two matches even had games go double digits.

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In the 16s:

– Adam Manilla with a solid win in the 8/9 seed game over Costa Rican @Andres Acuña 11,3. Manilla really rounding out his game so far this season.

– #5 Alejandro Landa forfeits out of the event, likely due to his not quite recovering from the multiple ailments (ankle and back) that hobbled him at the end of the last event. The lack of points will cost him, as he sees his ranking continue to slip. This gives Alan Natera a walkover into the quarters.

– Sam Bredenbeck really pushed #3 Eduardo Portillo , beating him in the first before losing in the breaker. Hometown crowds energized both Bredenbeck brothers this weekend.

– #6 Rodrigo Montoya took out his doubles partner #11 Javier Mar in two close games.

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In the Quarters:

– #1 Daniel De La Rosa took out the lefty American Manilla 7,9

– Natera looked to take advantage of his gifted quarter final appearance, beating #4 Jake Bredenbeck in game one, but Jake took over from there to win (13),3,4.

– Hot-handed Montoya crushed #3 Portillo 4,4. Montoya continues to be the player who I most wish would commit to touring full time, just to see what would happen.

– #2 Conrrado Moscoso , who missed the last event due to some high-level meetings back home in Bolivia, ground out a tactical win over his Canadian nemesis Samuel Murray in game 1 before running away with the match 13,3

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In the Semis:

– DLR was pressed by Jake, losing game one, before regrouping to win (7),10,2 to move into the final and guarantee he retains #1.

– In a surprising result, Montoya improves to 5-4 lifetime over Moscoso with a dominant 13,3 win. Moscoso reportedly was nursing a knee injury, but the 15-3 shellacking of the player who many think is the next #1 is interesting.

In the Finals, Montoya served DLR off the court, winning 15 of his 40 points via Aces. DLR was able to salvage match points against in game two, but games one and three were one-way traffic for Montoya. Its Rodrigo’s first Tier 1 win on the IRT, and is a long time coming for one of the world’s best players.

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Points Implications of results:

Moscoso had a slight chance of regaining the tour #1 if he won, but his semis loss guarantees DLR is in the driver’s seat for a while longer. Moscoso probably doesn’t have a good chance of regaining #1 until the SoCal Open.

Parrilla’s expiring of his huge points win from last year’s Suivant Grand Slam drops him from #3 to #5, giving Jake a career #3 high.

Landa’s absence drops him to #7, while Montoya moves up to #6. Montoya is now just a handful of points out of 4th on tour, and the next two events to expire include an absence for Rodrigo, meaning he’s like to be in the top 4 by June.

Veteran players who are either hurt or retiring continue to plummet: Kane is now #14, Rocky #15, and Alvaro all the way down to #30.

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Doubles review

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

Landa’s last minute W/D caused Moscoso to pick up a new partners last minute … just perhaps the best Male doubles players of all time in DLR. They bashed t heir way to the final. There they met the #1 seeds Montoya/Mar for what was billed as a fantastic match of top doubles play.

In the final, Montoya & Mar won a solid two-games 13,8 over DLR and Moscoso, giving Montoya the double on the weekend and the pair their 6th pro title together. They cement their status as the top doubles team in the world.

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Men’s Open, other draws

– Canadian Kurtis Cullen took out #1 seeded Gatica and #2 seeded Gomez to win the Men’s Open title.

– Kelly Gremley & Vallana Perrault took the Women’s Open Doubles RR draw.

– Meadow Barth & Jordan Barth teamed to take the Mixed Open doubles draw.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew

Thanks to the Tourney Directors John Olson and @KKaren Masberg Bredenbeck for putting this event on and raising the funds to bring pro racquetball back to MN.

Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

We will recap LPRT and HS Nationals later this week.

Next weekend is Beach Bash! The First outdoor major of the year, held on the one-wall courts in Hollywood, Fla. The weekend after that, the IRT is back in action, as well as USAR intercollegiates at Ohio State.

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tags

International Racquetball Tour

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LPRT Boston Open Preview

Can Mejia make it 4 in a row? Photo Kevin Savory US Open 2019

The LPRT is back in Boston for the 2023 Frontline Boston Open Presented by ARK Behavioral Health.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40583

There’s 25 players in Boston, and the draw shakes out to give us a ton of really compelling matchups. The round of 16 here is going to be awesome.

Top20 players missing: #2 Herrera is not here, giving Mejia the #2 seed and a cleaner run to the finals to go after her fourth straight win. The next highest missing player is #15 Lotts. Ironman Maria Renee Rodriguez misses just her 3rd event in five years, as does her Guatemalan partner Gaby Martinez. Lastly #20 Rajsich remains on touring hiatus.

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

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In the 32s, there’s some good starters:

– Last week’s surprise finalist Vargas goes against Costa Rican’ top junior Maricruz Ortiz, a bummer of a draw for Ortiz, who has been training with Sudsy “Rocky Balboa” Monchik in Florida.

– In an all-Argentine youngster matchup, #13 Valeria Centellas goes up against lefty Martina Katz .

– USA U21 junior Annie Roberts gets a close match with veteran LPRT Colombian @Cris Amaya .

– Lastly , two Canadian juniors in Juliette and Marjolaine Parent make their LPRT debuts. Their mom, Monique Parent , is a former Canadian national singles champ and last appeared on the Ladies pro tour in 1985 at the DP event in …. Boston.

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round of 16: there are going to be some barn burners here.

– 8/9: Laime vs Barrios. Right now its advantage Barrios on the strength of her win over Herrera in AZ. But these two are neck and neck and couldn’t have a different gamestyle.

– Vargas plays into Parrilla, a bummer for Leoni to get an early round matchup against a top 4 player despite her lofty seed.

– The winner of the all-Argentina playin between Centellas & Katz plays … the #4 seed Argentine Mendez. I guess we really wanted to ensure all the players from La Albiceleste were gone early.

– Scott vs Munoz. these two are also neck and neck in terms of world talent rankings and this could go either way. Scott topped Munoz at the 2021 US Open, but that was just their 2nd ever meeting (first in 2016, which Munoz took). Edge to Scott.

– Lawrence vs Salas: another gut check for an up and coming player, to see if they can take out a veteran. Salas is 3-0 lifetime and took out Kelani at the World Games last fall and has the slight edge here.

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Projected Qtrs:

– Longoria over Barrios. If it was Laime, i’d give her a slight edge, but i just don’t think Barrios’ game style can ever beat Paola.

– Vargas over Mendez: the last of the all-Argentine meetings in this quarter, and two long-time doubles partners meet.

– Manilla over Scott: USA vs USA but Manilla has the advantage here.

– Mejia over Salas; Mejia is on a roll and isn’t losing to Samantha here.

Semis:

– Longoria over Vargas: Vargas was playing without pressure last week; now there’s expectations and I think Longoria has the better mindset.

– Mejia over Manilla; Erika beat Montse twice in a row in late 2019 they never met prior or since. Lots has changed since then, not the least of which is Mejia being on a 3-tournament winning streak. This is setup to be an awesome match but I think Montse is taking a step ahead of the rest of the tour right now.

Finals; Montse over Longoria to take her 4th straight event. Longoria looking in the mirror and wondering if this is the inevitable changing of the guard.

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Doubles review

No Herrera this weekend, so Mejia teams up with Manilla (who also is missing her newly minted championship partner from US Nationals. Regular teams Centellas/Mendez and Scott/Lawrence form the rest of the top 4 seeds.

In the end, I like Manilla/Mejia to get to the final, but to lose to Longoria & Salas.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.

Look for Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Thanks to the Tourney Director and @USA Racquetball President Stuart Solomon for putting this event on!

Coincidentally, if you’re interested in playing Fantasy Racquetball for this event, the links to the brackets are advertised on LPRT’s main page. The winner each week gets free swag!

Associations

LPRT

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IRT 2023 KWM Gutterman MN Hall of Fame Event

Will Landa give us more talking points this weekend? Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

The IRT returns to the host site of last year’s US Open, the University of Minnesota, for the 2023 Minnesota Hall of Fame IRT event. Thanks once again to the generous sponsorship of Keith Minor and Kwm Gutterman , the pros are back in Minnesota.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40006

The draw for this event is down a bit from what we’ve come to expect out of pro draws, continuing a trend so far in 2023. I’m not sure why this is the case. The first half of 2022 saw draws regularly north of 40 in the singles draws for the IRT, then by October we were mid 30s, and the first four events of 2023 have gone 36,30,31, and just 25 in Minneapolis.

Top20 players missing: just #3 Parrilla missing from the top 10, then a big chunk of the 11-20th ranked guys are out for this event. We’ll end up having one larger round of 32 on thursday, then kick off the main event friday as normal.

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

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In the 32s/1st round, here’s a couple to watch for if the streaming starts up early:

– Cullen-Natera: Natera has been playing well lately and the Canadian will give him a good test.

– Collins-Salgado Jr: can Rodrigo get an upset of the lefty vet?

– Sam Bredenbeck – Gatica: upset watch for the American.

– Carter -Hansen: the Iowa amateur is a dangerous opponent and could give Carter trouble.

– Carrasco-Gomez: i like this matchup that could go either way.

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round of 16:

– Acuna-Manilla could be a barn burner at 8/9: good gut check match for both.

– Landa-Natera: could Landa be distracted after the controversy at the last event?

– Montoya-Mar: the good friends and long-time doubles partners have to face off in singles in the 16s, not for the first time. Impossible to predict who wins; they’ve evenly split their matches going back years. For what it’s worth, Montoya won their most recent meeting, at Mexican Nationals in Juarez a month ago.

– Moscoso- Carrasco: could be a meeting of fellow Bolivians and doubles partners. Not likely to see Conrrado lose here, but he’s been known to lose to his fellow Bolivians at inopportune times.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 De La Rosa over Manilla: a rematch of the same quarter in Atlanta

– #4 Jake versus #5 Landa. To say there’s bad blood here would be an understatement, after Landa’s actions in their doubles match in Atlanta. But, Landa is 12-1 over Jake lifetime. Landa was decently hurt in the last event; is he healthy?

– Portillo versus the Montoya/Mar winner: whoever comes out of the 6/11 can beat Lalo

– Moscoso over Murray; Despite Murray’s tactical acumen, i don’t see Moscoso losing to him again anytime soon.

Semis:

– DLR over Landa; despite Landa’s superior career h2h over DLR, i think his time has past where he can push the #1 player.

– Moscoso over Montoya/Mar winner. Conrrado and DLR have elevated.

Finals; Moscoso takes out DLR again. I see a similar result to what we saw in Atlanta, with slower walls and a slower ball benefitting Conrrado.

A note about the possible rankings: DLR is currently 200 points ahead of Moscoso, but is set to lose around 100 points in delta to Conrrado when the next event expires (the Suivant consulting Grand Slam). So, if Moscoso wins here over DLR in a final, they’ll be amazingly close at the top. I believe Conrrado can re-take #1 spot by just a couple of points if he wins and DLR makes the final.

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Doubles review

9 teams here, and some interesting moves. DLR decides not to enter doubles this event, leaving his US national teammate to find another partner; he picks Moscoso, who then drops his own Bolivian partner Carrasco just a couple weeks before they are set to play at PARC. It all seems like a moot point though, because Montoya/Mar are #1 and are the clear favorites.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.

Look for Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots!

Associations: International Racquetball Tour

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Montana IRT Satellite and Xelani Open Recap

Natera wins in Montana. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

No Tier 1s or major events on the calendar last week, but we did have a couple of interesting pro-level competitions going on. Here’s a quick recap of two events that had some pros and internationals competing.

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First up; the Montana Winter Classic, an IRT-500 (which means basically players get $500 per round won from the quarters onward). This tournament drew a handful of regular touring pros and some top Canadian players.

r2sports page: https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=40488

Pro finals: Alan Natera Chavez took out Thomas Carter . Semi finalists included recently crowned National Singles Open champion Ty Hedalen

Open doubles: won by LPRT #4 Erika Manilla and Matthew Ivar Majxner , who topped the all-Canada pairing of Lee Connell and @Tanner Prentice .

Men’s Open singles: also won by Manilla in a small RR group.

Bravo to the Montana crew, Andrew Weber , Majxner, and others who made this tournament possible.

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Xelani Open

https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=40450

the brainchild of top Florida amateur Alex Zamudio , this tournament featured an old-school open only draw; big money to enter, winner takes all style competition.

25 Pros from around the country and around the world entered the singles (34 together for 17 teams in the doubles), and here’s how the action went down.

Pro singles:

The story of the tourney had to be Mexico 21U player Diego Gastelum , who upset Ecuador international Juan Francisco Cueva in the 16s, then Guatemala’s Edwin Galicia in the quarters, then the #1 seed and easy tournament favorite @aAlejandro Herrera in the semis to make the finals as an #12 seed.

From the bottom side, Ecuador’s longtime veteran @Jose Daniel Ugalde worked his way th rough the draw, upset #2 @Nolsen Jimenez

in the semis, then took out Gastelum in the final to claim the big prize.

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The Doubles draw was wide open, with top seeds falling early on both sides. The #1 seeded team of Zamudio & Morales was taken out by Gastelum & Gomez in the quarters, while the #2 seeds (Team Ecuador Ugalde/Cueva) was upset by the legendary Sudsy Monchik playing with Charles George . Neither of these upset-minded pairings could go much further though.

In the end, the Floridians rose to the top, with Herrera (paired with Bolivian Fronton veteran @Marcelo Vargas Aguilar ) taking on Jimenez and Mike Harmon from the bottom half. Jimenez and Harmon blew it up in the final, winning 6,6 to take the title.

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Next up, we have a busy weekend.

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

Next weekend we have HS Nationals, IRT in Minnesota, and the LPRT in Boston.

Posted on

IRT Williams Accounting and Consulting Atlanta Grand Slam Recap

DLR back in the winner’s circle, and back to #1. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Daniel De La Rosa

– Doubles: @Rodrigo Montoya and Andree Parrilla

DLR wins his 11th career IRT title, and he is now tied for 12th all time in the tour’s history.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=39119

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/2ix

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In the 32s: a couple of results stood out to me:

– Carrasco loses to Guatemalan #1 Salvatierra 8,14. Even though these two are similar in stature on the world rankings stage, I would have thought the Bolivian would have pulled it out.

– Jose Daniel Ugalde did not seem that pressed to defeat Erick Trujillo 8,11. An interesting result; Ugalde now plays into Acuna, who he beat at 2022 Worlds in the group stage. Could we see a run?

– Erik Cuevas takes out Jesus Guillermo Ortega in a breaker. This seems like an upset in my book, as he’d beaten Cuevas the last couple of meetings.

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In the 16s, a couple of notable results for me:

– #4 @Alejandro Landa held off the usually dangerous @Jaime Martel in two. These two players will both be part of a larger issue later on in the weekend, so read on.

– In kind of a shocking result for me, #11 Sebastian Franco took out #6 Rodrigo Montoya with ease 4,11. The Jeckyl and Hyde performances of Montoya continue; in my mind he’s one of the bets 3-4 players out there, but he can’t seem to beat players consistently that he should beat. Franco had lost 8 of his last 9 matches on tour, mostly to amateur entries in the opening rounds of events, and should never beat a guy who’s making pro finals.

– Ugalde could not continue his run, and Acuna took him out with ease to move into the quarters.

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In the Quarters, chalk.

– #1 Daniel De La Rosa cruises past @Adam Manilla

– #4 Landa reverses his recent trend in events and lives up to his seeding, taking out his former doubles partner @Samuel Murray in a breaker.

– #3 @Jake Bredenbeck crushed Franco 8,3 to make the semis for the 4th time in his last 6 IRT events.

– #2 Andree Parrilla blasted #7 @Andres Acuña 3,4 to move into the semis and squelch any possible upset.

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In the Semis

– DLR got a walk-over against Landa, (his doubles partner both this weekend and on the US Team) after Landa tweaked his ankle in their doubles match earlier in the day.

– #3 Jake got a solid win over his long-time rival Parrilla to move into his 3rd final in his last 6 events.

In the Finals, DLR and Jake played the expected “close but never really in doubt” match, with DLR winning 10,12. Jake continues to really make a mark on tour and seems a safe bet to get another tourney win eventually.

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Points Implications of results

– Thanks to Moscoso’s absence and DLR’s performance, Daniel will re-ascend to #1 on tour for the time being. And going forward for a while, it will be a dog-fight at the top as both DLR and Moscoso have varying results expiring and we may see more flip flopping. Just hope Conrrado doesn’t miss events.

– Portillo’s absence costs him: he’ll drop slightly in the rankings.

– Despite his early loss, Montoya will move up to #7

– Adam Manilla will rise up to #9, his career best.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/n9s

The doubles draw overall was very chalk-y, with the top 4 seeds advancing to the semis and the top 2 to the final.

However, that’s not the storyline of the weekend.

In a tense semi-final between #2 seeds DLR/Landa and #3 Murray/Jake, a possible match-point for the US champs was given in the form of an avoidable hinder. It was a wrap around shot and though Jake was definitely in the way, it was a borderline hinder call. Which, upon appeal, is exactly what was called; the line judges’ calls turned the avoidable into a replay hinder, much to the chagrin of Landa.

Landa, without warning, shockingly spiked the ball back towards the back wall, ostensibly towards the line judge who called the rally a replay instead of an avoidable, nearly pegging Murray in the face. Murray and Jake were shocked that Landa received no technical or warning for the action, and the match was over on the next rally. But the reaction on social media was fast and furious; how could there not have been any penalty given for this behavior at the moment? The referee was a highly experienced IRF level ref in Jaime Martell; did he miss what happened?

Murray, Landa’s long-time doubles partner, took the rare-step of posting on KRG specifically to call out what happened, and Landa took the also rare step of responding (and not apologizing) in real time defending his actions.

I’m sure this is not the last we hear of this; IRT generally issues fines and suspensions after the fact (and in private) even if there’s no on-the-court penalty. But more importantly, Landa’s US National team spot is now in severe jeopardy. He was already on probation for actions stemming from the PARC event last April, and his actions here could absolutely lead to a suspension from the team. The timing couldn’t be worse, as Landa just re-qualified for the team by winning National doubles two weeks ago, and is scheduled to play both singles and doubles at the upcoming 2023 PARC event, a qualifier for the 2023 Pan Am Games.

In the final…the chatter in the Facebook live stream group chat focused on asking why Landa was even allowed to be playing, but the play on the court was far more interesting than the keyboard warriors in action. Landa was clearly hobbled; pundits said it was his ankle but he seemed to also be favoring his back to this observer, and DLR was taking a ton of shots that normally Landa would be handling. Parrilla and Montoya tried to work the ball to the right hand side as much as possible; when it was left out in the middle, more often than not DLR would bury it.

The match still went breaker, but Landa’s stamina ran out; long-time rivals Parrilla and Montoya took the tiebreaker 11-6 to take the doubles title.

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Men’s Open, other draws

– Natera beat Trujillo to take Men’s Open. Solid wins by Ortega Jr to make the semis.

– Veteran Ecuadorian team Ugalde/Cueva topped Atl locals Cunningham/Miller to win Open Doubles.

– Costa Rican junior Maricruz Ortiz took the Men’s Elite singles crown.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Favio Soto , Pablo Fajre , @Karen Grisz and the IRTLive crew

Thanks to the Tourney Director @Michael Miller for putting this event on, and thanks as always to title sponsor Donald Williams for everything you do in the sport.

Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

There’s an IRT satellite in Montana next weekend with some great talent that we will cover. The unsanctioned big-money Xelani open is in Miami and hopes for a full 32 draw of top Open players. The weekend after both LPRT and IRT are in full stops while High School Nationals happens in Portland. A busy March coming up.

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tags

@iInternational Racquetball Tour

Posted on

LPRT Arizona Pro Stop Recap

Vargas had a fantastic tournament upon her return from maternity leave. Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Montse Mejia

– Doubles: Paola Longoria and Rhonda Rajsich

Mejia wins her 3rd straight LPRT event and has a 12-match winning streak on tour (see https://rball.pro/qx5 for longest LPRT winning streaks). In doubles, Longoria teams with Rajsich for the first time since 2016 and wins the title again, improving her pro doubles record to 6-0 with her long-time rival (see https://rball.pro/i0s for Longoria’s full LPRT doubles match history)

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=39119

Interestingly, the entire LPRT stop was played out by early Saturday afternoon. I cannot recall seeing a pro event that ended before at the earliest Saturday Night. This took me by surprise when the ladies started on Thursday (normally they don’t kick into gear until Friday morning).

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

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

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In the 32s: a tale of two kinds of qualifiers. Several of the round of 32s were complete blowouts: three of the scores were of the “1 and 0” variety. But then there were several interesting matches:

– Both players were gone a while; but only one could advance. #16 Maria José Vargas took out @Rhonda Rajsich in a breaker to earn a shot at Longoria.

– #12 Valeria Centellas was definitely pressed by USA’s Lexi York , going 11-8 in the breaker before advancing.

– I was expecting a bit more from Lucia Gonzalez against #9 Kelani Lawrence ; after losing the first game 11, the American turned on the guns and raced to an 11,3 win.

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In the 16s, an absolute shock.

– Vargas upset #1 Longoria with a well earned tie-breaker win. Vargas came back big in both the first and third games and just played better than Longoria. This is the earliest exit for Longoria in an LPRT event since January of 2007, and she now has more losses so far this season (four) than she had in the prior four seasons combined, and we still have several stops to go (Longoria career W/L here: https://rball.pro/z2i, and see here for Longoria’s losses on tour https://rball.pro/v2p.). Bravo to Vargas for this win, but the storyline has to be this: are we looking at the potential fall of the long-time #1?

Other Round of 16 observations:

– #9 @Kelani Lawrence with a great win over #8 Brenda Laime .

– #6 Jessica Parrilla with a solid win over #11 Hollie Scott ; these two are very closely matched.

– #2 Alexandra Herrera held off Gaby Martinez in two tight games in a round of 16 that should have been a semi (not unlike Vargas-Longoria). Solid win for Herrera to avoid a possible upset here.

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In the Quarters, more crazy results.

– Vargas continues her run by taking out USA’s Lawrence in a breaker. This could have been a huge emotional letdown for a player to have to come back after toppling #1, but Vargas held serve in a match she should win, despite just coming back from months off.

– #5 Natalia Mendez continues her dominance over #4 Erika Manilla by winning in a breaker and donutting the American #1 11-0 along the way. Mendez has never lost to Manilla in a match tracked by PRS, dating back to their junior days.

– #3 Mejia reversed the result against Parrilla from Mexican Nationals last week, winning easily to move on.

– #2 Herrera was taken out in two closer games by #7 Angelica Barrios 12,11. The Bolivian champ improves to 3-2 lifetime over Herrera.

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In the Semis

– Vargas continues her run, downing her long-time doubles partner Mendez to make the final as a #16 seed. Its the 4th highest seed to ever make a final in the known seeding history of the tour.

– Mejia crushed Barrios 6,5 to return to the final for the 3rd straight event, and for the fourth time this season.

In the Finals, Vargas took game one 15-12 but (finally) ran out of gas and Mejia cruised the rest of the way, winning (12),2,4 to take her third straight title.

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Points Implications of results

– Around this time last year, we were asking if Herrera was the heir apparent after two straight wins over Longoria. Well, Mejia now has won three straight events and should overtake Herrera for #2 on tour if My math is correct.

– Longoria remains #1 still though by a sizeable margin (nearly 600 points) and it will take a number of additional early round upsets for Mejia to overtake her for the title, especially by season’s end.

– Barrios’ result jumps her up from #11 to #8

– Laime’s upset will drop her 3 spots from #8 to #11.

– Vargas’ return and run to the final will jump her from #15 to #12, and she’s in a good position to continue to rise.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/79b

Longoria and Rajsich race to the title, beating the reigning US champs Michelle Key and Erika Manilla in a breaker along the way. Not a good result for team USA, who could not focus on Rajsich enough to take a winnable match.

Team Argentina (Valeria CentellasValeria CentellasValeria Centellas and Mendez) had a great run to the final, in a solid tuneup for upcoming international events.

The story of the tourney though was the shock early round loss of the reigning Mexican champs and #1 seeds Herrera/Mejia, who were upset in the quarters by Barrios & Laime. Now, Barrios is no doubles slouch; she’s a world champ in fact and just won Bolivian doubles … nor is Laime, who has proven to be a heck of a doubles player in the last year, but this is still a shocking loss.

The ladies doubles competition at the upcoming PARC is going to be wide open.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters JT R Ball , @jJerry Josey , Timothy Baghurst and others who got on the mike and helped out (@Richard Eiseman )

Thanks to the Tourney Director Jim Winterton and to the RPAA for putting this event on!

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Next up?

We’ll recap the IRT event and publish tomorrow.

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

Next weekend is a IRT satellite event in Montana and the non-sanctioned Xelani open in Miami, which should be interesting to watch since its a non-pro event with big money and limits on the entrants.

LPRT is back in action the weekend following, returning to Boston.

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tags

LPRT

Posted on

LPRT Arizona Preview

Rajsich makes her triumphant return to the LPRT. Photo 202 USAR Doubles by Kevin Savory

Big props to @Jim Winterton and all of Arizona Racquetball (known as the Racquetball Players Association of Arizona or RPAA for putting on a full blown ladies pro stop in conjunction with their state doubles event. Official title of this event: “023 Arizona State Doubles Championships w\ LPRT hosted by RPAA,” held at the same facility at Arizona State that two weeks ago hosted National Doubles.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=39119

Big news this weekend; the return of several big names on tour from the last few years. First off, 4-time LPRT champ and future Hall of Famer Rhonda Rajsich is in the pro draw for the first time since she “quiet quit” the tour after last year’s Kansas City grand slam. The Arizona resident didn’t have to go far to enter this event, likely a factor for her entry. Also back this weekend off of maternity leave is former #2 player on tour Maria José Vargas . Unfortunately for all parties, Rajsich and Vargas have to play first round. Lastly, former World champion Ana Gabriela Martínez is entered for just the third time this season; she’s seen her ranking plummet and will have to fight her way back up.

Top-20 players missing: just two: #8 Salas, likely taking a break after nationals. #17 Enriquez is not here, also likely taking a break after Mexican Nationals.

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

– #16/17 Vargas vs Rajsich. I have no idea who’s been playing, or how much. Rhonda was at US Nationals two weeks ago and finished in 3rd. But Vargas is closer to her prime and is the favorite here.

– #9 Kelani Lawrence gets the always dangerous Lucia Gonzalez in the first and is a prime upset watch.

– #12 Valeria Centellas faces off against #21 Lexi York in what could be an interesting first rounder.

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round of 16:

– #1 Paola Longoria versus Vargas: wow; a year ago this would have been a final. Now its a round of 16. I’m guessing Vargas is not nearly in playing shape to challenge Paola right now.

– #8/#9: If Lawrence can get past Lucia, she projects into Brenda Laime in a good old-fashioned Mid-Atlantic showdown. Advantage Laime here, who can’t quite get out of the #8 seed and a Longoria quarter.

– #5-12 is an all-Argentine affair with Natalia Mendez and Centellas facing off.

– #6 Jessica Parrilla versus #11 Hollie Scott : tough one: Scott beat Jessica the last time they met but it was 11-10. Parrilla just topped both Herrera and Mejia to qualify at Mexican Nationals and is on fire. Advantage Leoni.

– #10 Angelica Barrios , fresh off her triple crown at Bolivian Nationals, faces #7 @Carla Munoz . Advantage Barrios, who is 3-1 lifetime against the Chilean.

– #15 Martinez over #2 Alexandra Herrera : what an awful matchup for Herrera, who is #2 on tour but yet is just 1-5 lifetime against Gaby. Practically any other play-in and you’d favor the lefty, but she is the underdog here.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 Longoria over #8 Laime: after one shock loss, Paola won’t look past the Colombian again. It still likely goes breaker.

– #4 Erika Manilla over #5 Mendez: Manilla is focused and won’t look past the challenging Mendez.

– #3 Mejia over #6 Parrilla: I know this is a reverse of what just happened in Juarez, but Mejia will see the draw opened up and will pounce.

– #15 Gaby over #10 Barrios: Angelica has a win over Gaby, but it was on home soil internationally. Gaby’s the better player.

Semis:

– Longoria over Manilla: Erika got a game off Paola at the US Open but then collapsed. What did she learn, and what can she do to take the next step? I expect another breaker, closer in the breaker.

– Mejia over Martinez: Montse has topped Gaby the last four times they’ve played, and will do it again.

Finals; Mejia over Longoria.

Montse has beaten Paola twice in a row on the LPRT, the last time handily, and should do it again. Yes, Paola just destroyed Montse at Mexican Nationals … something’s different about Nationals versus pros for Longoria right now. A year ago we were asking whether Alexandra was the new heir-apparent … now I think we know who is.

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Doubles review

We don’t normally preview in detail pro doubles, but there’s a ton of interesting storylines in Arizona.

First off, Mejia and Herrera are back together; after splitting up for a couple of events and not really being happy with the move, they’re back together, the #1 seeds, and the clear favorites. They just took out Longoria/Salas to take Mexican Nationals together and break something like a 15-year streak of those two winning the title in mexico.

But there’s a ton of good teams from the top half to contend with. Team Argentina (Mendez/Centellas) is here, along with the former team Argentine Vargas (playing here with Munoz). USA’s vanquished former national champs Scott/Lawrence are the #5 seeds, and two very dangerous doubles players in Barrios/Laime are the #8 seeds.

In the bottom half … Longoria’s regular partner Salas is not here, so she’s teamed with Rajsich as the #3 seed, but I can’t see them getting past the newly crowned USA champs Manilla and Michelle Key. I see Manilla/Key taking out both the Longoria team and then the #2 Guatemalan team of Martinez/Rodriguez before losing to the Mexican champs in the final.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.

Look for Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Associations

LPRT

Posted on

IRT Williams Accounting & Consulting Grand Slam Preview

Can Jaime Martell make a run in Atlanta? Photo USOpen19 via Kevin Savory

The Men’s tour returns to Atlanta and has its first Grand Slam of the 2023 season at Recreation Atlanta, in Lilburn, GA. Great friend of the sport Donald Williams and his namesake companies have sponsored the Grand slam event.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40471

The draw includes 31 pros, and continues a downward participation trend we’re seeing on the men’s tour this year. Three events and the singles draws have gone 36, 30 and 31. Most of the 2022 tour events had draws in the 40-48 player range and its a situation to monitor. Perhaps as we get closer to the international events we’ll have better turnout from international teams.

Top20 players missing; we’re missing the newly ascended #1 player on tour Moscoso due to reasons that will likely be announced soon. We’re also missing #3 Portillo (injury), #9 Waselenchuk (injury), #12 Mercado (visa/travel issues), #13 Carson (semi-retiring), #15 Mar (unknown), #18 Patata (travel), and #19 Garay (unknown). These absences give Jake a career best #3 seed and give some really high seeds to mid-teens players.

Most importantly, it opens a huge door for #1 seed and #2 ranked Daniel De La Rosa to return to #1. This tournament expires the 2021 Sarasota open, which Moscoso won, so he’s losing 400 rankings points with no defense. Meanwhile, DLR has the chance to replace his semis loss (220 points) at that event with Grand Slam points this weekend. By my calculations, if DLR gets to at least the semis, he’ll jump Moscoso and return to #1.

The 31 players in the draw are playing a straight draw, so we start with the round of 32. Here’s some openers to watch:

– 16/17 Kadim Carrasco vs Guatemalan Juan Salvatierra : Carrasco is fresh off a doubles win at Bolivian Nationals, and had a quick turnaround and long flight to Atlanta here; he’ll battle jet lag fatigue in this match but should advance.

– #4 Alejandro Landa versus #29 DJ Mendoza : Landa has gone one-and-done in two straight IRT events, complaining all the while about the slower ball. Is he in his own head at this point? Could we see a huge upset at the hands of USA 18U team member Mendoza? Probably not here, but something to watch for.

– #10 Erick Trujillo versus #23 Jose Daniel Ugalde : Trujillo gets a very tough opener in the veteran Ecuadorian, who has some solid international wins in his career. Upset watch.

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Round of 16: matches to watch for:

– #5 Samuel Murray vs #12 Alan Natera : is Murray back to being 100% ? He won the Canadian qualifier, but Natera played solidly at the last event.

– #4 Landa vs #13 Jaime Martell : Martell can get wins and can upset Landa if he’s distracted. Landa has been distracted for weeks; i’m going with a Martell upset.

– #7 Andres Acuña versus #10 Trujillo: this is a solid matchup of two players on the rise. Acuna is higher seeded and is the better player, but this is the kind of statement match Trujillo can build on. If Trujillo wants into the top 10 on the IRT, this is the kind of match he needs to win.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 DLR over #8 @Adam Manilla Manilla was the star of USA Nationals, winning mixed with his sister @erErika Manila and surprisingly making the men’s doubles final with Wayne Antone . He was on fire all weekend; can he press the two-time defending IRT champ?

– #13 Martel over #5 Murray: last time these two played, it was a 2-game win Jaime and that was when Sam was full strength.

– #6 Rodrigo Montoya over #3 Jake: these two have played a bunch since both were on the WRT back in 2015. Rodrigo leads H2H 5-4, and has won the last two, and is coming off an impressive win at Mexican Nationals.

– #2 Andree Parrilla over #7 Acuna: Andree finally gets a straight forward path into the weekend and won’t drop the ball.

Semis:

– DLR over Martel: Jaime’s run ends.

– Montoya over Parrilla: he’s the better player right now.

Finals: DLR over Montoya; Rodrigo has a handful of wins over DLR in their careers, but mostly DLR beats his fellow countryman and won’t miss the opportunity to get 600 valuable ranking points to take back control of the tour.

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Doubles review

– USA National champs Landa and DLR have (finally) paired up on tour and are the #2 seeds. They’ll be challenged by some newish looking teams (#3 seeds are Murray and Jake, who have played together a couple of times but not for quite a while) but should advance to the final.

#1 seeds Montoya and Parrilla used to be a frequent pairing and have a 9-4 career IRT doubles record together, but I can’t see them topping the excellent DLR/Landa pair.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.

Look for Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots!

Thanks to the Tourney Director Donald Williams for putting this event on!

Associations

@International Racquetball Tour

Posted on

Nationals Weekend Wrap-up

Adam Manilla makes his first ever National team with sister Erika, winning the Mixed USA National title. Photographer Kevin Savory

Here’s a re-cap of the big Nationals weekend! USA Racquetball , Racquetball Canada , Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol and Bolivia all had National level events this weekend that we regularly cover and load into the database.

USAR had National doubles team qualifying (along with amateur singles), Mexico hosted National Singles and Doubles (though they didn’t play Mixed), and Canada had their Winter 2022-23 season Singles only qualifier.

Congrats to the Open/National team winners on the weekend:

USA:

– Men’s Doubles: @aAlejandro Lang and Daniel De La Rosa

– Women’s Doubles: Erika Manilla and Michelle De La Rosa

– Mixed Doubles: Adam Manilla and @Erika Manilla

Mexico:

– Men’s Singles: Rodrigo Montoya , Eduardo Portillo runner-up

– Women’s Singles: Paola Longoria , Jessica Parrilla runner-up

– Men’s Doubles: Rodrigo Montoya & Javier Mar

– Women’s Doubles: Alexandra Herrera & Montse Mejia

Canada:

– Men’s Singles: Samuel Murray

– Women’s Singles: Michele Morrissette

Bolivia

– Men’s Doubles: Moscoso/Carrasco

– Women’s Doubles: Barrios/Daza

For USA, Mexico and Bolivia, these winners (and singles finalists) now qualify to represent their country in the 2023 IRF events.

– PARC in April in Guatemala City

– Central American & Caribbean Games in July in the DR (Mexico Only)

– The big one: The 2023 Pan American Games in Chile in October (though qualifying for Pan Am games depends on performances in PARC, and not all national team members from each country are automatically qualified).

Note: different countries use different rules: the PARC representatives for the USA will be the existing 2022 team and these winners “terms” start July 1. I’m not sure what Mexico will do for its 2023 PARC team at this point, and Canada’s actual Nationals are in May to determine the Worlds/Pan Am games team.

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Links to tourney sites:

– USA: https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=39974

– Mexico: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=40588

– Canada: https://www.trackie.com/…/northern…/484898/…

– Bolivia: n/a

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PRS links:

USA:

– Men’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/rzm

– Women’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/lg7

– Mixed Doubles: https://rball.pro/9h8

Mexico:

– Men’s Singles: https://rball.pro/83p

– Women’s Singles: https://rball.pro/sp6

– Men’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/9pd

– Women’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/o10

Canada:

– Men’s Singles: https://rball.pro/bpr

– Women’s Singles: https://rball.pro/8o5

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Lets recap the action.

USA:

These players qualify for the US National team with terms starting on 7/1/23. See this link for a history of US National team members: https://docs.google.com/…/1DSwDofrH12MCVotKvLb9…/edit…

– USA Men’s Doubles Recap:

Newly switched De La Rosa paired with another former Mexican national in Landa to capture the Men’s Doubles title. They were pushed to a 5th by the Bredenbeck brothers, but blew them away 11-2 in the breaker. From the top side, defending national champs Rocky Carson and @Charlie Pratt were taken out by the surprise pairing of Adam Manilla and amateur Wayne Antone . Manilla and Antone couldn’t do much against two top-5 IRT pros in the final, losing in three straight.

– USA Women’s Doubles:

@Erika Manilla and Michelle De La Rosa dethroned the defending champs Scott & Lawrence in four games to take the title. mDLR makes her 3rd National team while Erika makes her 4th straight.

– USA Mixed Doubles:

The Manilla siblings took down two-time IRT champ De La Rosa and Scott to claim the MIxed title. This is the first time Adam has qualified to represent the USA in an international competition.

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Mexico:

– Men’s Singles:

In a massive draw, #1 seed Montoya held serve and ran a gauntlet of tough players to take the title. It is his 3rd National singles title since 2018 and his 4th time qualifying for Singles.

He certainly earned it: by virtue of FMR’s weird seeding, a slew of better-than-their-ranking players were drastically under-seeded and played into top players early. Montoya defeated, in order, Eduardo Garay in the 32s, 7-time Junior national champ Jose Carlos Ramos in the 16s, then rising star Trujillo in the quarters, his doubles partner Mar in the semis, and then current top-4 IRT player Portillo in the winner’s bracket final. Phew.

Portillo dropped to the loser’s bracket and topped Parrilla for the second time in two days to finish in 2nd place and secure his first ever Mexican National team spot.

– Women’s Singles

Even though she’s faltered a bit lately, Longoria crushed the competition this weekend, beating Parrilla 4,2,6 in the semis and Mejia 2,3,8 to win yet another Mexican National title. Our records only go back to 2014, but it is believed that Paola has won every singles title save for one since 2007.

– Men’s Doubles

Mar/Montoya won their 4th National title in 5 years by taking an 11-9 5th game thriller over Portillo/Parrilla. Fun fact: Montoya has been in every single Mexican National doubles final since 2016.

– Women’s Doubles

It finally happened: Longoria & Salas were beaten in a Mexican Nationals event. The 15-time defending champions (that’s every single tournament since 2007) were toppled by Mejia/Herrera in a 5-game showdown. It didn’t look like it would be close, with the two long-time veterans taking the first two games. however, the lefty/righty pair stormed back to take the next three games and cruise in the 5th 11-6 for their first Mexican National title.

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Canada:

– Men’s Singles

Samuel Murray shook off an injury that has vexed him for months and outlasted #2 Coby Iwaasa in five tight games. It couldn’t be any closer, with Sam winning in the 5th 12-10 to take yet another Canadian National event. The two players split the selection events and will remain the top 2 seeds at Canadian Nationals in May.

– Women’s Singles

Michele Morrisette took her 2nd career Canadian National event title, defeating the #4 seed Danielle Ramsay in the final. Ramsay had topped #1 seed Christine Keay in a big upset and was the first time she had advanced to a National level final.

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Bolivian National Doubles:

From what we can glean from Facebook posts, Barrios & Daza took Bolivian Doubles over Sabja and an unknown partner.

For the men, it was four familiar names in the final, but they were teamed up in an unexpected manner. Moscoso teamed with Carrasco, while Moscoso’s regular partner @Roland Keller teamed with his brother @Carlos Keller Vargas. In a hard hitting final, Moscoso and Carrasco came out on top.

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Phew. Lots to recap.

Next up on the schedule? Per https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbI… we have a week break then both the International Racquetball Tour and the LPRT are back in action; IRT in Georgia for a Grand Slam, LPRT in Arizona.