Author: Todd Boss

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WRT 2018 Canadian Open Preview

The World Racquetball Tour is back in action, hosting its 3rd tourney of 2018 and its first event since May. The tour is in Calgary … which is the first time (as far as I can tell) that pro racquetball has ever been hosted in this Alberta city.

There’s 24 players in the Men’s draw, including many IRT regulars. The draw represents a nice balance of Northern Hemisphere countries: 8 Canadians, 9 Mexicans, 6 Americans.

Lets take a look at the draw and highlight some notable potential match-ups and make some predictions.

In the 32s:
– Samuel Murray vs Taylor Knoth; Murray, the current #6 ranked IRT player, makes just his 2nd ever WRT appearance and is an early tourney favorite despite his #21 seed here. Knoth gets an unlucky match-up; he’s got the potential to advance in any pro tourney he enters, as evidenced by the win he got over a regular touring pro the last time he entered a pro draw (Jan 2018). I expect Murray to advance but Knoth will play him tough.
– Eduardo Lalo Portillo vs Lee Connell: Portillo gets a tough match-up against the veteran Connell, who has been playing pro events since Lalo was 5.

In the 16s:
– the 8/9 match-up between WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball outdoor specialist Luis Avila and #8 seeded Justus Benson could be interesting. These two met on the WRT once before, in Sept 2016 with Avila advancing easily. Has Benson closed the gap?

– Murray v Alex Cardona. What a brutal round of 16 for both players; this is a semis quality match. Honestly, this is a great example of why you should have protected seeding for top ranked IRT players doing drop-ins to the WRT. Ironically, the only other time Murray played the WRT … he also met Cardona in the 16s. It was Atlanta 2015 and Cardona got him in a tie-breaker, but we’re 3 years on and these players are trending in opposite directions. Murray advances in two solid games.

– Andree Parrilla v Tim Landeryou; a great match-up between one of Mexico’s best and one of Canada’s best. Both players are routinely making quarters or semis of their federation National events. Parrilla has made the quarters or better in 7 of the last 11 IRT events he’s played in and is fresh off of a semis appearance in the US Open. Parrilla advances but it isn’t easy.

– Coby Iwaasa v Christian Longoria; another tough round of 16 match-up here; Iwaasa excelled at 2018 Worlds, losing two very tight matches to IRT top-10 ranked player Mario Mercado. I think Iwaasa upsets Longoria here and advances on home soil.

– Gerardo Franco Gonzalez v Alan Natera Chavez; a great match between two country-men who are up and coming players. Natera beat Franco in Mexico Nationals earlier this year while making a huge run to the semis and has been playing very solid. Look for a Natera win again here.

Potential Quarter finals match-ups
– #1 David Horn v #9 Avila: Horn’s slow start to the IRT season has dropped him to #12 there, but he remains #1 in the WRT. He should advance past fellow Californian Avila here.

– #21 Murray vs #4 Parrilla: Another great match here; Parrilla has met Murray already twice this year on the IRT and beaten him both times, including a solid 8,8 defeat at the US Open two weekends ago. Look for Parrilla to advance.

– #3 Jaime Martell Neri vs Iwaasa: Martell is the winner of the most recently held WRT event, beating both Horn and Bredenbeck to take the Atlanta Open in May. He played a couple of IRT Satellite events in Mexico in September with mixed results, but may have his hands full here. I’m not sure which way this potential match-up goes, but it’ll be tight.

– #2 Jake Bredenbeck versus Natera: Jake has been snake-bitten at IRT events lately; he’s fallen in the 16s or early in seven straight IRT tourneys. He’s gotten pretty rotten draws, and has been “stuck” right in that tough ranking range where he is constantly playing into one of the top 3 players in the round of 16. But on the WRT he remains tough; making the finals of 3 of the last 4 WRT events and winning in January (a solid win over Rodrigo Montoya Solís ). Natera probably gives Jake a solid game but falls at this gate.

Semis projection:
– Parrilla-Horn: The 1/4 match here was the 8/9 match in Laurel, won by Parrilla before he dropped an 11-10 heart-breaker to Rocky Carson. I think Andree gets his number again and advances to the final.

– Jake vs Iwaasa: If Iwaasa gets this far, he’ll try to take out both Bredenbeck brothers in one event (he faces Sam Bredenbeck in the first round). If this is Jake-Martell, it’ll be a rematch of the Atlanta 2018 final. Jake is 6-1 lifetime over Martell but he’s 0-1 this calendar year.

Finals projection: Parrilla over Jake. Jake is 3-0 lifetime over Parrilla … but all 3 matches were in 2015. Parrilla is on a tear and is the favorite for me to win this weekend in Calgary.

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There’s a solid doubles draw in Calgary; 10 teams. I’ll go with the team of Murray/Jake over Cardona/Franco in the final.

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US Open Women’s Pro Singles Final Review and event wrap

Longoria wins her 9th US Open title.

Match report in the database: https://bit.ly/2yrkHMq

Here’s a wrap-up of all the LPRT singles posts for this year’s US Open:

Congratulations to Paola Longoria, who captured her 9th career US Open title by defeating #3 Samantha Salas Solis 9,2,5. Paola has not lost at this event since 2010, when she was upset in the final by #2 Rhonda Rajsich.

This tournament represents Longoria’s 84th Tier 1 or Grand Slam title, and she seems well on her way towards challenging Kane Waselenchuk‘s overall record for total pro titles (which currently sits at 111).

Paola maintains her current stranglehold on the points lead on the LPRT; she is set to extend her current lead on #2 Frederique Lambert, who was vanquished in the semis by finalist Salas.

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US Open Men’s Pro Singles Final and event wrap-up

The king wins his 14th US Open.

(data now loaded to the PRS database for the event; see this link for the tourney Match Report: https://bit.ly/2PliRnD)

Here’s a quick list of all links to US Open Pro Singles content created for this year’s event:

Congratulations to #3 Kane Waselenchuk, who defeated #4 Daniel De La Rosa in two games 11,6 to capture his 14th US Open crown. Waselenchuk has not been defeated at the sport’s biggest tournament since 2002, when he lost in the semis to one of the sport’s previous legends, Cliff Swain.

Waselenchuk, as is characteristic, did not drop a game in this tournament. He vanquished all comers in two straight, and instead of wondering who might beat him, or even take a game off of him, we marveled at the likes of DLR, or Andree Parilla, or Javier Mar … all of which achieved the amazing accomplishment of scoring double digits in a single game against Waselenchuk.

In winning this event, he also extends his current on the court/non forfeit match winning streak to 66 games, which is third most in the history of the sport (behind only himself; Kane now owns the sport’s top three longest match winning streaks).

Kane’s win, coupled with Rocky Carson‘s semi finals loss and Alex Landa ‘s quarter final upset will not be enough to return Kane to the #1 ranking on tour; he trails Rocky by more than that points delta. But with a couple more similar results, he’ll return to the top of the rankings table. http://www.irt-tour.com/singles-rankings/ .

Congrats to Kane on winning the sport’s top prize, and we hope we see more of him going forward this season as the status of his retirement from the sport still seems to hang in the balance.

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US Open LPRT Ladies Pro Doubles Wrap-Up

Congrats to Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas on their US Open doubles title. Lets review the event.

In the qualifying rounds:
– Yazmine Sabja Ráquetbol and Nancy Enriquez first took out accomplished international doubles player Aimee Aimee Roehler Ruiz, playing with Erika Manilla. Ruiz holds 6 career major international titles and is a tough out in every doubles tourney.
– Sabja and Enriquez turned around and defeated the #5 seeded Michelle De La Rosa and Carla Carla Muñoz Montesinos in two. 

– In another surprise result, the Bolivian team of Jenny Daza Navia and Angelica Barrios took out the experienced USA team of Rhonda Rajsich and Sheryl Lotts to advance to the main draw.

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In the quarters:
– Top seeds and winners of the last four LPRT doubles events Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas Solis advanced in two over Susy Acosta and Kelani Kelani Lawrence (the reigning USA amateur doubles champ)
– Sabja and Enriquez continued their upsetting ways, taking out #4 seeds Argentinian national team of Maria Jose Vargas and Natalia Mendez. Vargas & Mendez are the defending 2018 South American champs and were quarterfinalists at worlds; this is a solid win.
– The Bolivian team of Daza/Barrios upset another favored team in the quarters, taking out Colombian National team reps and #3 seeds Adriana Riveros and Amaya Cris. Riveros/Amaya were semi-finalists at IRF worlds earlier this year and have been representing Colombia as a team for two years now.
– The reigning Mexican national champs and 2018 World runners-up Alexandra Herrera and Montse Mejia advanced easily over Masiel Rivera Oporto and Daniela Molina.

In the semis:
– Top seeds Longoria and Salas put an end to the upset run of Sabja and Enriquez 7,9
– #2 seeds Herrera and Mejia destroyed the Bolivian team of Daza/Barrios 10,2.

The final represented a match-up of in-arguably the two top doubles teams in the world. This was a re-match of the World Open Doubles title in May, the Mexican National Selection event in June, and the first LPRT pro event in August.

In the end, the #1 seeds prevailed in a tight match 10,14 to capture the title.

Paola Longoria and Salas are now an astounding 65-3 together in pro doubles dating to Sept 2013 (the beginning of ladies pro doubles tracking) and have added numerous amateur and international titles on top.

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US Open IRT Mens Pro Doubles Wrap-up

Congrats to Alvaro Beltran and Daniel De La Rosa on their US Open Title.

Here’s the match report for the tourney: https://bit.ly/2C188Lc

Here’s a review of the event.

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First off… for racquetball fans of top-level tournament play, you cannot ask for more out of this doubles draw. Out of the 22 matches in this draw, 14 went to tiebreaker.  13 of the first 19 went tiebreaker, including two 11-10 matches. Every time we run another top-end doubles tourney, we seem to get more and more great play. I love this new focus on doubles in the Men’s Pro game.

An opinion from this observer: I wish the doubles qualified into the 16s and not the quarters: if there’s 23 teams entered it does seem unfair to give byes to four teams and force everyone else to play 2 or even 3 qualifiers.  I’m not sure how this decision was arrived at, if its driven by court availability (possibly) or just attempting to protect the top seeds (also a distinct possibility), but the 5th seeds really have a massive disadvantage as compared to the 4th seeds.

Here’s some notable 1st and 2nd round events for me:
– First, we have to start with the unbelievable match we saw in the round of 32; The 5th overall seeds Jake Bredenbeck and Jose Diaz, who together as a team have made 3 finals in the last year, faced off against a team of 17-yr old phenoms in Sebastian Fernandez and Diego Garcia Quispe. Fernandez and Garcia had the 5th seeds completely flummoxed in the tie-breaker, running out to a 10-0 lead. However, Jake and Jose fought back, and saved off at least 8 attempts at match point across several trades of serves and came completely back to win 11-10. An amazing come-back that I can’t quite say i’ve ever seen in the pro game before. A quick note about the two juniors; they played top-level pro rball in this match and made a bunch of statement wins all weekend on the singles side.

– Andres Acuña and Felipe Camacho got a solid win over a tough doubles team of Charlie Pratt and Dylan Reid.

– Semi-regular IRT players Maurice Miller and DC-area native Troy Warigon teamed up to take out two accomplished IRT pros in Andree Parrilla and Gerardo Franco Gonzalez.

– College buddies from Baldwin-Wallace Thomas Carter and Kyle Ulliman shocked the team of Jansen Allen and Nick Montalbano in the first round.

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The round of 16 had all four “seeded” teams end up winning to qualify to the main draw … but all four matches went tiebreaker.
– David Horn and Mauro Daniel Rojas were stretched to 11-9 by the Miller/Warigon team.
– Bredenbeck/Diaz went 11-8 to advance past the Costa Rican team Acuna/Camacho.
– Top Bolivian team Luis Conrrado Moscoso Serrudo and Roland Keller (the 2018 South American Games champs and 2018 Pan Am Games finalists) took out the Baldwin Wallace alumni team 11-0 in the breaker.
– Lastly, the tough Mexican team of Rodrigo Montoya Solís and Javier Mar had to go to extras to top the Denver duo of Adam Manilla and Nick Riffel.

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The Main draw featured some immediate upsets.
– Jose and Jake kept living on the edge, advancing again 11-10 over the Colombian pairing of Sebastian Franco and Mario Mercado.
– the Mexican team of Montoya & Mar took out the #3 seeds Alejandro Alex Landa and Samuel Murray in a tiebreaker.
– The #2 seeds and reigning IRF doubles champs Alvaro Beltran and Daniel De la Rosa ousted the Bolivian pairing of Moscoso/Keller in a rematch of the 2018 IRF Worlds semi final.
– Lastly, the #1 team of Kane Waselenchuk and Ben Croft, who havn’t lost a doubles match together since 2016, advanced over Horn and Rojas.

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In the semis:
– #1 Croft/Waselenchuk ended the Jake/Jose run, advancing 13,6
– #2 Beltran/DLR were pushed to the edge by country-mates Montoya/Mar, advancing with an 11-8 tiebreaker win.

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The Final represented a rematch of several notable pro doubles matches over the past year: this was the final of last year’s US Open, which resulted in an epic match some called “the greatest match ever played.” This was also the final of the World Doubles event in Denver last May, which ended in a controversial call/walking off the court.

On this night in 2018 in Minneapolis though, the Mexicans could do no wrong and took the doubles title by the surprising score of 11 and 6. It has been quite a year so far for Beltran and DLR; they won the Mexican Nationals, tnen won the world doubles title in Costa Rica, then took the 3-wall WOR doubles crown in Vegas just two weeks ago.

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US Open LPRT Pro Singles Semis Review, Finals preview

We’re to the finals of the Pro singles draws. Lets review the semis, which together went according to prediction but also were surprising.

On the Women’s side,
– #1 Paola Longoria blasted #12 Gaby Martinez 5,0,3 to leave no doubt about who is the current top-dog in the sport. Longoria advances to the final in pursuit of her 9th US Open title.

– #3 Samatha Samantha Salas Solis left no doubt about who the 2nd best player on tour is, advancing past current #2 Frederique Lambert in 3 games. It likely takes the first half of this season for Salas to make up the points gap, but she’s well on her way to regaining her #2 ranking on tour.

So we get the expected final; the 47th LPRT meeting between doubles partners Longoria and Salas. Longoria leads the series 43-3 (https://bit.ly/2QAnMBA) and its a stretch to predict anything but another US Open title for Paola.

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US Open IRT Pro Singles Semis Review, Finals preview

We’re to the finals of the Pro singles draws. Lets review the semis, which together went according to prediction but also were surprising.

On the Men’s side:

– #1 Rocky Carson faced off against #4 Daniel De La Rosa. DLR looked sluggish and slow in game one as Carson rolled to a 15-8 win. But from there, DLR completely dominated, diving all over the court and making great shots. DLR upsets the #1 seed (8),5,5 to advance to his second ever US Open final.

– #3 Kane Waselenchuk, in pursuit of his 14th US Open title (https://bit.ly/2yacvjI) , took down #10 seed Andree Parrilla in two games 3,12. The first game was a blow-out, but the second game was entertaining and competitive, with more than a few questionable/argued calls. But Parrilla hung with Kane til the very end.

Final preview: Kane and DLR have met 15 times on tour (head to head report: https://bit.ly/2EcvuR4); Kane is 14-1 head to head … and that one DLR win was the Canoga Park final last January where Kane suffered his knee injury that took him out for most of last season.

While DLR looked crisp both in the semis victory against Rocky and in the doubles final (more on that later), its a hard stretch so think he has a chance of taking out Kane. But DLR is the kind of player who can do so; he’s a shot maker on the court, he can dive and retrieve balls and make his opponent take that extra shot, and he can mix up his serve when needed. Nonetheless, Kane has been his typical unbeatable self this tourney.

Prediction: Kane in two closer games.

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US Open IRT Men’s Singles Quarters Review, Semis preview

International Racquetball Tour UnitedHealthcare US OPEN Racquetball Championships

As with the ladies, 3 of the 4 top seeds advanced to the Men’s singles semis at the season’s major, and the fourth player to advance was no surprise entrant, having won one IRT event last season and made the finals of another. Lets review the quarters and project the semis and finals.

– #1 Rocky Carson downed #8 Mario Mercado in two games with ease. Mercado did well to advance here, ousting IRF World champion Rodrigo Montoya Solís in the 16s, who many considered a dark horse to go deep at this tourney. But in Carson, Mercado ran into the master of the control game.

– #4 Daniel De La Rosa took out upset-minded #12 Jose Diaz in two straight. De La Rosa ends up eliminating both Diaz’s in this event, putting and end to the Stockton clan’s tournament here.

– #3 Kane Waselenchuk made a statement in his win over #6 Sebastian Franco 6,1. After getting pushed in the 16s by Javier Mar, Kane came out swinging and Franco had no answers on this day.

– #10 Andree Parrilla provided the sole upset in the quarter finals, downing #2 Alex Landa in a tie-breaker. This is not as big of an upset as it seems; these two have played many times at the top levels of racquetball and Parrilla has had more than his fair share of wins.

Semis prediction:
– Carson holds a 15-8 h2h career lead over DLR … but the last time they faced off (Jan 2018) DLR crushed him. Of course … that was Rocky’s first tournament back after knee surgery so that result needs an asterisk. Still, DLR has looked great this tourney and knows how to beat Rocky, so look for a DLR win to advance to the finals.

– Kane and Parrilla famously met int he 2016 US Open round of 16, where Kane handed Andree a triple donut. At the time it was seen as a referendum on the fledgling WRT tour’s place in the racquetball heirarchy, but it is also worth nothing that Parrilla was a few days past his 20th birthday at that point and was a baby in terms of ability. The next time they met was an IRT Final a few months later. Kane is 6-0 against Andree h2h but they havn’t faced each other in more than a year. Meanwhile, Parrilla has been on a great run of form and can hang with anybody. I look for a decently entertaining game with Kane winning in 2, but by no means a blow out.

Final prediction: Kane over DLR in their 16th top-level meeting.

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US Open LPRT Women’s Singles Quarters review

LPRT UnitedHealthcare US OPEN Racquetball Championships

We’re to the business end of this big tourney now; lets take a look at yesterday’s quarters and project out the semis.

Three of the top four seeds are through, and the fourth player through was really no surprise to those watching the women’s world game these days.

– #1 Paola Longoria made quick work of #8 Argentinian Natalia Mendez 2,1,4.
– #12 Gaby Martinez “upset” #4 Alexandra Herrera in four close games, though this was probably the expected result based on Martinez’ win at IRF Worlds in August.
– #3 Samantha Salas Solis continued her recent form over #6 Rhonda Rajsich, winning in four games.
– #2 Frederique Lambert got a solid win over the upset-minded Bolivia Yazmine Sabja Aliss, reversing their historical h2h record.

Semis Preview:
– Martinez gets another shot at Longoria; she got the win at Worlds, but then fell in the first LPRT event of the season at this same gate. I suspect Longoria is “up” for this match again and moves on.
– Despite being the higher seed, Lambert is just 4-12 lifetime against Salas, which included a 3-game domination at the LPRT season opener. Salas moves on to setup yet another finals rematch with Longoria.

Finals prediction: Longoria over Salas in their 47th h2h meeting on tour.

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US Open LPRT Singles 32 and 16 review, Quarters Preview

Here’s a review of Thursday LPRT singles action and a preview of Friday’s quarters.

LPRT round of 32 surprises:

– Argentinian Maria Jose Vargas (the #7 seed) was upset in the 32s, losing to Bolivian veteran international player Jenny Daza Navia.
– Brenda Laime Jalil got an upset win over American Sheryl Lotts in 4.
– #4 Alexandra Herrera was stretched as far as you can go by Michelle De La Rosa , winning 12-10 in the 5th. These two spent an awful long time on the court; the first game was 16-14 and two other games went “extra time.” Tough match.
– Montserrat Perez came from 2 games down to upset #14 Adrienne Fisher Haynes.
– Ana Laura Flores got a upset win over #15 Susy Acosta in 4.
– Bolivian star Yazmine Sabja took out #10 Carla Muñoz Montesinos in 5 games, opening a pathway to the quarters.
– #1 Paola Longoria put two donuts on Erika Manilla … then was stretched to 13-11 in game three to advance by the odd-looking score of 0,0,11.

LPRT round of 16 notables:
– Ana Gabrielle Gaby Martinez had a much easier time with Enriquez this time around, advancing in four (they went 12-10 in the 5th earlier this season).
– Herrera rebounded from nearly being upset in the 32s to advance past Laime in 4.
– Mexican junior phenom Montse Mejia took a game off the #1 Longoria before the champ advanced in 4.
– In a battle of Bolivians, Sabja downed country-mate Daza in a battle of upset seeds to advance to the quarters.

Quarterfinals Preview: don’t forget to run my LPRT top 20 Head to Head matrix to see the “Tale of the Tape” match-up reports for these matches

– #1 Longoria v #8 Natalia Mendez: Longoria 2-0 lifetime on LPRT against Natalia and does not seem likely to fall at this stage.
– #12 Martinez v #4 Herrera: Martinez is the underdog here by seed, but has been on a tear lately and is the favorite to advance.
– #3 Salas v #6 Rhonda Rajsich: Salas is just 6-11 lifetime against Rhonda, but has one 4 of the last 6 meetings on the LPRT. Salas has nearly completed her comeback from surgery last season and is the favorite to advance here.
– #2 Frederique Lambert vs #23 Sabja; They’ve met twice; once in an IRF event, once last year on the LPRT. Sabja took both. I sense her continuing her upset streak at this event. Sabja in 4.