Category: Doubles

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IRT 45th Annual Lewis Drug Pro-Am recap

Kane Wins again! Photo credit: unknown

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Kane Waselenchuk

– Doubles: Conrrado Moscoso & @Kadim Carrasco

Kane wins his 3rd tourney on the trot, 15-matches in a row since a shock loss to Alonso last May. He extends his own record of being the oldest player to win a Tier 1 on tour. Lastly, he drastically increases his lead atop the tour rankings, and now owns nearly double the points to just the #2 player on tour. Kane continues to be unstoppable.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=46712

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

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/b5e74e

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In the 64s:

– Ortega survived a solid match from Floridian Alejandro Herrera Azcarate , who may have just flamed out after crushing the young Mexican in game one.

– Tour veterans Horn and Franco both had winning results in their return to the tour after so long away.

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Notable matches from the 32s:

– #17 @Diego Gastelum cruised past #16 Robby Collins in the 16/17 match; If Trujillo is in the top 10, then Gastelum should eventually be as well.

– #9 Jake Bredenbeck had probably the hardest round of 32, having to stare down Argentine @Diego Garcia to move on. I thought this would be closer, but Jake handled Garcia 9,9.

– Sam Bredenbeck , back on tour after months away, cruised past #13 CARLOS RAMÍREZ 3,5 in an upset by seed but probably not by talent.

– #3 @Adam Manilla was the unlucky recipient of seeing @Sebastian Franco for his round of 32, but worked his way past the long-time top 10 Colombian to move on.

– #15 @Eduardo Portillo Rendon took out #18 @Kadim Carrasco in a far-too-early match for the former top 6 player, who has seen his ranking dip as he spent much of 2024 missing events to work on his career.

– #2 Rodrigo Montoya defeated his old WRT rival David ” Bobby” Horn in two to end Horn’s comeback early.

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In the 16s, we got seed carnage. Five of the top Eight seeds fell in this round, as the latter part of the draw was littered with opportunistic double digit seeds.

– In the 8/9 match, which @Alan Natera has dominated lately, #9 Jake Bredenbeck crushed the Chilean 7,1 to move into the quarters.

– Jordy Alonso got a wbf-ns walkover against @Andree Parrilla , robbing neutrals of a very anticipated match.

– @Javier Mar is back, and took out #3 Manilla in a breaker.

– #10 Jaime Martell Neri got a well-played win over #7 @Erick Trujillo to move into the quarters.

– In the biggest upset of the night, #15 Portillo destroyed #2 Montoya 6,4 to move into the quarters. Nobody likes to see a top-6 player in the 16s, but all credit to Lalo here controlling Montoya’s power game. He wasn’t done yet either…

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In the Quarters

– #1 Kane dominated Jake, who is one of the few players on tour with a h2h win over the king, 3,8 to move on.

– #4 Moscoso survived the first real test of his comeback from arm injury, and he did so in solid fashion. After falling down early in the first against Alonso, he ran the table to close out game one and then jump to a big lead in game two. Jordy clawed his way back to 10, but the Bolivian advances to setup the dream matchup in the semis 7,10.

– After his big 16s win, Mar couldn’t continue his run and fell to the rising Costa Rican @Andres Acuna in three. Acuna makes his way into another semi and has solidified his spot in deep in the top 8.

– Portillo cruised past Martell 2,10 with his sights on the final.

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In the Semis

– Kane and Moscoso played an interesting, back and forth match that highlighted a salient fact often repeated in this space. The top players on tour can beat Kane … but they have to play three perfect games to do so. Moscoso played one perfect game, game 2, wining 15-10, but it wasn’t enough. After splitting the first two games, Kane stayed consistent while Moscoso floundered and Kane wins 11-6 in the breaker.

– In the other semi, Lalo and Acuna played a tactical close match, with Lalo advancing 11,14 to setup a final few would have predicted.

In the Final, Kane put his USAR Ranking on the line (Kane’s #1 there, but Lalo has a h2h win over him, and a defeat would immediately put Portillo top), but the result was anticlimactic. Kane wins 5,8 and Lalo wasn’t ever really in danger of an upset.

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Points Implications of results

Assuming this is a Tier1+ points event …

Kane drastically extends his lead at top, replacing last year’s semis loss with the Tier1+ points of this year’s win. Moscoso should go to #2, jumping both Montoya and Manilla. Acuna should rise one stop to #5, a career best. Natera should finally get out of the #8 spot and give himself a chance to avoid Kane in the quarters. Alonso’s results should put him in the top 10 for the first time. Portillo should jump from 15 to 12, while Gastelum jumps a bit deeper into the top 16.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/0212c1

Moscoso wins just his third career Pro doubles title, his first with Carrasco, with a well played 11-9 tiebreaker win over the top seeds Montoya/Mar.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Gastelum topped local open favorite Jordan Barth in the Men’s Open final.

– Miranda & Garcia took a very talented Open Doubles draw over Bear & Portillo in the final.

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Fantasy Racquetball Competition Wrap-up

Here were the top 5 rankings from Fantasy Racquetball for the event:

1. JT R Ball / @Daily Racquetball who predicted Lalo to the final.

2. @Mitch Brayley

3. Yours Truly Todd Boss

4. Shawn Watts

5. @Joe Linnell

6. Kurtis Cullen

I guess the Canadians are pretty good at this 🙂

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters @Richard Eisemann and Carrie Wegener Reitmeier

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

Canada has its second nationals qualifier this coming weekend, then we have Mexican Nationals the last week of February. The next pro stop will be in early march.

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45th Annual IRT Lewis Drug Pro-Am

A rare appearance this weekend from Sebastian Franco. Photo Kevin Savory 2018 US Open

One of the longest running privately run tournaments in the sport is set for its 45th hear. Mark Gibbs is running back the Lewis Drug Pro-Am in Sioux Falls once again, one of the most popular events on tour.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=46712

This is the first Tier 1 of the 2025 season/year, and the first under new tour ownership and involvement. We’ve already seen Adam Manilla ‘s impact, with great social media profiles of players on the IRT’s Facebook page leading up to the event. We may see some interesting change to the tour, its structure, its draws, and whatnot with the new ownership and new commissioner Dave Negrete , but for now its business as usual.

There’s 36 players in South Dakota this weekend, including the top 17 ranked players and 18 of the top 20. There’s some returning names, some well-traveled players from South Africa, and the draw looks like it will give us some great early round matches. This event is the return of Bolivian Conrrado Moscoso, who was #1 on tour most of last year but who suffered an arm injury that cost him the points race and a couple of events late in the season. Is he at 100% we’ll soon see.

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Early round matches to watch for:

There’s just two round of 64s, both of which are interesting:

– top Florida amateur and former touring pro @Alejandro Herrera Azcarate takes on up-and-coming Mexican talent @Guillermo Jesus Ortega in a fun one to fight for the right to play Kane.

– Long-time pro David ” Bobby” Horn returns to the tour; he faces US junior national team member @Benjamin Horner.

– Former top10 regular @Sebastian Franco, who hasn’t played on tour since Feb 2023, is back. He recently took the Kelley brother’s invitational, so we know he’s got some top-level playing as of late, so he should be ready to compete.

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round of 32 matches to watch for:

– #9 @Jake Bredenbeck cannot be happy to see Bolivian turned Argentine Diego Garcia as his opening round opponent. The two met last August at worlds and Jake was stretched to an 11-9 fifth game before advancing. Garcia is an upset-favorite, with multiple prior wins over top 10 players on tour like Acuna, Lalo, Trujillo, Carson, etc. this is a quarter-final’s quality match in the 32s, though the advantage goes to Jake, who only had to drive a few hours to get here.

– #5 Andree Parrilla will have his hands full with U21 star @Gerson Miranda, making a rare state-side appearance.

– #12 @Jordy Alonso , who suddenly has legit aspirations to the semis of every event he plays, has a tough opener against one of the best amateur players in the mid-west in John Goth .

– For his troubles rising to a career best ranking, #3 Adam Manilla has to face off against Franco in the 32s. They’ve met twice in the 2018-19 range and split on tour. Manilla should advance, but Franco is not exactly rusty and could pose some problems.

– In the 15/18, pilot-to-be Eduardo Portillo Rendon takes on Bolivian @Kadim Carrasco . Lalo should advance and cause some trouble in this draw.

– #2 @Rodrigo Montoya projects to face Horn, two long-time rivals who have a playing history going back more than a decade. They were WRT rivals, playing a handful of times there, once internationally, but never on IRT. I’d say that Montoya is the favorite here, but Horn won’t go down without a fight.

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Round of 16:

– #1 Kane Waselenchuk should face Gastelum in a repeat of the 16s from Pleasanton. Kane beat him 2,2 then, probably expects to be a similar score-line this weekend.

– The 8/9 match this weekend projects to be @Alan Natera and the winner of the Jake/Garcia match. Unlike the last few 8/9 matchups, Natera won’t be favored here, and I’d expect either Jake or Diego in the quarters.

– #5 Parrilla vs #12 Alonso. It’s safe to say these guys go back a ways, being a year apart, both hailing from the hotbed of San Luis Potosi in Mexico, and frequently playing in both local events and at Mexican Junior national tournaments growing up. Parrilla has a year’s edge on Jordy, which helped him out in juniors. Now? The two are pretty evenly matched, play a pretty similar game style, and this is a true coin flip for me. I always like rooting for the underdog, so give me Alonso and the points.

– Manilla vs Mar: I’ve always had a soft spot for Mar, who has split his two matchups with Adam (though both were played a while ago). Manilla has been on a roll, Mar has not really been getting the marquee wins he needs lately to keep up his dark-horse fame. I’ll go with Manilla here.

– Trujillo-Martell in the 7/10 is a fun one: I think Erick has the advantage here.

– Montoya-Portillo in the 16s. Again, not the round of 16 that Rodrigo would want, a player who has more than a couple h2h wins against him and who has demonstrated he can handle the pace. Upset watch here.

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Projected Qtrs:

– Kane over Jake: Bredenbeck famously has a career win over a healthy Kane, but the two seem to be going in different directions right now.

– Alonso over Moscoso: We’ll know pretty quickly if Moscoso’s arm is 100% because he’s going to need to hit his lines against Jordy to win. However, if Moscoso is back, this is a tough one for Alonso to win b/c Conrrado has the advantage in power, athleticism, and shot-making. Alonso plays smarter but has to play lights out to win. This is my favorite quarter final if it comes to pass.

– Manilla over Acuna: Adam rides the hot hand and takes out a possibly-still dinged Acuna (who forfeited out of the last event with injury)

– Montoya over Trujillo; they’ve played at this juncture a couple times, and Rodrigo has little difficulty getting past his younger countrymate.

Semis:

– Kane takes out Alonso/Moscoso winner. I think many would like to see Moscoso’s power against Kane’s power … but i have a sneaky suspicion it’ll be the more cerebral Alonso playing here. If they do, Kane will be looking for major revenge after last year’s exit in Canoga Park, where Jordy beat him 11-1 in the breaker. Kane’s more focused, in better shape, and will be in revenge mode here.

– Montoya faces Manilla in a rematch of the surprise upset win by Adam last December at his home tourney in Pleasanton. I was surprised Adam won then, and I’d be surprised if he won here after years of watching him rarely get to the semis. But something has clicked for Adam, and this is danger territory for Rodrigo. I still like Montoya here, but wouldn’t be surprised with an upset.

Finals; I’m projecting another meeting between Kane and the player on tour I think has the best chance of beating Kane; Rodrigo Montoya. Their last meeting was instructive to me: Kane squeaked out a 15-14 game one win, then Montoya rolled him in game 2 15-7. In the breaker, Montoya lost focus on a bad call, let a few points go by in a row, and that was that. Kane is so good at keeping his foot on your throat, he’s so focused on the court, that you cannot give up a mental edge like that. I’m not sure if Montoya can keep it together for three games, but he’s got the current best package of power (to keep Kane from just rolling out service returns), athleticism ( to extend rallies and make Kane hit that one extra shot), and maturity (to be patient on the court, to make adjustments, and to go for the right shots) to beat Kane.

All that said, Kane is the favorite to win.

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Doubles review

There’s 14 teams in pro doubles, with some great matches up and down the draw. I love the Garcia/Miranda team, basically the future of Argentina racquetball, who faces Manilla/Horn in the round of 16. Herrera/Franco is a fun all-Colombian team that will give #3 Parrilla/Portillo some fun.

#1 seeds Montoya & Mar won’t be pushed until the semis, where they project to take out Natera & Acuna (who I think will outlast the rusty Horn & Manilla in the quarters). Meanwhile in the bottom half, I think #3 Portillo/Parrilla can play “keep away” from Moscoso, focusing on Carrasco in their semi against the Bolivians to move into the final.

Final’s prediction: Mar/Montoya outlast Parrilla & Portillo but its a battle.

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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. This weekend both @Richard Eisemann

and Carrie Wegener Reitmeier are on the mike, and I’ll be helping out with data throughout the weekend.

Coincidentally, if you’re interested in playing Fantasy Racquetball for this event, The IRT is using the same site that LPRT uses to do fantasy racquetball. To join the IRT’s “league” and pick a bracket; here’s the instructions:

Can you predict the results of the event, match by match? Give it a try to win some bragging rights!

Go to https://officepoolstop.com/ (or if already logged in: https://officepoolstop.com/Brackets/79031)

Login or create an account

Scroll to the bottom and click on Join

Enter League code: 79031

Enter League password: IRT2025

Click on Join

Click on the player you expect to win each matchup including the finals. 8 ) Scroll back up to the top to enter the combined score of the final game, so if you expect 11-10, enter 21.

Click on Submit Bracket

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International Racquetball Tour

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LPRT 2025 Arizona Recap

Mejia is back on top. Photo unk.

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Montse Mejia

– Doubles: @Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas Solis

Mejia wins her 8th career singles title, moving into 12th place all time. She returns to the winner’s circle for the first time in exactly a year; she won the 2024 Arizona Open for her last title. Meanwhile, Longoria & Salas win their 50th career pro doubles title together; our records only go back to 2014 and I have them at 40 in the database, which means another 10 in the years prior to 2014 that we could go back and find with enough LPRT event research.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=45386

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

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/q89

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In the 32s:

– Lotts and Ros had a battle, going tie-breaker, before Lotts advanced. These 16/17 seed matches are tough.

– Lucia Gonzalez pressed Amaya, losing 8,14.

– Arizona Resident Michelle Key was a withdrawal from her “home” tournament, giving MRR a walkover. She played doubles the next day, so this was an odd wbf-ns.

– Annie Sanchez got a solid win over Lexi York to move on and get a rare win on tour.

– Rhonda’s return to the tour ended with a one-and-done at the hands of Kelani 4,8

– Parrilla made fast work of Enriquez 4,2.

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In the 16s:

– The 8/9 matchup between Amaya and Salas went the distance, as expected, with Samantha squeaking out an 11-10 win.

– Herrera got pushed by Centellas, who won the first game before falling (10),13,6

– Mendez cruised past Parrilla 11,1 to earn another quarterfinal.

– The Vargas-Barrios match was tight as expected, but Maria Jose won 10,12 to avoid the round of 16 upset.

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In the Quarters

– #1 Longoria beat her doubles partner Salas, as the met for the 63rd time on tour. Believe it or not, that’s not the most frequent h2h match we’ve ever seen; Longoria played Rhonda 69 times in their career (see https://rball.pro/uce )

– #5 Gaby made fast work of #4 Herrera 8,4 to setup a solid semi from the top side.

– #3 Mejia seems like she’s on a mission, crushing #6 Lawrence 0,4 to move on.

– #2 Vargas dropped the first game against her now dropped doubles partner Mendez before advancing.

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In the Semis

– #1 Longoria had to come from a game down to beat the Guatemalan Martinez, cruising to an 11-1 tiebreaker.

– #3 Mejia continued her torrid stretch, dominating the the drained Vargas in two 7,9 to move into the final.

In the Finals, Mejia defended her 2024 title in this event with a comprehensive 8,14 win.

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Points Implications of results

Mejia and Vargas tightened the points race, but there’s still a sizeable gap from Longoria to Vargas (300 points or so), and then from Vargas to Mejia (another 300 points or so). The gap from the top 3 players just to #4 Herrera is monumental; nearly 500 points, which would take most of a season to make up.

Changes we saw: Lawrence and the missing Laime switched spots at #6/7. Synhorst should move up to #14 with her round of 32 win. Lotts is climbing up the rankings, now at #17. Centellas jumps a few spots and is now back in the top 20.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/x1k

The doubles draw gave us an upset of the #1 team for the first time in more than a year, as the new-look Argentina doubles team Vargas/Centellas topped Mejia & Herrera in the semis. However, Longoria & Salas (now dumped down to #3) didn’t drop a game all weekend and took the title 12,10.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– LPRT U21: Yanna Salazar took out countrymate Daniela Rico for the U21 title.

– Women’s Open: Naomi Ros faced Angelica Barrios as the two tops seeds, and the former top 8 LPRT pro won out as she rebuild her ranking points.

– Men’s Open: US Jr National team member Grant Williams faced Texan Daniel Bautista for the title and won 10,5.

– Men’s Open Doubles was taken by Arizona residents Coy Rogers and Alonzo Tavares

– Mixed Open Doubles was taken by Katie Neils & Freddie Villalon in a walkover that may have been travel related (i.e. someone had to get on a plane).

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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

There was an IRT satellite in Kansas this weekend that we’ll do a quick recap of. The next big pro event is the IRT Lewis Drug in Sioux Falls in two weeks’ time.

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LPRT

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LPRT 2025 Arizona Open Preview

Rhonda is back! Photo Src: © Mike Boatman 2010

Welcome to one of the longer running events on tour, the Arizona Open, run by hall of famer @Jim Winterton in Tempe on the campus of Arizona State University.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=45386

We’ve got 27 pros entered in the singles division here, which is a high water mark so far for the new season and seems to indicate a slight increase of “tour depth” from last season.

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Let’s preview the singles draw.

In the 32s:

– We get a rematch of Lotts/Ros in the 16/17 from the Lombard event in November; Lotts won 11,10 back then, but Ros is improving by the month.

– We get a rare sighting of Lucia Gonzalez, former Mexican junior phenom. She takes on Amaya in the 32s, but based on Cristina’s form I don’t see an upset here. Gonzalez, in case you didn’t know who she was, won 7 IRF Junior world titles in her junior career, including the 18U world title in 2013 at a time when the 18U world champion basically was a guarantee of a top 10 LPRT pro (the 2 18U champs preceeding and following Lucia? Lambert, Vargas, Hererra and Mendez).

– Michelle Key, now all the way up to #12, takes on former touring pro regular MRR.

– Lexi York takes on Annie (Roberts) Sanchez, looking to take a step up after finishing off her junior career last December. Sanchez hasn’t had the success on tour that she’s had internationally and this is a good test.

– We have a @Rhonda Rajsich sighting! She’s entered an LPRT event, in her home state, for the first time in two years. She has an easier round of 32 this time than she did two years ago (when she faced Vargas), but she’s still and underdog against #6 @Kelani Lawrence .

– A tough matchup of Mexican top 10 veterans Parrilla and Enriquez is set for the 10-23 round of 32.

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round of 16:

– Amaya/Salas projection in the 8/9 match for the fourth time in a year. Salas has generally been winning these veteran battles, but they’re usually going tiebreaker.

– Gaby-Key in the 5/12: these two have been meeting somewhat regularly in international play for a decade, with Martinez holding the edge.

– Mendez vs the Enriquez/Parrilla winner. Mendez has struggled in her career against Parrilla, but has been playing well as of late and has been playing to her seeds pretty frequently.

– Vargas vs Barrios: this is brutal draw for the #2 seed Vargas, playing a player who has a slew of career wins over her. They’re 4-4 for their career against each other, though Vargas has beaten her handily in the two meetings they had last year. Nonetheless, this is about as big of a contrast in styles as you’ll see on tour and this will always be an upset watch.

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Projected Qtrs:

– 1/8 @Paola Longoria over the Salas/Amaya winner; if its Salas, it would be their 63rd professional meeting.

– 4/5 Herrera vs Gaby; this isn’t a great matchup for Gaby, who has lost to Alexandra the last three times they’ve played. They’ve all been close, but Herrera’s game style seems to stymy Martinez. I’ll go with the lefty to win here.

– 3/6 Mejia vs Lawrence; they’ve played 3 times in their careers, none were especially close. Mejia to advance.

– 2/7 Vargas tops her doubles partner Mendez, to whom she’s never lost in singles.

Semis: It’s more of the same; last event Herrera missed but Laime filled in, but was still the same crew in the semis that i’m projecting here.

– Longoria over Herrera: Alexandra had Longoria’s number for a brief moment, but seemingly no longer. Paola to the final.

– Vargas over Mejia: somehow these two have avoided each other for nearly a year on tour despite both being ranked in the top 3 that entire time. Vargas has had the upper hand lately, but this is always a fun one to watch because of the power-first style of both players. Vargas to win again.

Finals; Another Paola vs Vargas matchup. Did you know these two have played 55 times in pro and high-level IRF events over their careers? It’s been a tale of two players in their head to head career:

– From their first meeting at 2012 Worlds to this Arizona event in 2023, Longoria held an astounding 41-2 over Vargas. She won their first 26 meetings.

– From Feb 2023 to now? Vargas leads 7-5.

Yes those are arbitrary endpoints. But we know Vargas flipped a switch in 2023, which led to her first title in June of 2024, and that switch has stayed on. These two have met in two finals so far this season, splitting them both, both in TBs. No reason not to think that’ll happen again here. When Vargas has an easier semi, she seems to have an easier final; i don’t see that here. So i’ll go with Longoria to win.

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Doubles review

There’s some interesting developments in the Doubles draw. Herrera/Mejia are #1 as expected, but Vargas is playing with Centellas, not Mendez. Both represent Argentina, and they’ve never once played together previously. So, Mendez picks up one of the best doubles players in the world in Michelle Key and they’re the #2 seeds.

Key/Mendez will have their work cut out for them, as team Guatemala is the #7 seed and is a favorite to upset them. Meanwhile, the experienced team of Scott/Lawrence will test the new-look Argentines in the 4/5 matchup.

At the end of the day, I th ink its the two top Mexican teams facing off once again in the final, with Herrera/Mejia topping Longoria/Salas for the 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!

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

Hashtags #racquetball #proracquetball #lprt

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5th Annual Average Joe’s Tournament Recap

Jake with the double in Jersey. Photo Kevin Savory 2020 USAR national doubles

This past weekend was a fun annual tradition; the racquetball-mad Kelley brothers hosted their 5th annual Average Joe’s Event at their custom built court on their property in New Jersey.

Last year’s event was plagued with issues, when a foot of snow hit the Kelley house and wreaked havoc on the electricity.

So, what happened in 2025? Well, four current or former touring pros showed up on the Kelley’s doorstep, which pushed 2024 champ Sendrey down to be the 5th seed. Your top 8 seeds in singles were: Sebastian Franco, Jake Bredenbeck, Momo Zelada, Sam Bredenbeck, Cole Sendrey, Joe Kelley, Jose Flores, and Kyle Ulliman.

Ulliman fell in the 8/9 game to co-host and 2023 champ Sam Kelley; the rest of the seeds went through unscathed. All four top seeds took care of business in the quarters to face off in the semis. There:

– In the top half, Franco moved past Sam Bredenbeck

– From the bottom half, Jake took care of Momo to give us a 1v2 final.

In the final, Jake took out Franco to claim the singles title.

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In doubles, Sam & Joe Kelley upset the #2 seeds from Maryland Momo & Franco early, but couldn’t take out two-time defending doubles champ Dylan Pruitt & parter Sendrey from the bottom half, putting the two young guns in the final.

The Bredenbeck’s held serve as the #1 seed, topping the team of Dixon & Flores in the other semi.

In the final, Jake made it a double for the weekend and prevented a 3-peat by Dylan by taking the title with brother Sam.

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Event Winner Archive:

Singles:

– 1st Annual in 2021: Joe Kelley over Austin Cunningham

– 2nd Annual 2022: Kyle Ulliman over Victor Migliore

– 3rd Annual 2023: Sam Kelley over Victor Migliore

– 4th Annual 2024: Cole Sendrey over Kyle Ulliman

– 5th Annual 2025: Jake Bredenbeck over Sebastian Franco

Doubles:

– 2021: (no doubles event)

– 2022: (no doubles event)

– 2023: Pruitt/Bleyer

– 2024: Pruitt/Cunningham

– 2025: Bredenbeck/Bredenbeck

That’s it for the 2025 Kelley Invitational.

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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

Posted on

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 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