Category: Doubles

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2024 IRF Junior Worlds Recap

One of the biggest tournaments of the year just wrapped up; Junior Worlds 2024, held at the fabulous facility in Guatemala City for the fourth time in out of the last five years. More than 200 Juniors from 14 countries competed there for the last week.

Champions were crowned in Singles, Doubles, and Mixed Doubles in six age groups: 21U, 18U, 16U, 14U, 12U, and 10U, as well as a team competition, meaning that in essence this tournament actually held 30 separate competitions. All 30 competitions are now in the database; If you see any typos, or name corrections, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Reminder: as a practice, Pro Racquetball Stats does not capture full draws for any groups younger than 14yr olds; for the 12s, 10s, and younger we just capture the champions for historical reporting. Junior Doubles only has the gold medal match, not the full draws. If you’d like to see more data than this for juniors in the database, reach out and I’ll guide you on doing data entry.

Congratulations to your champions:

Boys Singles:

– Boys 21U: Jhoel Acha Portugal, Bolivia

– Boys 18U: Jhonathan Flores, Bolivia

– Boys 16U: Sebastian Terrazas, Bolivia

– Boys 14U: Santiago Borja, Bolivia

– Boys 12U: Alejandro Robles Picon, Mexico

– Boys 10U: Vincent Riveros, Bolivia

Bolivia takes 5 of the 6 Boys titles. Not only that, but every single final was lost by either a player from Team Mexico or a fellow Bolivian for a clean sweep of both Gold and Silver across the board.

Girls Singles:

– Girls 21U: Camila Rivero, Bolivia

– Girls 18U: Yanna Salazar, Mexico

– Girls 16U: Miranda Barraza, Mexico

– Girls 14U: Larissa Faeth, Costa Rica

– Girls 12U: Mary Hinojosa Garcia, Mexico

– Girls 10U: Lia Montserrat Gonzalez, Mexico

Mexico takes 4 of the 6 Girls Singles titles. Mexico was also the finalist in 4 of the six draws, showing a real dominance this year.

Team USA had a few of its singles entrants advance to the quarters, but USA did not have a single finalist at this event. The best result in singles for any American was @Annie Sanchez making the semis of U21 and @Naomi Ros making the semis of 18U.

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Boys Doubles:

– Boys 21U: Erick Trujillo/Sebastian Hernandez, Mexico

– Boys 18U: Eder Renteria/Jorge Gutierrez, Mexico

– Boys 16U: Sebastian Ruelas/Nicolas Galindo, Mexico

– Boys 14U: Santiago Castillo/Brian Axel Sanchez, Mexico

– Boys 12U: Alejandro Robles Picon/Max Soto, Mexico

– Boys 10U: Leonardo Zuna Campero/Benjamin Lino Daza, Bolivia

Mexico wins 5 of the 6 doubles titles, losing on the Boys 10U doubles title, where they made the finals. The losing finalists were mostly Bolivians and Team USA, the best result for USA for the event (Sendry/Mendoza losing finalists in 18U and Mangalampalli/Williams making the 14U doubles final).

Girls Doubles:

– Girls 21U: Camila Rivero/Natalia Mendez, Bolivia

– Girls 18U: Adriana Noelia Blacutt/Natalia Mendez, Bolivia

– Girls 16U: Andrea Perez Picon/Miranda Barraza, Mexico

– Girls 14U: Julia Rebello/Angelica Villaroel Garzon, Bolivia

– Girls 12U: Sofia Rocabado/Adriana Bazan, Bolivia

– Girls 10U: Lia Medrano/Lia Montserrat Gonzalez, Mexico

Bolivia takes 4 of the 6 Girls doubles titles, including a doubles double for Natalia Carolina Mendez. Team USA Victoria Rodriguez & Montserrat Tores made the 16U final for our best result.

Mixed Doubles:

– Mixed 21U: Erick Trujillo/Ivanna Balderrama, Mexico

– Mixed 18U: Nicolas Ramiro Iglesias/Florencia Villazon Chalco, Bolivia

– Mixed 16U: Sebastian Ruelas/Andrea Perez Picon, Mexico

– Mixed 14U: Santiago Borja, Valentina Villarroel Garzon, Bolivia

– Mixed 12U: Hermann Racial Gracia/Michelle Gomez, Mexico

– Mixed 10U: Kerman Damian Gracia/Lia Montserrat Gonzalez, Mexico

Mexico takes 4 of the 6 Mixed doubles titles.

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Grand total of Titles won by Country:

– Mexico: 16 of 30

– Bolivia: 13 of 30

– Costa Rica: 1 of 30

There was just one Triple Crown winner on the weekend:

– Girls 10U: Lia Montserrat Gonzalez, Mexico

These players earned two titles:

– 21U Boys: Erick Trujillo, Mexico (2 doubles titles)

– 16U Boys: Sebastian Ruelas, Mexico (2 doubles titles)

– 14U Boys: Santiago Borja, Bolivia (singles and gender doubles)

– 12U Boys: Alejandro Robles Picon, Mexico (singles and gender doubles)

– 21U Girls: Camila Rivero , Bolivia (singles and gender doubles)

– 21U Girls: Natalia Mendez, Bolivia (who won both 21U and 18U doubles)

– 16U Girls: Miranda Barraza, Mexico (singles and gender doubles)

– 16U Girls: Andrea Perez Picon, Mexico (2 doubles)

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Team Winners:

– Boys Team: 1. Mexico, 2 Bolivia, 3 USA, 4 Costa Rica

– Girls Team: 1. Mexico, 2 Bolivia, 3. USA, 4 Guatemala

– Combined Team: 1. Mexico, 2. Bolivia, 3. USA, 4.

– Boys Esprit cup: 1. Bolivia, 2. Mexico, 3 Costa Rica, 4. USA

– Girls Espirit Cup: 1. Bolivia, 2. Mexico, 3. USA, 4. Ecuador

– Combined Espirit Cup: 1. Bolivia, 2. Mexico, 3. USA, 4. Ecuador

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Every singles and doubles draw has a match report in the database that you can run: instead of repeating dozens of links we’ll give some examples here. Surf to www.proracquetballstats.com, click on either Juniors or “Junior Doubles” database, then at the very top you can pull down a match report. You can also run a number of different reports for singles and doubles.

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Singles Draw commentary

Now some quick commentary division by singles division, mostly to recognize winners who have earned multiple Junior World titles over the years, and to provide some commentary on the older divisions with players who have already competed on the pro tours…

I use these “Matrix Reports” constantly; they show all the Junior winners across every age group for all of time. These links are for the Junior Worlds and date to 1989, the first ever Junior Worlds event, but are also available for USA, Canada, and Mexico.

Boys Singles Matrix Report: http://rb.gy/acygod

Girls Singles Matrix Report: http://rb.gy/yfsvqq

Boys 21U: #1 seed Bolivian Jhoel Alexis Acha took the U21 world title, topping current IRT top-10 ranked Erick Trujillo in the semis and Sebastian Hernandez in the final. This immediately makes Acha one of the top 20 players in the world in my personal pecking order, by virtue of the company he’s keeping. One thing Junior Worlds provides is a pathway into the top players in Bolivia, who we never get to hear about other wise.

Boys 18U: Jhonathan Flores repeated as 18U World Junior champ. The only player to get a game off of him the entire tourney was in the semis, when Mexico’s #1 Eder Renteria took him to five games. Flores, for those who forgot, took out Jake, Collins, Ulliman, and Alonso in Chicago’s IRT event in March. He’s legit, and as an 18yr old is probably better than any of the U21 players still juniors-eligible.

Boys 16U: Bolivian Sebastian Terrazas wins his 2nd career junior world title; he took 12U title in 2021 previously. Terrazas did not win his own National title this year, losing to Bismark Pereria (who was upset early here), but took out both of Mexico’s top 16U players in the semis and finals to win.

Boys 14U: Bolivian Santiago Borja repeats as 14U champ, but the story of this draw was the sole South Korean entrant at Junior Worlds: Taein Woo came in and upset Mexico’s Santiago Castillo 12-10 in the fifth to open the event, then made a run to the semis before falling to the eventual champ Borja.

Boys 12U: Alejandro Robles Picon, who made the rare switch from USA to Mexico for the start of 2024, captured his first ever Junior worlds title. He and his sister had huge weekends.

Boys 10U: Bolivian Vincent Riveros starts out his junior career with a win.

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Girls 21U: Camila Rivero, who briefly switched to play for Colombia but who now is back in the Bolivian fold, repeated as U21 champ. Last year she also won the 18U title, meaning she has another two years in the U21s. She’s got a few LPRT results on her resume from a few years back, but her most notable result may be a quarter finals finish at Worlds in San Antonio earlier this year when she played Longoria tough in a loss.

Girls 18U: Yanna Salazar topped America’s best chance for a medal in Naomi Ros in the semis, then beat her country-man Cynthia Gutierrez for her first World title.

Girls 16U: First time singles winner Miranda Barraza topped Andrea Perez Picon in the final to win the all-Mexico gold medal match.

Girls 14U: Costa Rican Larissa Faeth won the sole medal at these competitions not won by someone from either Mexico or Brazil, She moved up to 14U after winning 12U last year and claimed the title in her age 13 season.

Girls 12U: Mary Hinojosa Garcia moved up from 10U to win back to back titles.

Girls 10U: Lia Montserrat Gonzalez, the sole triple crown winner, got started with a singles title.

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Thanks to the International Racquetball Federation for hosting the event, thanks to the great hosts in Guatemala, thanks to all our the coaches and parents who sacrificed to get your kids down there, especially this close to the holiday season, thanks to @Gary Mazaroff for the streaming and broadcasting with partners all tournament.

That’s it for the 2024 Racquetball year. I still owe an IRT season summary article (waiting for the final season rankings to publish), plus I’ll throw together a recap of the calendar year of events before the year is out.

International Racquetball Federation – IRF

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32nd Annual LPRT Christmas Classic Wrap-Up

Longoria is back on top, both in Maryland and of the tour. Photo via US Open 2019, Kevin Savory

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Paola Longoria

– Doubles: @Montse Mejia and Brenda Laime Jalil

comments on winner; updated # of tourneys, updated season, etc

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=46046

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/bd7

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In the 32s:

– @Erika Manilla made a winning return to the tour, topping newlywed Maria Renee Rodríguez 11,7 in the opener. She fell to Vargas in the next round, but she’s back on tour, which is the best news following her 10-month injury absence.

– @Frederique Lambert blasted Michelle Key 6,1 in a surprise first round matchup. Key is coming off taking Longoria to a breaker in the last event but was handled easily by the part-time player/ER doctor Lambert.

– @jesJessica Parrilla topped @Laura Brandt 0,4 to move on. Notable only because Brant’s appearance on tour at age 62 was the 3rd oldest known tour appearance in the history of the Ladies pro tour. https://rball.pro/nyi

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In the 16s:

– #9 Carla Muñoz turned the tide on a recent lost to Cristina Amaya Cassino , topping the #8 seed in a breaker. This could be a fun rivalry for a while.

– #3 Mejia was pressed by @Valeria Centellas but moved on 10,14.

– #11 Parrilla got a solid win over #6 @Kelani Lawrence to earn a rare quarter final.

– #7 @Natalia Mendez kept her recent streak alive over #10 @Samantha Salas Solis , going breaker to advance.

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In the Quarters

– #1 @Maria Jose Vargas moved past Munoz 1,11

– #4 @Ana Ana Gabriela Martínez held off #5 Laime in a close 10,12 match.

– #3 Mejia moved past country-woman Parrilla with ease 4,5

– #2 Longoria was not troubled by Mendez, winning 6,8

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In the Semis

– Vargas and Gaby went down to the wire, with Gaby having a match point at 10-10 but was unable to convert. This was just the opening Vargas needed, as she rolled off a couple points 9-10 down to win the semi 11-10 and move on. Heartbreak for the Guatemalan.

– Longoria continued her recent mastery over Mejia on the singles court 13,5 to earn another final.

In the Finals, Vargas and Longoria had another back and forth affair, this time with the long-time #1 coming out on top.

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Points Implications of results

With this win. Longoria should take back over the #1 spot on tour, which she relinquished in December 2023 for the first time since 2008. Munoz and Amaya should switch spots at the 9/10 range. Michelle Key rises to #14, which may be a career high. Lastly, Manilla comes in at #20 and will have her work cut out for her as she regains ranking points here on forward.

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Doubles review

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

Manilla and her Team USA teammate Michelle Key topped the #2 and #3 seeds to earn a final, but lost to the #1 seeds Mejia & Laime there. Still, a great result.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Women’s Open Singles: Centellas got the title, with a win over MRR in the final. MRR had topped Parrilla in the semis for a solid win.

– Men’s Open Singles: Local IRT veterans @Mario Mercado and MoMo Zelada , co-founders of @Formulaflow and playing out of their home club, met in the final, taken by Zelada in three.

– Mens Open doubles: IRT staff member Samuel Schulze and local Maryland player John Behm shocked Mercado/Zelada in the Open doubles final.

– The Simmons Father/daughter duo took the Mixed Open/Elite doubles title, topping two local players Imani Valentine & Chris Ruano in the final.

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

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/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing

the International Racquetball Federation – IRF World juniors event is underway in Guatemala, with group stages going on now. We’ll possibly post a preview of the knockouts based on time this week, otherwise we’ll recap it next week. There’s one big outdoor event happening this weekend, then the year wraps up.

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tags

LPRT

Posted on

LPRT 32nd Annual Christmas Classic Preview

Erika is back for the first time in months. Photo 2021 US Open via Kevin Savory

Welcome to the halfway point of the LPRT season, and the final pro event of the 2024 calendar year. It is the long-running DC-area based Christmas Classic, which has been an LPRT stop for years. The event is in its 32nd year, which puts its first iteration in the 1991.

I first helped out with this event, as far as my old files tell me, in the 8th iteration in 1999 when the event was run in at the Tysons club in Tysons Corner (McLean) Virginia. The event has moved around the DC area as clubs were closed or lost enough courts to make hosting impossible; the event has gone from Tysons to Crystal Gateway in Arlington, to Sportfit in Laurel Maryland, and now at the Severna Park Health & Racquet facility in Millersville/Severna Park area closer to Baltimore. LPRT sanctioning began in 2007 and has been consistent ever since, making it one of the longest continually running pro events out there, for either the Ladies or the Men.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=46046

There’s 24 players here this weekend. Top players missing include #4 Herrera, #15 Barrios, #19 Ros and #20 Scott.

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

In the 32s:

– We have the triumphant return of @Erika Manilla , who comes in at the #16 seed. She’ll face off against another player who’s attendance has been spotty lately , long-time tour player #17 Maria Renee Rodríguez for a shot at #1 Vargas.

– The 24th seed out of 24 is California @Erica Williams, who’s flow 3,000 miles from her home town in the Bay Area to play and watch. Williams is one of the biggest supporters of racquetball on the west coast and its great to see her in the DC area.

– Two top Canadian players are entered this weekend; @Juliette Parent faces off against #12 @Lexi York in what could be a great match. Meanwhile, Frederique Lambert makes a rare appearance coming off her Canadian National selection event win last weekend; she plays into #13 Michelle Key , who’s been on fire lately.

– #12 @Jessica Parrilla faces off against Laura Brandt , who is playing this event in her age 62 season, which has to be close to a record for the LPRT. Hmm; that sounds like a query worth writing: oldest player ever to appear in a pro event? That might be a fun one.

– In the 15/18 we get María Paz Riquelme versus Khyathi Velpuri , a good test for the young Colorado based American.

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Projecting the round of 16:

– #1 @Maria Jose Vargas has to contend with Manilla in her first event back: it may be a bit too early for Erika to take out Vargas, but this is a semis-quality match in the 16s.

– In the 8/9 @Carla Muñoz and Cristina Amaya Cassino face off in the round of 16, in this 8/9 match, for the 4th time since May. Munoz won the first two this year, but Amaya got her two weeks ago in Chicago. Coin flip.

– #4 @Gaby Martinez is here, making a somewhat rare appearance, and she gets the winner of the Lambert/Key match as an opener. Gaby is a threat to win whenever she enters and has three tournament wins in the last four seasons. If she’s to go on a run she’ll have a tough opener to get her started.

– #6 @Kelani Lawrence makes the drive up from Virginia and gets a second ever meeting against @Jessica Parrilla . Kelani beat Leoni in May; can she do it again?

– #7 @Natalia Mendez and #10 @Samantha Salas Solis look to meet for the third time in the round of 16 since June; Mendez has crushed Salas the previous two times.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 Vargas over Munoz/Amaya winner; Vargas is 15-1 combined against her two possible opponents career on the LPRT and is coming off a win in Chicago two weeks ago.

– Great potential quarter between #5 Brenda Laime Jalil and #4 Gaby. Laime had Longoria beat two weeks ago in Chicago; I thought she rolled out match point before having it called a skip and then losing 11-10. If she’s playing at that calibre, then she’s going to be tough for Martinez to beat here. These two met in the semis in Denver, a tough TB win for Gaby before she won the title. however, these are Laime’s home courts, and they’re not playing at altitude as they did in Denver (where Gaby lives and trains and had the advantage). I’ll go with Laime in the upset.

– #3 @Montse Mejia versus the Lawrence/Parrilla Winner: Mejia got waxed in the last pro event, and hasn’t made a final since April. She shouldn’t be troubled by either player at this juncture, but can’t look forward to her anticipated semis meeting against Paola.

– #2 Paola Longoria likely faces Mendez, just as she did two weeks ago, and likely moves on with little trouble.

Semis:

– Vargas over Laime. They’ve played 5 times, but most are older results. The last time they met was in June 2023, a tie-breaker win for Vargas. I sense Laime presses Vargas to a breaker but falls.

– Longoria over Mejia; they’ve met 26 times in top-level/non-regional event competitions. After a spell in 2022 when Mejia had her number, Longoria has taken back over the h2h rivalry and should win here.

Finals; I like Vargas over Longoria again to keep her lead atop the rankings.

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Doubles review

The partnerships in DC are crazy this week, with Longoria curiously not playing and Herrera missing. After winning the previous title with Key, Laime picked up Mejia and are the #1 seeds. meanwhile, Key teams with the returning Manilla to form a pretty solid team on paper; all depends on how rusty Manilla is. Team Argentina remains #2, while team Guatemala is #6 and is a real favorite from the bottom half. The two top Canadians are here, but both Lambert and Parent are playing with others (instead of getting cycles playing together for future IRF events). So, interesting draw for s ure.

I’ll go with #1 Laime/Mejia from the top, Rodriguez & Martinez from the bottom, and Laime/Mejia title.

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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, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Associations

@LPRT

Posted on

2024 LPRT Turkey Shoot Recap

Solid weekend for Laime. Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Maria Jose Vargas

– Doubles: Michelle Key & Brenda Laime

Vargas gets back on top with a solid win over her rival Longoria, winning her 11th career title. She’s now nearly into the top 10 all time of tourney wins. Meanwhile, Key & Laime break the strangle hold that Mejia & Herrera have had on the pro doubles circuit with a breakthrough win.

Singles Match report in PRS database: https://rball.pro/d1b

Doubles match report in PRS database: https://rball.pro/46p

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=45473

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In the 32s, nothing too surprising. Great all-USA wins by Lotts and York respectively over younger rivals.

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In the 16s:

– Amaya takes out her close rival in the rankings Munoz in two. Amaya has really rebounded as of late; she went three straight seasons without getting past the round of 16, and now has done it 3 times in the last 10 events.

– Herrera holds off Centellas in a tie-breaker that looked like it’d go the other way for a while.

– Laime is stretched but gets past Parrilla in three

– Mendez blasts Salas once again, the second time in a row she’s had a dominant win over her long time LPRT rival.

– Key takes a game off of #2 Longoria but runs out of gas in the breaker 11-3.

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In the Quarters

– Vargas has to go three to top the resurgent Amaya.

– Herrera holds serve against Lawrence to move on.

– Laime dominates Mejia and wins 6,5, a surprising result. Laime and Mejia have similar game styles, and as we’ve pointed out in teh past Laime usually comes out of nowhere for deep tourney runs.

– Longoria handled Mendez to move into the semis 4,4

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In the Semis

– Vargas cruised past Herrera 7,8 to move into the final.

– Longoria and Laime had themselves a heck of a battle, with it coming down to a 10-10 tiebreaker with all the drama one would expect. At the end of a brutal 2 hour marathon that featured dozens of side outs in each game, Laime cracked out a serve at 9-9 to earn the match point opportunity but Longoria blasted a cross court winner to save match point against. As is typical in these close do or die situations, referee calls loomed large. At 9-10 down, Longoria looked for an avoidable on a passing shot but didn’t get it, even on appeal. Then, Laime got a forehand setup and hit what this observer thought was a simple kill shot; called a skip by the ref and then one-up/one-down from the line judges (a really bad call at that juncture honestly). This led to a heated discussion, a side-out, and of course the inevitable two point swing to Longoria’s favor to win the match. Just a brutal way to lose.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao_HrRCepbQ for the match replay, and 1:53.26 for the shot in question and judge for yourself.

In the Finals, Vargas won games 1 and 3 going away, lost game 2 going away.

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Points Implications of results

– Longoria gains a little but on Vargas but remains #2.

– Despite not playing, Gaby moves up to #5 due to points expiration

– Not much else in terms of movement in the top 10

– Synhorst moves up a few spots, as does Key and Lotts for touring more regularly.

– Former top 4 pro Manilla now sits outside the top 20 and will have a long way back.

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Doubles review

Great win from Key and Laime, both excellent doubles players, for taking out both the #1 and #2 seeds in one event.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Parrilla took the Women’s Open over Ros (who had taken out #1 Munoz in semis)

– Men’s Open was taken in an all-chicago final between winner Thomas carter and Jeremy Dixon

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

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing

World Juniors kicks off in Guatemala next weekend, then the LPRT is back in action in the DC area before the year ends.

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tags

Posted on

LPRT 32nd AnnualTurkey Shoot Preview

Kelani gets a career high #5 seed; can she make a run? Photo USAR Singles 2019 via Kevin Savory

LPRT 32nd AnnualTurkey Shoot Preview

The LPRT returns to one of the most iconic courts in the land; the sunken three-glass wall centerpiece of the Glass Court Swim and Fitness club in Lombard, IL. Home of the main movers and shakers of the Chicago-area racquetball scene, this tournament is the brainchild of long-time racquetball benefactor Geoff Peters, who passed away in 2023 but who left a legacy in the sport in addition to bequeathing funds to help keep this event alive.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=45473

There’s 23 ladies pros in the singles draw this weekend, about a normal draw size for the ladies tour and typical of one so proximate to a major international event (World juniors in early December).

top20 players missing: #5 Gaby (part-time tour player), #11 Manilla (still recovering from hip surgery), #15 Barrios (school?), #17 Scott (unknown).

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

In the 32s, there’s several solid matches to open the tournament;

– Lotts/Ros in the 16/17 game is a great match between two Team USA players from different generations. Ros is our reigning USA 18U junior champ while Lotts has 18 seasons with a pro result on her resume. Both are solid players and we should get an exciting match as one would expect in the 16/17 seed slot.

– Lexi York / Annie Sanchez is also another tough one between two Team USA players. Sanchez (nee Roberts) is just matriculating out of the juniors, while York has been playing the tour for some time and has been training with the Bredenbecks as of late.

– Argentine Valeria Centellas is back after a long time off; she has near top-10 potential but will have to shake off some tour rust. She makes her season debut against #13 Stephanie Synhorst , who will have her hands full keeping up.

– María Paz Riquelme vs junior team member Velpuri will be a good test for the Colorado native.

– Two frequent outdoor players Michelle Key and Chanis Leon meet indoors, with Key holding the distinct experience advantage.

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Round of 16: Here’s the notable matches to watch for:

– In the 8/9, Carla Muñoz and Cristina Amaya Cassino meet up; they met in the 16s twice earlier this year, both Munoz wins. Amaya had a deep run in an event earlier this year; can she repeat the magic?

– @Kelani Lawrence gets the #5 seed, tying a career high, and starts out her event by taking on the York/Sanchez winner in an all-USA battle.

– #5 @Brenda Laime Jalil projects into #11 @Jessica Parrilla in what could be a close match. Jessica shocked Brenda in San Antonio earlier this year. Laime is hot or cold; she could go one and done or take out the top seed on any given day.

– 7/10 @Samantha Salas Solis versus @Natalia Mendez could be interesting: Salas leads 6-3 head to head, but in their last meeting Mendez crushed Samantha 3,4 in Chesapeake in June.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 Maria Jose Vargas over #9 Munoz. They’ve played 15 times: Maria is 14-1

– #4 Alexander Herrera IFBB PRO over #5 Lawrence. They’ve played 11 times: Alexandra is 11-0

– #3 @Monserrat Mejia over #6 Laime; Mejia is 4-2 lifetime here.

– #2 @Paola Longoria over #7 Mendez; Paola is 10-0 lifetime against Mendez.

I see a distinct gap between the top four ladies on tour right now (top-5 including Gaby if she were here) and the rest of the top 10. The best bet for an upset in the quarters in Laime, who runs so hot and cold from event to event.

Semis:

– Vargas over Herrera. Vargas is 14-3 over Herrera lifetime. One of those wins was last June, when a distracted Vargas had just clinched the year end title and lost to Alexandra in Chesapeake. Vargas didn’t have the best opening event in Denver, but should bounce back.

– Longoria over Mejia: I know Mejia just torched Longoria at the San Luis Potosi open last month, but Longoria has a tendency to turn things up when there’s points on the line.

Finals: Longoria over Vargas. I think Longoria is kicking herself for dropping the first final of the season and will take this event.

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Doubles review

There’s 11 teams competing, and we’ve had some interesting movement in the seeds. After many years, the 30-something time champion team of Longoria/Salas is no longer a top-2 seed; they’ve been supplanted for #2 by the Argentine national team of Vargas/Mendez. I still favor them to get to the final from the bottom side.

From the top-half, Herrera & Mejia continue to be the top dogs; they’ll have to contend with the winner of Laime/Key and Parrilla/Lawrence, a fun matchup of excellent doubles players who all have a ton of outdoor experience as well.

Look for Herrera/Mejia over Vargas/Mendez 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 , @Sandy Rios, @Jerry J Josey Jr. , andTj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

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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2024 Golden State Open Wrap-up

Manilla makes the finals in both singles and doubles. Photographer Kevin Savory

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: @Kane Waselenchuk

– Doubles: @Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball & Javier Mar

The comeback is complete. Waselenchuk, who ascended to the #1 spot on tour for the first time in years, secured the 2024 year end title in dominant fashion at this event in Pleasanton. He wins his 128th career pro Tier 1 title, extending his lead over his LPRT counterpart to 15 (Paola Longoria has 113 career Tier 1 titles). More importantly, Kane secures his 15th career year-end pro title, and will do so at the age of 43, which is 4 years older than the previous record-holder. We’ll do a deeper-dive into the year end standings once all of 2023’s points expire, but suffice it to say, we’re seeing something pretty amazing here for any sport.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=45389

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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/l60

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In the 64s, there were no real upsets of note. We got a ton of international vs international matches for young Bolivians who made the trip.

– American junior DJ Mendoza got a nice win over an up and coming Mexican Junior Sebastian Ruelas

– @gerson Miranda took out veteran international Juan Francisco Cueva .

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In the 32s:

– #21 Mar took out #12 Robbie Collins with ease

– #19 Carson advanced over #14 Carrasco as expected.

– the biggest result of the round was #4 @Andres Acuña holding firm and taking out Argentine Diego Garcia . Acuna dropped the first game but then found another gear and blitzed to a (10),2,3 win. I thought this would go the other way for sure in my preview.

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In the 16s:

– Kane crushed @Diego Gastelum 2,2, a bit of a different vibe than the last time they met.

– Mar upset #5 @Jake Bredenbeck to finish off a pretty disappointing season for the USA top dog.

– #3 Montoya got an injury default against Rocky when he took an awkward step in a rally and tweaked something in his knee.

– Tourney host and #6 Adam Manilla got a really surprising win (to this observer) by taking out the red-hot @Jordy Alonso 10,9. Great win to overcome a guy who’s shown to be a force lately on tour.

– #7 @EErick Trujillo got a walkover against @Jaime Martell Racquetball when Jaime got some really awful news from home and had to fly back immediately. Our thoughts are with Martell and his family during this tough time.

– #2 @Andree Parrilla , who had a very distant shot at maybe possibly catching Kane for #1 … fell in the 16s to his doubles partner and drastically under-seeded #15 Eduardo Portillo Rendon

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In the Quarters

– Kane crushed @Alan Natera for the third tourney running at this juncture

– Mar got an injury walkover against Acuna, one of three WBF-INJ at this event.

– Manilla got a career best win by toppling Rodrigo Montoya in three. He secures just his second ever career pro singles semi final on his home courts.

– Portillo destroyed his younger Mexican rival Trujillo 7,1 to move into the semis.

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In the Semis

– Kane crushed Mar 6,3, showing no mercy this event. Mar once played a famous game against Kane at the US Open when practically no one knew who he was, using his touch to really flummox the champ and keep the game close … today was not one of those days.

– Manilla mounted a fantastic comeback in the breaker, saving match-points against at 7-10 and then rolling off four straight points to win 11-10 and move into his first career final. Both played well enough to win, and when Lalo missed an easy short-hop even Favio on the mike said, “that’s going to cost him.” And it did.

In the Finals, two lefties faced off for a pro title for the first time since a 2009 final in Allentown, PA between Kane and @Mitch Williams (ironically, Mitch’s sole career final). Manilla jumped ahead early, and kept game one close with some off-speed mid-lob Z serves and with great subterfuge on his drives, but as is typical of Kane, he hung in and ground out the game one win. Game two was more fo the same early before Kane just took over for the title 11,8.

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Points Implications of results

In the immediate aftermath of this event, Kane opens up a massive lead atop the standings to #2 Moscoso, one that will grow even more once the last two events expire from the tail end of last year (one of which was a Tier1 Moscoso win). In fact, Moscoco probably will fall to #3 once we get to December 31st. Manilla’s huge event will jump him to #4, just ahead of Parrilla. Jake will take a tumble in the ranks but will maintain top 10 status.

https://irttour.com/rankings/ are now updated for the event this past weekend.

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Doubles review

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

Montoya and Mar maintain their dominance atop the pro doubles tour. Montoya has now made the finals of 12 of the last 14 competed pro doubles events, many of them with Mar, and won seven of them. They topped the field again, this time beating Manilla & Bredenbeck in the final.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Two LPRT talents @Veronica Sotomayor and @Erika Manilla entered the Men’s open singles here. This is Erika’s first event back post hip surgery, while Vero had come down from Washington state with husband Sudsy Monchik to play some ball with their business partner Mark C Frank .

– Both ladies made the Open semis, but both ended falling to the same kid: Bolivian junior Sebastian Terrazas, who is playing in his age 15 season in 2024 and was the 2021 12U world champ. Watch out for this kid.

– The Argentine national Men’s doubles team of Miranda/Garcia took the Open doubles draw filled with junior national doubles teams competing next month at Junior Worlds.

– Andrea Perez-Picon took the Women’s Open RR.

– Perez-Picon also took the Mixed Open doubles draw, a fun draw where she ended up beating her sister Estefania in the finals.

– A star-studded 100+ Men’s doubles was taken by two NorCal locals Derek Chock & Greg Vezey, who got some solid wins.

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

Thanks to the Tourney Directors Manilla and @Bobby Horn for putting this event on!

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing

The LPRT is back in action this coming weekend at the Glass Door in Lombard for the annual Turkey shoot event! We’ll be back with a preview later this week.

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tags

International Racquetball Tour

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IRT 2024 Golden State Open Preview

Kane returns to the top spot on tour, and has the 2024 title wrapped up. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

Welcome to the 3rd Annual Golden State Open, the brainchild of NorCal residents Adam Manilla and David ” Bobby” Horn , who worked to bring pro racquetball back to the Bay Area after a near decade-long absence in 2022. This is their third year running this event in Pleasanton, and they project to have a massive draw in 2024. As of this writing 229 players are entered overall, including 44 Men’s pros. That’s the biggest pro draw since the 2023 World Singles and Doubles event. The group didn’t fund the portable court this year (it’s a significant expense) but still have the biggest event of the year, but still expect the biggest and best pro tourney of the year.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=45389

As noted, 44 players in the singles draw for this event, which (barring any changes in the IRT schedule) will be the last event of the 2024 season. So, lots at stake. @Kane Waslenchuk has regained #1 on tour, and thanks to Moscoso’s injury has a fairly significant lead at the top to the only guy who can catch him: #3 Parrilla. And that’s before considering the points expiration from the two events at the tail end of the 2023 season: Parrilla won the Boston Open last year while Kane lost in the semis, meaning an additional 180 point delta for Parrilla to make up. In other words … the title race is effectively over.

Thanks to the proximity of this event to the upcoming Junior Worlds, we have a slew of international juniors in the country to get some competitive matches. So we’ll get to see first hand a number of the up and coming Bolivians in particular.

top20 players missing: #2 Moscoso (elbow), #12 De la Rosa (pickleball), #13 Murray (stepping back?), #18 Sam Bredenbeck (stepping back?).

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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:

– Bolivian newcomer Anuari Segundo, who impressed last week in Miami, gets an opener against the veteran Guatemalan @Edwin Galicia.

– The #44 seed (as in, “Mr Irrelevant”) honors go to @Yacouba Keita, who was a semi-regular touring pro a few years back out of the Atlanta area. He goes against @Javier Mar in the 64s.

– We get a rare North American appearance from former 18U world champ @Gerson Miranda, who starts off against fellow South American @Juan Francisco Cueva .

– The best potential match of the opening round may be 31v34, USA junior @DJ Mendoza taking on top Mexican 16U junior Sebastian Alejandro Ruelas. Mendoza should be able to overpower his younger opponent, but Ruelas has a long history of Mexican and World junior titles.

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Projecting the 32s:

– #1 Kane gets his start against the Ecuadorian veteran Ugalde, who is solid but not Kane-challenging solid.

– #16/#17 is an interesting match between two Mexican juniors in Erick Cuevas and @Diego Gastelum . Cuevas has been around for a while but only this year graduated from 21U competitions, while Gastelum has been been getting significant wins lately, including a defeat of current #7 Trujillo at Mexican Junior Nationals earlier this year.

– #12 Robert Collins is the unlucky top seed to draw the under-seeded Mar, who has been hampered on the singles court for a while with injury but remains a dangerous opponent. Upset watch here.

– Best match of the round: #4 @Andres Acuna comes in seeded 4th, his career best seeding … and for his troubles draws #29 @Diego Garcia , who just cruised to a title in the Xelani open and who beat Acuna at Worlds in San Antonio in August. I’ve always been a Garcia fan and, now that he’s been in-country to acclimate (instead of flying from South America the night before a match like the last time he entered an IRT event) he’ll be favored here.

– #3 @Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball projects to face the dangerous Bolivian junior Miranda, who can score points on him for su re. I don’t see an upset, but Montoya can’t just go through the motions here.

– We get a rare appearance on tour from @Rocky Carson , seeded 19th and who is favored over #14 @Kadim Carrasco to move on here.

– @Jordy Alonso is seeded 11th here. 11th! Alonso didn’t even play an IRT event in 2023 and has just 13 career pro events in a decade of high-level play … and now sits on the cusp of the top 10. Amazing. His best career year end finish was #27 in 2022 … and now he could be a top 10 finisher with a solid tournament.

– Tough draw for US junior Cole Sendry at #15; he gets former top 10 touring pro Eduardo Portillo Rendon , who’s missed a ton of time on tour as he gets his professional pilot’s license.

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round of 16:

– #1 Kane over #16 Gastelum: they met in the 16s in Spokane, a 2,5 win for the King. Lets see if Diego can improve upon that result.

– #8 Natera over #9 Carter, again. They’ve met in the 8/9 match now three events running, each time a relative blow out for the Mexican. No reason not to think it’ll happen again.

– #5 @Jake Bredenbeck vs #21 Mar: they have not played in 2 years, dating back to the infamous DC event where Kane got hurt and Mar lost in the final to Lalo. It hasn’t been a great year for Jake, who made four finals last season but has made just one semi-final this season. Does he have one last hurrah in him? Upset watch. Like Garcia above, Mar has always been a fan favorite of mine and I always seem to pick him for an upset.

– Whoever wins between Acuna/Garcia should advance with ease here over Carlos Ramirez.

– #3 Montoya vs Carson: how much magic does Rocky have? Montoya should send Carson back to the retirement home in SoCal.

– I think a motivated #11 Alonso takes out the distracted tourney host #6 Manilla to earn a quarter final.

– #7 Trujillo and #10 @Jaime Martell Racquetball met at this juncture in Spokane last month, a tie-breaker win for the younger Erick. He’s hot coming off the win in San Luis Potosi last week and he’ll be looking for more here.

– #2 Parrilla vs #15 Portillo; well this is kind of a ridiculous round of 16 match, players who finished last year ranked 5th and 7th respectively (and who are doubles partners). But here we are. Parrilla is motivated to have a big result here to put pressure on Kane, but I could see him fall here to the always-challenging Lalo.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 Kane over #8 Natera, a rematch of Spokane’s quarter final.

– Garcia over Mar: if all my predicted upsets come to pass, we could see a 20-something seed in the semis here. Garcia is more dynamic than Mar right now, but this matchup could also easily be Acuna vs Jake or some combination of a top-5 guy and a 20-something seed.

– #3 Montoya vs #11 Alonso: Jordy shocked Rodrigo 11-10 in Canoga Park during his amazing run to the final; I don’t see that repeating here. Rodrigo won’t take him lightly.

– #2 Parrilla vs #7 Trujillo: they just played last weekend, a four-game win for Trujillo where each game was 11-9 one way or the other. I think Trujillo can do it again.

Semis:

– Kane over Garcia; they’ve never met, which means Diego could be star struck and get donuted in the first game, or it could mean he surprises the king and makes it close by playing out of his mind. One thing to keep in mind: both the qtrs and semis are on Saturday, so from a wear-and-tear perspective two games in a day on the newly-turned 43yr old could be a factor (Kane turned 43 just four days ago as of this writing: Happy Birthday!)

– Montoya over Trujillo; they’ve met 6 times since Feb 2023, all six Montoya wins and usually not close. They met in the Spokane quarters a month ago and it was 12,3. Rodrigo wins again.

Finals: Kane over Rodrigo in a breaker. We’ve seen this before; Montoya has the game to pressure Kane and to roll off points fast. If his drive serve is working, he’ll be in the match, and his athleticism extends points and leads to opportunities. The last time these two played was in Minnesota, where Rodrigo actually scored more points in the match than Kane but lost his composure/focus in the tie-breaker to lose 14,(7),2 after dominating game 2. This is where an onsite coach is useful; Montoya needs to maintain his focus and hope for an off-day from the nearly always “on” Kane for a win. But, that’s a tall order against a guy in Kane who can still bring it and who puts away nearly 100% of the balls he can set his feet on, even if he’s 43.

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Doubles Preview:

18 teams are poured into the Doubles competition, including some that aren’t entered into the singles competition. There’s a couple of great round of 16 matchups in store: Portillo/Parrilla vs Garcia/Miranda will be a barn burner. Gastelum/Sendrey versus the Ecuadorian national team of Cueva/Ugalde is tough; they’ve gotten some major international results in the past. Tournament host Horn is teaming with Mendoza to face Alonso/Carrasco.

In the end though, I expect the top four seeds to advance to the semis as expected, then for an all-Mexico final between the top seeds Montoya/Mar and Parrilla/Portillo.

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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, Samuel Schulze, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots!

Thanks again to the Tourney Directors Manilla and Horn or 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.

Associations

International Racquetball Tour

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San Luis Open 2024 Recap

Trujillo took out three tough IRT pros to take the SLP Open. Photo Kevin Savory/US Open 2021

There was another big-time non-sanctioned pro event last weekend, featuring a ton of top-level talent in the Mexican racquetball hotbed of San Luis Potosi; the 2024 San Luis Open. The pro draws were solid and we saw some big-time matchups last weekend. Here’s a run down of the action.

r2sports site: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=45655

Men’s Open Singles:

Nearly all top 10 seeds are now household names to regular followers of the Men’s Pro game, and included a couple of players who have made huge impacts this season. The seeds held to the quarters, then we saw some fireworks.

– #1 @Andree Parrilla downed @Oscar Elias Nieto in the first QF with ease.

– In the second QF, #5 Erick Trujillo shocked #4 Jordy Alonso in four close games (they were playing international scoring rules). Alonso of course had made deep runs in both IRT events he’s entered, while Trujillo has been grinding his way into the top 8 and this is a solid win for the youngster.

– #6 Andres Acuña , probably underseeded, topped #3 Sebastian Hernandez in a five game thriller. Hernandez is no slouch: he was the 2022 18U world c hamp and is the reigning 21U Mexican champion, but has never played an IRT event.

– #2 Eduardo Portillo Rendon downed SLP local @Emir Martinez in three.

In the semis:

– Trujillo took out #1 Parrilla in four tight games, all of which went 11-9 one way or the other. A great win for Trujillo to build on.

– In the other semi, Portillo eased past Acuna as one might expect based on their h2h history.

In the final, Trujillo finished the job and took out Lalo for the title. Quite an event for Trujillo, beating Alonso, Parrilla, and Portillo in succession.

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Women’s Open

Just a ho-hum local open draw: four top-10 LPRT pros plus the 2024 U21 and 2023 u18 Mexican champs. How did it play out?

In the quarters, the two junior champs fell to the touring pros, leaving us with an all-LPRT semis. In the first semi, #1 Paola Longoria cruised past #4 Jessica Parrilla in three straight games, while from the lower side #2 Montse Mejia took out her doubles partner #3 @Alexandra Herrera in four.

In the final, Mejia reversed a recent losing trend to Paola and won a 5-game thriller for the title.

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Men’s Doubles:

Portillo & Parrilla teamed up to take the doubles title, beating Alonso & Acuna in the final.

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Next up, Golden State Open! we’ll preview the draw ahead of the thursday kickoff.

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2nd Annual Xelani Open Recap

Diego with the double in Miami. Photo by Kevin Savory, 2018 US Open

2nd Annual Xelani Open Recap

We may not have had any sanctioned/official pro racquetball last weekend but we did have an excellent draw at the @Alex Zamudio hosted Xelani Open, held on the campus of the University of Miami. Here’s a recap.

r2 sports home page: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=45108

24 players representing seven different countries and including a massive contingent from Bolivia traveled to south Florida to compete. The top two seeds were last year’s finalists Ecuadorian Jose Daniel Ugalde Albornoz and Mexican @Diego Gastelum , who went on a fantastic run to make the final in Feb 2023.

Here’s a recap of the action.

In Men’s Singles:

– The only upset by seed in the early rounds of note was Bolvian Anduari Segundo, a complete unknown to the PRS researchers, who took out #11 Colombian Andres Gomez in the 32s then top east coast amateur @Dylan Pruitt (recently relocated from Maryland to Florida) in the 16s.

– In the quarters, Ugalde went breaker to set down Bolivian youngster Miguel Arteaga before moving on. @Mario Mercado, former IRT touring pro and former IRT Tier 1 Champion, set down top Bolivian Junior @Jhonatan Flores in three (Flores is the reigning 18U world champ and took out Jake Bredenbeck at the IRT stop in Chicago earlier this year). Bolivian turned Argentine @Diego Garcia Quispe set down the upset-minded Segundo in two,

– The big upset at this juncture was #2 seed Gastelum being dominated by recently crowned Virginia state champ @Ezequiel Subieta in two 7,9. Subieta has a solid pedigree; he represented Bolivia in the 2019 World Juniors as a 14 yr old, getting upset as a top seed in the knockouts. We havn’t heard from him since, but he’s in line to be playing in his age 19 season in 2024.

– In the semis, last year’s champion went down in defeat, an upset by seed but not by talent. Mercado cruised past Ugalde 7,6. Meanwhile, the always dangerous Garcia handled the upstart Subieta 8,9 to setup a great final between two under-rated players.

– In the singles final, Garcia really took it to the veteran Mercado, winning the first game 15-2 before finishing things off 15-9.

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Open Doubles recap:

As it turned out, the top four singles seeds all teamed up to form the top 2-seeds in Doubles, and they ended up playing for the title. In the final. #2 Gastelum & Garcia split the first two games 15-14, 14-15 with the #1 seeds Mercado & Ugalde before pulling away late to win the breaker 11-7 and to give Garcia the double.

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that’s a wrap from Miami. We’ll recap the excellent SLP local event next. Next up on the rball calendar is the IRT Golden State Open, held this coming weekend in Pleasanton. For now, its the last opportunity for pros to earn points towards the 2024 year end title race, so its gonna be a big one.

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2024 Capital Classic Recap

Montoya wins the double in Severna Park Photo Kevin Savory 2022 Portland IRT event

There were no officially sanctioned events this past weekend, but there was an event that used to be an IRT stop that still drew a slew of top males that’s worth recapping. It was the 2024 Capital Classic, held at the Severna Park Club just outside of Baltimore.

I’ve played at this club many times and have good memories of it. I once made a 30+ age group final there and took one the better players in the area to an 11-9 breaker before losing. It was at this club that my good friend Ben Hale taught our young racquetball playing friend Travis Woodbury how to drive a stick shift …. in my car … because I was inside drinking beer and he had drawn the short stick to drive us back to Arlington that night.

This club, and this event, used to be an IRT stop, taking over for the long-serving Laurel Sportfit club when it became a Covid casualty. It continues to be the regular stop in December for the LPRT but it seems like funding for the men has gone away. This club will always hold an important point of IRT history: it was on these courts that Kane Waselenchuk tore his Achilles heel in September 2022, drastically changing the course of the tour for the next two years.

That being said, the club and the area serve as home for a few former touring pros (@Mario Mercado, Sebastian Franco, and @Mauricio Zelada) and when players of that calibre play, others make the drive. Or, as was the case this weekend, extend their visa stay a week after last week’s Spokane event and pick up another event. This included IRT #2 @Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball and his doubles partner @Javier Mar, who formed the two top seeds in singles and the favorite team in doubles for the weekend.

Lets recap the action.

r2sports page: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=42218

In Men’s Open Singles, the Kelley brothers drove down from Jersey and each got an international round of 16 opponent. #9 Joe fell to Bolivian #8 Subieta, but #7 Sam got past Colombian #10 @set Ceballos. Excellent Ohio player Victor Migliore blanked New York’s Aaron Dardani in the opening round, while top Maryland amateur #5 John Behm silenced NC’s Sanz.

In the quarters, the two traveling tour pros Montoya and Mar, plus the two local former top-10 touring pros Mercado & Franco all advanced. Mercado labored over Migliore 14,14, while Montoya dropped a game to Subieta, but all advanced.

In the semis, Montoya outlasted home town favorite Franco in a hard-hitting display of power racquetball, while Mar outclassed the always-tough Mercado to setup a 1-v-2 final, ironically a rematch of the round of 16 match in Spokane. In that final, Montoya didn’t let his partner get started and won 8,8

Men’s Doubles Review:

There were eight teams that ended up playing in two RR groups, giving the players and the fans a ton of action. In group 1, top seeds Montoya & Mar swept the group, but were certainly pressed by Sam Kelley & Set Cuballos in the group final. Meanwhile, local boys Franco & Mercado took their group … but nearly were upset in the group final by joe Kelley & Migliore.

In the winner-take-all final, Montoya & Mar won going away 6,11 for the Montoya double.