Parrilla gets the double this weekend in San Jose. Photo 2019 US Open via Kevin Savory
Congrats to the pro winners on the weekend:
Singles; Andree Parrilla
Doubles: Parrilla & Sam Murray r2 link: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=39311 Lets recap the Pro Singles draw: In the 16s, I had my eye on a couple of matches that might be close … but in the end, the draw went essentially chalk to the quarters. I say “essentially’ because #9 Javier Mar took out #8 Erick Trujillo 8,3, which may be an upset by seed but certainly is not by talent. The other pro-vs-pro round of 16 that looked intriguing turned into a blowout, with #7 Eduardo Garay Rodriguez handling #10 Alan Natera 12,3. In the quarters:
#1 @AnAndree Parrilla made fast work of #9 Mar 7,6. This used to be a much closer rivalry, now Mar has his work cut out to close the gap.
#5 Andres Acuña cruised past #4 @Sebastian Franco 9,3 on his home courts.
#6 @Rodrigo Montoya got a statement win over #3 @Eduardo Portillo 9,9; tour observes often wonder what would happen if Montoya committed to the tour full time, with his full attention. Could he be a top 5 player?
– #2 @Samuel Murray cruised past #7 Garay 4,7.
Both Semis featured great comebacks from the top seeds.
#1 Parrilla dropped the first game to the home-town favorite Acuna before advancing (😎,12,2.
#2 Murray looked like he was going to lose two fast ones to the athletic Montoya, but held on to win (😎,12,7.
In the final: Parrilla and Murray played a barn burner, each going through multiple shirts and fighting both each other and the humidity before Andree pulled away at 7-7 in the breaker to take it. Solid match.
Pro Doubles review: The pro doubles went completely chalk to the finals, where #1 Montoya/Mar took on #2 Parrilla/Murray.
In that final … Parrilla & Murray, who had just walked off the court as singles competitors in the final, teamed up to take out the #1 Montoya/Mar pairing 13,13. This is an interesting result for me: Montoya & Mar are an accomplished, veteran team who have shown the ability to beat any other pairing in the world. Meanwhile, Parrilla just spent the last season exclusively playing doubles with Portillo … who was here in Costa Rica. So why didn’t the two play together? Meanwhile, Murray normally plays with Landa and has for several years and is securely ranked #2 on the doubles circuit. Is he looking for a change?
Men’s open review: The Men’s open draw was nearly the size of the Men’s singles draw and featured some interesting players and interesting results. From the top half, #1 Erick Trujillo topped #4 @Set Cubillos in one semi, while #2 @Alan Natera took out #3 former IRT touring pro @Felipe Camacho in the other. Camacho advanced in part by topping LPRT #5 @Ana Gabriela Martinez along the way in a breaker.
In the Open singles final… Trujillo got a solid win against a tough veteran player in Natera to take the Open title.
Thanks to Dean Baer and Pablo Fajre for making the trek to San Jose to broadcast for us!
Acuna welcomes pro players to his home club as a host this weekend in San Jose. Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory
The Costa Rica country club in San Jose is hosting an IRT event for the first time (I believe) since 2019, and they’ve got a nice solid draw. Lower tier events are not put into the proracquetballstats.com database because they’re not “full draws,” but they generally get a good chunk of the IRT top 10 and definitely contribute ranking points. r2 link; https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=39311 Here’s a preview of the draw in San Jose this weekend; the tourney runs Weds-Sat so play will start on 6/15/22. There will be streaming, which is awesome, and per the IRT’s posts streaming starts thursday with the quarterfinals. Singles preview:
25 players entered, including 3 guys from the current top 10 (Parrilla, Murray, and Portillo) and another 5 guys from the 11-20 range (Franco, Acuna, Garay, Montoya, and Trujillo) and a couple of big names from the 21-30 range who can make noise (Mar, Natera). There’s a ton of players here from Guatemala, including their entire international team of Salvatierra, Wer, Mendoza, and Galicia. There’s also a great set of IRF vets from other countries: Cueva from Ecuador, Cubillos from Colombia, the Gaticas and Salgado from Chile, plus @Franciso Fajardo and some of Team Zurek. In the round of 16, look for these good matches:
8/9 Trujillo vs Mar: a tough draw for the young Trujillo, getting a player in Mar who, when he’s “on” can be one of the best 8-10 players in the world. Mar has been out for a while nursing a core muscle injury, so this could be a close match.
4/13 Mexican up and comer Sebastian Hernandez takes on veteran Franco in a good test for him, assuming he can get by the veteran Cubillos in the 32s.
7/10 Garay vs Natera; this is an interesting match. Garay has been hit or miss touring lately, but should have the slight advantage over Natera.
2/15: Murray vs Camacho; Camacho is a long-time former touring pro who can still ball; Murray has no cake walk here. Projected Quarters:
#1 Parrilla vs Trujillo/Mar winner: Parrilla has a tough quarter ahead.
#4 Franco vs #5 Acuna: Look for Acuna to hold serve at his home club
#3 Lalo vs #6 Montoya: tough matchup for Lalo here; Montoya is better than his ranking
#2 Murray vs Garay/Natera winner: this should be a win for Murray on paper, but both of these players can cause trouble.
My projected semis and Final: Parrilla over Acuna, Montoya over Murray. Final Parrilla over Montoya. However … if the semis turn into this quartet of players, its “any given sunday” because I think all four of these players are tightly bunched and can beat each other. Should make for some great Friday and Saturday action.
Doubles: One of the best doubles teams in the world is here in Montoya/Mar; I see them topping Garay/Franco in one semi. In the other side, Portillo/Acuna versus Parrilla/Murray is an interesting doubles match. Portillo/Parrilla were a “team” for sometime recently but now are apparently splitting up. Acuna doesn’t really have a regular partner since Camacho stopped touring, but Portillo has shown he’s a solid player. I’ll go with Lalo/Acuna in an upset.
However, the final is all Montoya/Mar, irrespective of who comes out of the bottom side.
Looking forward to more live pro racquetball this week!
Kane was cruising towards another title before court conditions halted play.
Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory
Congrats to your winner on the weekend … well, there was no Pro winner this weekend. For just the 2nd time in recorded pro tour history, an event was started but not completed. #1 Daniel de la Rosa and #7 Kane Waselenchuk had just finished game one of the singles final when the viewers saw them talking with the IRT commissioner @Pablo Fajre on the court … and then we saw nothing but commercials for what seemed like 10 minutes straight before the feed cut out. We eventually got the explanation; wet courts and safety concerns.
IRT statement on the situation: https://www.facebook.com/racquetballtour/posts/10159763607656737
It’s a bummer, because Kane was as dialed in as I’ve ever seen him this weekend and had just taken the first game 15-4. But, the court conditions (which by all accounts were already sketchy all tournament) turned unbearable after an HVAC issue overnight turned the courts into skating rinks. The players will split the points and money, and we’ll have a ? for the winner in the database for the rest of time.
What was the other IRT tournament that never finished? That would be the 2005 Summer Cooler traditional season opener that used to happen in New Orleans every season. But in August 2005 … Hurricane Katrina bore down on the town and the players had to get out of town after completing the quarters on Friday night. The tourney was never finished, Katrina decimated the area … and there’s never been another tournament in New Orleans since.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38842
Lets review the notable matches in the Pro Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/5BBBF2
In the 128s and 64s: Here were some of the eye-brow raising results for me in the first day of qualifying:
Bravo to the traveling Ecuadorian pros, who fared very well this weekend. Cueva won a round before losing to Horn, and Ugalde made the round of 32s before playing Fernandez tough and losing 13,10.
Bolivian junior Ezequiel Subieta got two solid qualifier wins over Warigon and Salvatierra before falling to Garay.
Flight issues took Cardona out of the event, giving Iwaasa a clearer path to the 32s.
– Mexican junior Guillermo Ortega Jr. got a couple of solid wins over established international pros Gomez and Cuevas to get into the 32s.
In the 32s:
Horn upset #9 Jake Bredenbeck with relative ease 7,10.
#12 Manilla was pushed to a 11-9 breaker by Guatemalan Galicia
Acuna and Iwaasa played a very close match, with Acuna advancing 10,14. Iwaasa could absolutely be a mid-teen ranked player on tour if he played regularly.
Bolivian junior qualifier Hector Barrios got the biggest win of the round, taking out #10 Franco 14,11.
Another top 16 seed upset was #15 Robbie Collins, taken out by the young Mexican Ortega.
Three qualifiers into the round of 16.
In the 16s:
#1 DLR calmed the upstart #16 Alonso
Underseeded Horn gave Mercado everything he could handle.
#12 Manilla took out another top 8 player, this time the #5 seeded Portillo in a breaker.
Fernandez was just a couple points away from an upset of #4 Landa … but couldn’t convert and Landa squeaks by 14,13.
Murray and Garay played a close game one, and a not-so close game 2 as the Canadian advances 13,0.
#6 Moscoso made fast work of his oft-difficult rival Acuna 6,4
#7 Waselenchuk put on a clinic against the young Bolivian Barrios, winning 3,5
– #2 Parrilla was made to work for it by his young Mexican rival Ortega, but advanced 9,12.
In the Quarters
DLR held off the mercurial Mercado in a breaker.
Landa cruised past Manilla in two.
Murray put another loss on Moscoso. This is the third time in five meetings that Murray has controlled Moscoso and put a loss on him, something that observers continually seem shocked by.
– Waselenchuk made a statement against Parrilla, donuting him in the first and ensuring that there would e no repeat of Atlanta.
In the Semis
DLR survived match point against his long-time rival Landa and moved into the final.
Waselenchuk crushed his Canadian rival Murray 1,1 in another statement win.
In the Finals … as mentioned above Kane was cruising. DLR’s points all came on aces or service winners, which is a difficult strategy to maintain when that’s the only way you can score.
Points Implications of results Kane and DLR split the points, getting 350 each, which doesn’t make much of a change in the standings. The top 8 should stay the same after this event, which expires the 2020 Lou Bradley. DLR (who didn’t play the Lou Bradley in 2020) only expands his lead at the top of the points; he now leads #2 Parrilla by 1400 points, a huge margin. The rest of the top 8 tightens: the difference between #2 and #8 is now less than 500 points, and we’ll see some major jostling in the 2-7 spots after every event going forward.
Acuna should rise to #11, his career best. Manilla should also see a big jump to #12. Beltran will drop, possibly to #15 by virtue of his absence here and expiring points. The other big mover will be Alonso, who will jump from in the 30s to in the 20s.
Men’s Open and other draws
Men’s Open Singles had 33 players, and the final featured two veteran international competitors in Canada’s Iwaasa and Ecuador’s Ugalde. They played the “perfect” match, with Iwaasa winning 14,(14),10.
Men’s Open Doubles featured more of the tour regulars with no pro doubles component, and the competition was fierce. The final was won by Acuna/Alonso topping Fernandez/Ortega Jr in two close games. Great event for Ortega jr.
– The U21 was a new event here, with players representing SEVEN different countries competing. In the end #1 seeded Bolivian Hector Barrios took out #2 Cuevas in the final, but lots of top young players competed and fared well.
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew
Next up? We’ll recap the LPRT event tomorrow, then talk about what’s next on the calendar
Fernandez gets a #13 seed; can he get a first round upset? Photo US Open 2019 via Kevin Savory
After a couple year’s hiatus, the IRT returns to Long Island for the 2022 New York Open. The tournament has a rich 47-man draw, including a ton of players we don’t normally see on tour, which I’ll call out in the “interesting matches to watch” section below. Top20 players missing: #8 Carson misses a rare event; he went nearly 20 years without missing a tournament. Word is he’s avoiding the cross-country trip ahead of Nationals. #11 Beltran is not here; he was clearly hurt at the last tournament and has mentioned he won’t play in tournaments that don’t have doubles anymore. #13 Keller misses his second straight pro event. #16 Montoya is not here, nor is #17 Carter (a rare tourney missed as well). Interestingly #20 Trujillo, who was making a big move, is missing the event after a strong run. Maye he has finals.
All these missing top seeds have meant that Fernandez is finally out of the 16/17 seed range and can get a more winnable first rounder, and Mercado gets a top8 protected seed, among other players ranked in the teens moving up.
Lets preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to: In the round of 128:
Arteaga vs Ecuadorian national team member Cuevas should be interesting.
Sam Kelley versus Canadian national team member Leduc is a solid match.
Another Ecuadorian Ugalde takes on Cubillos in an intriguing all-South American match.
toughest first rounder: Canadian #2 Iwaasa versus the very good Joe Kelley.
Gomez vs Ortega Jr could be interesting too.
Bravo to all the NY local players who entered and will duke it out in this round of 128. Punjari, Puggioni, Galvez, Sullivan, Meguerditchian, and Behm all representing the tri-state area.
In the round of 64, we have some projected battles worth watching:
Floridian Zamudio versus Galicia could be great.
Ugalde versus Sam Kelley would be a good match.
Warigon versus the Guatemalan #1 Salvatierra would be great.
Iwaasa once again is in the toughest potential match of the round, projecting to face Cardona. Both these guys can make the 16s with the right draw, but one is going home in the 64s.
– Young Bolivian Barrios gets a test against veteran Wer.
Projecting the 32s:
#16/17 Alonso vs Zelada. Alonso has been on fire, but Zelada is no slouch. A nice test for the Mexican who has been hot lately.
#9 Bredenbeck vs Horn; all American matchup sends one team USA member home early. In their WRT peaks i’d favor Horn, but now i’m favoring Jake.
The best projected match of this round will be #11 Acuna versus the winner of Cardona/Iwaasa. Acuna should hold serve against both players, but both will press him as better than their seedings.
– #15 Robbie Collins is the most vulnerable of the 9-16 seeds, but the winner of Cuevas/Behm/Gomez/Ortega Jr quadrant may not have enough firepower to do so.
round of 16:
I Like DLR-Alonso for some fireworks. Alonso can score some points, but DLR will advance.
I think #9 Jake upsets #8 Mercado with better current form.
Can #13 Fernandez upset #4 Landa? Yeah, I think he can, especially if Landa gets off to a slow start. Fernandez has the explosive game to press Landa unless he’s 100%.
#14 Garay has the firepower to top Murray but will need to play a complete match. Murray is a model of consistency and rarely loses to upstarts.
#6 Moscoso vs #11 Acuna: these two always play close.
– If Kane shows up, he has a straightforward winnable first rounder against Franco.
Projected Qtrs:
#1 DLR over #9 Jake.
#5 Lalo over Landa/Patata winner; i think Lalo is poised to take the next step and Landa is beginning to show some wear and tear. If Sebastian gets the upset win, I still think Portillo can top him in a battle of 20-somethings.
#6 Moscoso over #3 Murray, even though Murray has a number of wins over the Bolivian in their career. It nearly always goes breaker.
#7 Kane over #2 Andree. Again, if he shows. This would be a rematch of the epic 11-10 Andree win from Atlanta in January. Semis:
#1 DLR over #5 Lalo; Lalo doesn’t have what it takes to beat DLR yet.
#7 Kane over #6 Conrrado. But, if Kane no-shows I like Andree over Conrrado in a rematch of two weeks ago.
Finals;
– If he shows, Kane takes out DLR in a highly anticipated matchup of the current #1 and the long-time #1. If its DLR vs Parrilla, its a rematch of last week, a easy DLR win. If its DLR- Moscoso? Tough one: DLR has the better game and Moscoso would need a game-plan/strategy to counter it.
Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots! Associations @International Racquetball Tour
DLR wins his 8th career title. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory
Congrats to your pro singles winner Daniel de la Rosa for his win in Canoga Park on Saturday 4/30/22.
He secures his 8th career Tier1 title, which moves him into a tie for 13th all time with newly inducted Hall of Famer John Ellis . 12th on the list is 1981-82 pro tour champion and fellow Hall of Famer @Dave Peck , who won 11 tier1 titles.
See this link for a list of all 42 historical Tier1 IRT pro tourney winners: http://rball.pro/1D09B4
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=38996
Lets review the notable matches in the Pro Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/22795E
In the 128s and 64s:
Great showing this weekend from Bolivian Junior @Hector Barrios, who won twice on Thursday, including an upset of IRT regular @Erick Cuevas Fernandez, to get into the round of 32.
@Alejandro Cardona ‘s return to the IRT started out well, with two quick wins over seeded competition.
@Jim Douglas secured his first career IRT win in the round of 128, taking out @Brad Levine in a breaker.
In the 32s, some big upsets.
#17 upset #16 when @Sebastian Fernandez took out @Thomas Carter in two. Patata can’t seem to get out of the #16 seed at IRT events and will shoot for the big upset on Friday.
#9 Mario Mercado almost fell to former IRT touring pro @David “Bobby” Horn, but outlasted him 11-8 in the breaker. Its hard to win three matches in a day.
#21 @Jordy Alonso got the biggest upset of the day, continuing his excellent streak of play lately and beating #12 @Sebastian Franco in two 6,13. Alonso is making a statement lately, now with wins in the last few months over Horn, Franco, and Bredenbeck.
Cardona made quick work of a hobbled #11 @Alvaro Beltran 13,2 to move into the round of 16
#18 Mexican junior phenom @Erick Trujillo staved off match point against in game two versus #15 fireballer @Eduardo Garay, then raced to a 11-3 tiebreaker win. Trujillo continues to get solid wins against solid pros.
In the 16s, two upsets by seeds and a couple other notable matches:
#8 @Rocky Carson made quick work of #9 @Mario Mercado 6,11 in the 8/9 spot that generally sees really competitive matches. Mercado won his first Tier 1 recently, but has scuffled as of late both professionally and internationally.
#13 @Adam Manilla got one of the best wins of his career, topping #4 Alejandro Landa in an 11-8 tiebreaker.
#3 @Andree Parrilla was pushed to the edge by the improving @Andres Acuna but prevailed 10,14
#6 @Conrrado Moscoso shook off the jet lag after falling behind big in the first, then raced to a two game win over Cardona 14,4.
In the always competitive 7/10 match, #7 @Eduardo Portillo took a solid win over #10 @Jake Bredenbeck in a tiebreaker
#2 @Kane Waselenchuk was a no-show, reportedly having “flight issues,” which gave Mexican reigning 18U World champion @Erick Trujillo a walkover into the quarters, his career best.
In the Quarters
#1 @Daniel de la Rosa reversed his previous result against #8 Carson, topping him in a breaker. These two had met in the last event at this juncture and Carson upset the #1 player; not this time.
#5 @Samuel Murray cruised past the upset-minded Manilla in two games. It is difficult to come back after a career win and compete in the next round, especially when its just a few hours later.
#3 Parrilla showed pretty sturdy mental game against #6 Moscoso, coming back from 10-0 down in the first to win 15-12. He then ground out a 15-13 game two win against the talented Bolivian to get a really solid win and move into the semis.
#7 Lalo put his foot down against his junior Mexican rival, topping Trujillo 8,4 in a dominant showing to move into the semis.
In the Semis
#1 DLR improved to 5-1 lifetime against Murray, playing a solid match to advance despite Murray’s best acrobatic efforts 13,9.
#3 Parrilla played a masterful tactical match against #7 Portillo, frustrating his young San Luis Potosi rival to advance 8,8.
In the Finals, DLR improved to 9-2 career against Andree and took care of business, driving the action and out playing Parrilla en route to a comfortable 8,11 win.
Points Implications of results
The IRT for the time being is doing the ranks on a rolling 11 Tier1 basis, dropping the lowest Tier1 showing and any other events that add up to more than 11 played events. That means this tournament “retires” two Jan 2020 events, where DLR had a win and a final, so he had 700 points to defend. This means his lead at the top will shrink, but he will remain #1 by a sizeable margin.
The big move will be Kane dropping; he had a win in Austin in January 2020 to defend, and earned zero points here, so he’ll drop at least a few spots (my projection shows him dropping to #5 on tour). This means that Parrilla will ascend back to the #2 spot, Landa moves up to #3, and Murray to #4.
Men’s Open Singles and Doubles draws No pro doubles here, so a lot of the non top 8 also entered Open Singles … and then a lot of them dropped out, giving a bad look with a ton of WBF-ns on the sheet. Four of the top 8 seeds forfeited out at the round of 16. The semis featured a very international flavor, with two Bolivians, a Guatemalan, and a Colombian competing. Bolivian 16U payer @Ezequel Subieta took out Colombian vet @SeSet Cubillos in one semi, while Mexican youngster @Miguel Arteaga Guzman got a walkover against Guatemalan vet @Juan Jose Salvatierra in the other. The final thus was #15 versus #16, with Arteaga taking out Subieta 11-10 in a thrilling match. In Open Doubles, seeds held to the semis, which was full of IRT touring regulars. #1 Garay/Franco (a good representation of the top Colombian doubles team) beat the young team of Trujilo/Rodriguez in one semi, while the excellent pairing of Acuna/Alonso topped the NorCal duo of Antone/Horn.
In the final, Acuna/Alonso prevailed over the hard hitting Colombians, winning easily 13,5.
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Dean Baer and Leo Vazquez , who flew in specially for this event. We also got to see a ton of streaming from @JTRB , thanks as always for all you do. Thanks also to @Wayne Antone who did some great work on the mike and reffing.
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.
Next up? Per our handy master racquetball calendar … https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/
We have a break next weekend, then on the 5/15 weekend both pro tours are back in action. IRT is in NYC, while LPRT has its Grand Slam in South Carolina.
Cardona returns to the IRT for the first time in 3.5 years. how far can he go? Photo unk
The IRT returns to Southern California and its rich player base for the first time in 2.5 years with the SoCal Open. The tournament will be held at the Canoga Park club, which hosted an annual IRT event recently and is now back in the fold.
There’s a huge draw: 42 singles players are entered in to the pro singles draw, with a good chunk of them also playing in the “Open Doubles” draw. top20 players missing; #13 Bolivian @CarloCarlos Keller did not make the long trip from Bolivia for this one. #15 @RodriRodrigo Montoya and #20Javier Mar are both missing (they may have burned their available vacation for long PARC trip). Otherwise the full top 20 is here plus a ton of guys ranked in the next 10.
Notably, #2 @Kane Waselenchuk was a very-last minute commit, which sets up back end of this tournament well and should be a boon for neutrals and Kane fans.
Lets preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to: In the round of 128:
Colombian @JJuan Pablo Rodriguez takes on NorCal’s Wayne Antone IV in a fun opener.
Bolivian junior @Hector Barrios has a solid opener against Texas’ DJ Mendoza
Former WRT #1 @Alejandro Cardona returns to the IRT for the first time in more than 3 years and faces IRT regular @Anthony Martin in his opener.
– top SoCal amateur @Iain Dunn takes on Colombian international veteran @Set Cubillos
In the round of 64:
@Jordy Alonso should face a tough qualifier against the winner of the Rodriguez/Antone match.
@Erick Cuevas will face a stiff challenge from the Barrios/Mendoza winner for a spot in the main draw.
Top Guatemalan @JuanJuan Jose Salvatierra has the tough task of facing Cardona, assuming Alejandro wins his opener.
– An international-heavy quadrant in the draw will see the Colombian Cubillos challenged by Mexican up and comer @MiMiguel Angel Arteaga for a spot in the main draw.
Projecting the 32s: some guys face a third singles match on Thursday, a difficult proposition for any player… so factoring that in, here’s some interesting round of 32s to get into the main pro draw:
#16/17: Patata versus @Thomas Carter . Carter has been playing well, but Fernandez is better.
#9 @Mario Mercado faces a very tough draw against #24 @Bobby Horn … who is 7-1 lifetime against him. But, Horn will be playing his third singles match of the day. Mercado is coming off a relatively disappointing PARC event on his native soil … will he bounce back against an opponent he’s struggled against historically?
#12 @Sebastian Franco has serious upset potential versus #21 @Jordy Alonso. Alonso took out Bredenbeck with relative ease at the last event and may get the upset here as well.
#11 @Alvaro Beltran is the unlucky recipient of Cardona’s qualifying spot … but again, Cardona will be on his third match of the night. Can he muster enough juice to top the hobbled Beltran? He may. Upset watch here.
– Lastly, in the 15/18 spot we have a great potential match, with @Eduardo Garay set to take on the up and coming Mexican @Erick Trujillo . Trujillo is fresh off his U21 wins at PARC and his first real big win on tour in Chicago. Look for Trujillo to move on here.
Round of 16: I’m predicting a couple of upsets, otherwise chalk.
#17 Fernandez pressures but fails to supplant the #1 Daniel de la Rosa
#21 Alonso continues his run and takes out #5 Samuel Murray .
On the back of his big run at PARC, #14 @Andres Acuna takes out #3 @Andree Parrilla
– While not necessarily an upset, #7 @EduaEduardo Portillo takes out #10 @JaJake Bredenbeck to setup a meeting with the King.
Projected Qtrs:
#1 DLR over #8 @Rocky Carson; It’ll be two matches on Friday for these two, and I think DLR can get some revenge from his upset loss in the last event
#4 @Alejandro Landa halts the Cinderella run of Alonso
#14 Acuna falls to #6 @ConrradoConrrado Moscoso in a rematch of the PARC final earlier this month.
#2 @Kane Waselenchuk wipes out Mexican youngster Trujillo in a rematch of their Atlanta meeting in January.
Semis:
#1 DLR over #4 Landa: DLR is 10-5 career over his Mexican compatriot and moves on here.
#2 Kane over #6 Moscoso; these two have met several times and the matches can be super-fun, but the Bolivian needs a better strategy than he had in Chicago.
Finals;
– #2 Kane over #1 DLR. Odds are we won’t get this matchup but this is what all the neutrals want. Kane is still the king, but how far has DLR come?
Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.
Look for Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots! @Leo Vasquez is also flying in this weekend to help broadcast, and of course the venerable JT R Ball is based in Southern California, so he should be in the streaming mix too!
Carter wins the battle of the pro lefties in Louisiana, again. Photo 2018 US Open Kevin Savory
In addition to Intercollegiates and Beach Bash, the racquetball fanatics down in Louisiana had their annual Warhawk Open this weekend, and it featured a stacked draw of players. Since this tournament ended first, we’ll publish this recap first 🙂 The tournament was an IRT Tier 4 event, and drew a huge 29-man pro draw that included several regular IRT touring pros, a slew of the best Open players from the Southwestern states of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, the Kelley twins from the NJ/NY area, and one special guest all the way from St. Louis in the legend himself Marty Hogan . Lets recap the pro draw. Six of the top eight seeds advanced to the quarters; one exception being (of course) Mr Hogan, who topped @Hayden Farmer, a solid player who upset #5 @Bob Jackson in the first round. The other upset by seed was #10 @Sam Kelley topping 16U Texan Cole Sendry to move on. From there, chalk to the semis:
#1 @Thomas Carter , fresh off a decent pro showing in Chicago, topped Alabama’s #1 @DDestry Everhart
#4 @Joe Kelley, all the way down from Jersey with his brother, was the one to put Hogan out of his misery here 3,3
#3 @Austin Cunningham , a part time IRT player from Georgia, made fast work of Texas’ @Zach Williams
#2 IRT veteran @Robert Collin cruised past the right-handed Kelley brother Sam to make the semis.
In the semis, Lefty Carter took out lefty Kelley 8,6, while Lefty Collins went the distance against Cunningham, pushed to an 11-10 win. It may have taken something out of the Hawaiian, as he was taken out in the final 10,2 to give Carter the title.
In the Doubles bracket… Carter and his partner Raymond Flowers looked like they were going to give Carter the double on the weekend, advancing with relative ease to the final from the top as the #1 seed. On the bottom side of the draw, Lefty/Righty brother/brother Kelleys upset both the #2 and #3 seeds en route to the final.
In that final, the #6 seeded Kelley brothers made the trip worth it, taking out Carter/Flowers 11,2 to win.
Congrats to the Louisiana Monroe team for a great event. Thanks to tournament directors @Mark Thompson, Raj Bhandari , and Steve Semones for running the event, and thanks to all the local sponsors.
Kane returns to the winner’s circle for the first time since before Covid and takes his 124th career Tier-1 title. Mar/Montoya take their 3rd pro doubles title together in dominant fashion.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38590
Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/BF73A5
The round of 64 was relatively straight-forward with expected results. But the round of 32 had some serious fireworks and some serious upsets. A number of players had career wins. Here’s a run through:
#16 Thomas Carter put down a statement, splitting the first two games with #17 @Eduardo Garay before racing to a dominant 11-1 tiebreaker win. This is a very solid win over a strong player, one of the best of Carter’s IRT career.
The biggest upset of the round was #9 Jake Bredenbeck , who made the final of this event last October, falling to the little known Mexican Jordy Alonso 12,10. Alonso is a rare IRT participant, but has been getting more time on the court lately and nets a huge win.
We’ve been predicting it for a while, but the defending World 18U champion @Erick Trujillo finally got a breakthrough win over a big-time touring pro, taking out #12 @Sebastian Franco in a tight 11-9 breaker. Trujillo will have a similar looking match in the next round against #5 Murray and could go further.
#14 @Andres Acuña got a very solid win over #19 @Javier Mar in a breaker. Though not an upset by the seeds, Mar’s ranking has taken a tumble from its peak in the upper teens after taking time off to heal. This was another in a long line of incrementally excellent wins for Acuna, as he continues to improve on tour.
#11 @Alvaro Beltran split games with @Erick Cuevas before settling down and dominating the breaker 11-0 to move on.
– In what was likely the most entertaining match of the round, two power players from Mexico faced off in the 15/18 match-up, and the former World Champion @RRodrigo Montoya held off match-point against in the breaker to advance past @Sebastian Fernandez 4,(10),10.
In the 16s, some normalcy returned to the draw with 7 of the 8 top seeds advancing, but the one upset was a big one.
#1 @Daniel de la Rosa held serve against #17 Carter 11,12 in a match that was a big closer than I expected. Bravo to Carter for pressing the #1.
#8 Rocky Carson blew past the upset-minded Alonso to move into the quarters.
#5 Samuel Murray held off the phenom Trujillo 9,12 to move into the quarters.
#4 @Alejandro Landa , who hasn’t been seeded this low in an event since Oct 2019, went tiebreaker with the improving Manilla but moved on to setup a meeting with his doubles partner.
#3 @Kane Waselenchuk was the least “troubled” in the round, crushing the Costa Rican #1 Acuna 3,3 to move on with ease.
#6 @Eduardo Portillo , coming off a knee injury, got a fortunate walk-over against #11 @Alvaro Beltran (who injured a hip in his double match earlier in the evening) to get into the quarters without much fanfare.
#7 @Conrrado Moscoso made a statement, taking out an opponent who has pressed him in the past in #10 @Mario Mercado with ease 6,4 to get to the quarters yet again.
– And in the biggest upset of the day, #2 @Andree Parrilla ‘s difficult draw caught up with him, as he couldn’t convert match point opportunities in game two and fell 11-9 to his long-time rival @Rodrigo Montoya . Parrilla’s run of semis or better at this event comes to an end.
In the Quarters
#1 DLR seemed completely frustrated with his shot-making on the day, while #8 Carson turned back the clock and played some of the most complete racquetball i’ve seen out of him in years, upsetting Daniel 11,4 to move into the semis.
#5 Landa held off his long-time doubles partner #4 Murray after an incredibly slow start, dropping the first game 15-3 before rebounding to win the second 15-1 and outlasting the Canadian in the breaker 11-7. Landa’s emotions got the best of him on the day from a professionalism perspect ive, but he moves on.
#3 Waselenchuk made fast work of the knee-hampered youngster Lalo 7,5.
– #7 Moscoso cruised past an opponent in Montoya who he had never beaten before 6,12, getting another statement win. Montoya started very slowly (because he was late getting to his match), and Moscoso came out firing. Montoya made it closer in game two, but Moscoso’s relentless drive serves earned him lots of Aces and lots of 3-shot rallies on the day. He moves on to a highly anticipated semi.
In the Semis
#8 Carson continued his hot streak, dropping a close first game to Landa before blowing him out in the second and outlasting him in the breaker 11-9. He gets back to a final for the first time since November 2019.
#3 Kane dominated #7 Moscoso in the highly anticipated semi 6,7. Moscoso’s shot making wasn’t up to the level of Kane’s, who continued making short work of his opponents here.
In the Finals, we get a throwback match-up; a final between Rocky and Kane, something we saw week in and week out for years. Their 82nd career meeting ended as most of them had; with a Kane win 6,9.
Points Implications of results
This win should jump Kane up one spot over Parrilla to take over #2 on tour. He will still be 1100 points or so behind DLR, but has the rest of the year to make that up. There’s little other movement in the top 20 anticipated.
Doubles review Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/FCC970
The story of the Doubles draw was the early exit of the #1 team of DLR/Beltran. They were taken out 11-8 in the breaker by the rapidly improving Carson/Lalo team. The other three top seeds advanced to the semis, setting up some great doubles action. In the pro doubles semis:
#4 Keller/Moscoso, the reigning Bolivian champs and who have made the finals of the last three major IRF championships took out the Carson/Lalo team…. but not without having to survive match points against in an 11-10 breaker.
#2 Mar/Montoya (who barely survived their quarterfinal) rebounded against Big Canada/Big Minnesota (aka Jake and Sam) 11,11 to setup a great rematch of the last three major IRF finals.
In that final, the Mexicans again topped the Bolivians, as they have done in the last two major IRF finals, to take the crown 9,9.
In Men’s Open, the top four seeds advanced to the semis. #1 Mercado topped #4 Cuevas in one semi, #2 Acuna topped #3 Trujillo in the other semi, then Mario outlasted Acuna 11-10 to take the open title.
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew Thanks to the Tourney Directors Geoff Peters and @Dan Jaskier for putting this event on!
Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on FB. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.
Next up? Per our handy master racquetball calendar … https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/
Next up is Beach Bash! The first outdoor major of the year, returning after a 2 year hiatus. Also next weekend is an IRT Tier 4 in Louisiana, and USAR Intercollegiates in Tucson.
tags Associations International Racquetball Tour LPRT International Racquetball Federation – IRF Pan American Racquetball Confederation – PARC UnitedHealthcare US OPEN Racquetball Championships WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball Countries USA Racquetball Racquetball Canada Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol RKT Federación Boliviana De Raquetbol – Febora Federación Boliviana de Racquetball Racquetball Colombia Federacion Colombiana de Racquetball Federación Costarricense de Racquetball Asociación Argentina de Racquetball Federación Chilena Racquetball Racquetball Rancagua, Chile ASOCIACION DE RAQUETBOL DE GUATEMALA Ferac Racquet Federación Ecuatoriana de Racquetball – FERAC India racquetball Major Sponsors Reaching Your Dream Foundation / Michael Lippett FormulaFlow / Momo Zelada and Mario Mercado Splathead / Joe Hall onewallball / Ruben Pagan 3wallball / Mike Coulter / mc vegas Beastmade Apparel / Jake Bredenbeck Wear Rollout / Jonathan Clay Racquetball Warehouse / Ben Croft Splatit Suivant Consulting / Williams Accounting / Donald Williams Zurek Construction / Francisco Fajardo AGE Solutions / Andy Gomer team root / Randy Root KWM Gutterman / Keith Minor APCON/MZ Companies / Abel Perez Team Dovetail / Mike Kinkin Manilla Athletic / Adam Manilla Erika Manilla Bobby Horn Hashtags #racquetball #proracquetball #outdoorracquetball #irt #lprt #wor
Kane is in the draw; can he prevent another Parrilla win?
Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory
We are back in Chicago for the latest IRT event, and it looks to be a doozy. The 37th annual Shamrock shootout is back in its normal spot around St. Patricks’ day, and the tour is happy to be back in Chicago as well. R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38590 There’s 31 men’s pros entered here this weekend, the weekend after many countries held their national selection events ahead of next month’s Pan American Racquetball Championships (PARC) in Bolivia. This has caused some of the normal international players to take the weekend off.
Top players missing from the draw include #12 Carlos Keller (fresh off his finals appearance in Bolivian Nationals), but he’s the only player in the top 20 missing here. A great draw. We see a return to action of @Javier Mar, who was nursing an injury for months that kept him out of singles action. We also see @Educardo Garay back in action after missing the past couple of events.
Lets preview the draw. With only 31 players, there’s two qualifying rounds. I see mostly straightforward wins from expected winners in the first round, so lets pick up with the Round of 32. Nearly every round of 32 match is going to be compelling, with interesting storylines. Here’s what i’m looking forward to there:
#16 v #17 Garay versus @Thomas Carter . Garay probably is the better player, but hasn’t played in months on tour. Can Carter pull an upset?
#9 @Jake Bredenbeck takes on @Jordy Alonso, a dangerous lower seed who can play well above his ranking. I don’t think this is an upset, but Alonso may push him.
#12 @Sebastian Franco is an upset watch against up and coming Mexican junior @Erik Trujillo. He’ll look to setup a rematch against a top 8 pro in the 16s.
Two American lefties take on each other as @Adam Manilla and @Robert Collins battle it out. Look for the Colorado pro to take out the Hawaiian pro.
In Mar’s return to action, he faces a tall task in the fast improving #14 @Andres Acuna. Acuna is fresh of a title in Minnesota where he topped two top-10 players, and Mar’s rustiness probably prevents him from playing up to his normal top levels. Look for Acuna to move on.
– In my favorite match of the round, @Rodrigo Montoya takes on @Sebastian Fernandez in what should be an enjoyable shootout of power and athleticism. On paper Montoya is the better player, but Fernandez has the capabilities to move on.
round of 16:
#1 @Daniel De La Rosa should move on easily from Garay or Carter.
#8 @Rocky Carson faces a tough opponent in Bredenbeck. They met in Atlanta, a close 14,11 win for Rocky. Can Jake close the gap? Look for the veteran to move on again.
#5 @Samuel Murray gets started against the Franco/Trujillo winner, and should move past either player.
#4 @Alex Landa likely faces lefty Manilla in the 16s, a tricky match for the former #1. Manilla’s online training gig has him on the courts a ton, whereas Landa is seemingly at a career cross roads. Upset watch here.
#3 @Kane Waselenchuk was a last minute confirmation for the event, and is inarguably a favorite. He starts off against a friendly face in Acuna, who may get some points but will serve mostly as Kane’s warmup for the latter rounds despite his recent successes.
#6 @Eduardo Portillo is back in action after a knee injury suffered in Atlanta kept him out of action for 2 months. He is set to face the veteran Beltran, who can still play. Where is Lalo in his recovery? If he’s still a step slow, Beltran’s crafty game will be hard to beat. Upset watch here.
#7 @Conrrado Moscoso is fresh off his latest Bolivian National title, but faces a very tricky opponent in Mercado here. Mercado plays him tough every time; expect two tight games.
– #2 @Andree Parrilla is Mr. Chicago: his first ever pro final was here in 2017, and his first ever pro win was here in 2018. He’s made the semis the last three years after that. He loves this court and will be hard to beat. But his projected round of 16 opponent will be a troublesome one: if its Montoya, its a player in his same age class who has been playing him (and often beating him) for years. If its Patata, its a guy who won’t back down and will make him earn every point. Look for a struggle here but for Andree to prevail.
Projected Qtrs: There’s really only one quarterfinal i’m looking forward to … but here’s all four projected.
#1 DLR will top #8 Carson to move on. DLR has topped Rocky every time they’ve played lately and will again here.
#4 Landa, if he gets here, should handle his doubles partner #5 Murray, if he gets here. But both players have had iffy results lately, so this could also be some combination of Franco and Manilla. Possible wildcard semi finalist coming out of this quadrant.
#3 Kane should cruise past his long-time rival Beltran, or will test Lalo’s rehabbed knee for him in this quarter to move on.
The big one: #2 Parrilla versus #7 Moscoso. They’ve met three times; once at the 2017 US Open (a 5-game Moscoso win that was part of his coming out party), then a Parrilla win in 2019, then a Moscoso win last December at Worlds. They’re neck and neck in my personal rankings; this is a coin flip. These are the two winners of the last two pro stops. Parrilla loves Chicago, Moscoso beat him in their last matchup and is coming off a title in Bolivia. I’m going to go with Moscoso in an upset. Semis:
DLR over Landa if the seeds hold: Landa holds a pretty definitive career W/L record over DLR … 9-3 on the IRT and 10-5 in all top-level competitions. However, they have not played since March of 2020, which is basically when Landa plateaued as a professional. I think DLR is a step ahead now, and moves into the final here.
Waselenchuk over Moscoso; this is a great match, a rematch of the fantastic 2019 US open final. Kane has never really been threatened by Conrrado … and in fact destroyed him the last time they played in Austin in 2019. Conrrado needs a strategy to win, much as Andree had a strategy going into the Atlanta final. I’m not sure Conrrado as a player has the capability of devising a strategy right now; that’s why he takes losses against lesser players despite probably being the 2nd most talented player on earth. Look for a Kane win.
Finals; we finally get (hopefully) Daniel versus Kane. Current #1 versus long-time #1. Man, I hope it happens. DLR, like Parrilla, is a thinking man on the court, a player who depends less on power and more on shot-making. He can handle Kane’s power. When they’ve played recently, Daniel gets his points. The scores were Kane wins, but it was 9 and 10, 8 and 10, 11 and 6. That was 2-3 years ago; what happens now?
I’m thinking tie-breaker, with Kane pulling it out and returning to the winner’s circle. But if Daniel maintains his cool and is not overwhelmed by the import of the match, this could be another upset win over the long-time King.
Doubles review We thought perhaps we’d get a return to competition the venerable pairing of Kane and @Ben Croft, but they’re not in the draw. What we do have though is a stacked draw of solid international teams here to prepare for Beach Bash and for PARC.
From the top I like #1 DLR/Beltran to take out the Bolivian champs Moscoso/Keller in one semi, while the #2 Montoya/Mar takes out the team Beastmade Clothing Bredenbeck/Murray pairing in the other semi. In the final. a frequent matchup on tour and in Mexican Nationals will see the younger pairing winning out over the veteran Mexican pair.
Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots! Thanks to the Tourney Directors Dan Jaskier andGeoff Peters for putting this event on! Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on FB. 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 LPRT International Racquetball Federation – IRF Pan American Racquetball Confederation – PARC UnitedHealthcare US OPEN Racquetball Championships WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball Countries USA Racquetball Racquetball Canada Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol RKT Federación Boliviana De Raquetbol – Febora Federación Boliviana de Racquetball Racquetball Colombia Federacion Colombiana de Racquetball Federación Costarricense de Racquetball Asociación Argentina de Racquetball Federación Chilena Racquetball Racquetball Rancagua, Chile ASOCIACION DE RAQUETBOL DE GUATEMALA Ferac Racquet Federación Ecuatoriana de Racquetball – FERAC India racquetball Major Sponsors Reaching Your Dream Foundation / Michael Lippett FormulaFlow / Momo Zelada and Mario Mercado Splathead / Joe Hall onewallball / Ruben Pagan 3wallball / Mike Coulter / mc vegas Beastmade Apparel / Jake Bredenbeck Wear Rollout / Jonathan Clay Racquetball Warehouse / Ben Croft Splatit Suivant Consulting / Williams Accounting / Donald Williams Zurek Construction / Francisco Fajardo AGE Solutions / Andy Gomer team root / Randy Root KWM Gutterman / Keith Minor APCON/MZ Companies / Abel Perez Team Dovetail / Mike Kinkin Manilla Athletic / Adam Manilla Erika Manilla Bobby Horn Hashtags #racquetball #proracquetball #outdoorracquetball #irt #lprt #wor
Acuna got two solid wins against top 10 opponents to take the Minnesota Hall of Fame event. Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory
In addition to the LPRT Boston Open, there were a slew of other events this past weekend worthy of mention. Here’s a quick run through of what was a very busy weekend globally for racquetball.
US High School Nationals.
r2sports site: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=38151 One of the biggest tournaments of the year (by pure attendance) was held last weekend: the 2022 @USA Racquetball High School Nationals event, held at the Vetta Sports clubs in St. Louis.
Nearly 350 High School players from around the country were in St. Louis to compete for singles, doubles, and team competitions. Here’s a recap of the #1/Gold competitions on the weekend…
Boys #1 Gold Singles: #1 @Josh Shea from New York topped #2 @AnAndrew Gleason from Iowa. In a likely precursor to the 18U Junior Nationals final later this year, Shea won the first HS title for a New Yorker since … @sSudsy Monchik won in 1991.
Girls #1 Gold Singles: #2 @Naomi Ros from San Antonio upset #1 seed @Heather Mahoney. Ros recently relocated from Mexico and topped Mahoney in the 2021 Junior Nationals, setting up a rivalry that is set to run for a couple more years on the US junior national scene. She becomes the first ever titlist from a Texas HS on the girl’s side.
Boys #1 Doubles: Jacob Schmidt / Gabe Collins from Christian Brothers College High School in St Louis cruised to the title as the #1 seed.
Girls #1 Doubles: Heather Mahoney / Ava Naworski from Casa Grande High School outside of Santa Rosa HS took the title as the #3 seeds.
Mixed #1 Doubles: Ros teamed with DJ Mendoza (the #4 seed in Boys #1 gold) to cruise to the Mixed doubles title. The team competition was dominated by Missouri/St Louis area high schools:
Boys’ Team: St. Louis University HS
Girl’s Team: Lafayette HS
Overall Team: Kirkwood HS
Congrats to everyone who played, organized and participated. Thanks to @LLeo Vasque ‘s tireless work on the stream all weekend.
LPRT Boston Open Draws r2sports site: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38579
Connecticut’s top player @Jose Flores upset the #1 seeded @John Behm to take the 24-man Open draw from Boston this weekend.
Women’s Open: as noted in the LPRT wrap-up, Micaela Meneses had a great women’s Open tournament, topping LPRT regulars Lotts, Lawrence and Munoz to take the title.
PAC Pueblo Athletic Shootout IRT recap r2sports: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38852 Several IRT touring regulars traveled to Colorado to compete in the PAC shootout. The four IRT regulars all advanced to the singles semis as expected. From there, #1 Andree Parrilla topped #4 @NNick Riff while @David Horn took out his colleague @Adam Manilla in the other semi to setup an All-WRT alumni final. In that final, Parrilla cruised to the title, topping Horn 2,5.
In doubles, Horn and Manilla were unstoppable, cruising to the pro doubles title over #2 seeds Riffel and @Mike O’Brien in the final.
Minnesota Hall of Fame IRT Tier 3 r2sports: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38807 A solid mid-western flair draw of top players descended to Fridley over the weekend for the Hall of Fame tournament. This included the IRT broadcast team of @DeDDean Baer and @PFPablo Fajre , who made friends with a local kangaroo and called some matches. r2sports site: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=38807 Congrats to local open amateurs @John Goth , Blake Hansen , and Lee Meinerz , who joined the 5 touring pros in the pro quarters. From there, Canadian #1 @Samuel Murray topped #5 Jordy Alonso in one semi, while #3 @Andres Acuña upset home-town favorite @Jake Bredenbeck in the other semi. In the singles final…Acuna played solid ball to top Murray 10,7 to take the singles title.
In the Doubles draw, the Bredenbeck brothers took out Murray playing with Canadian Ledu Michael in the final.
Lastly, several countries have been holding Nationals events or National team selection events ahead of next month’s Pan American Racquetball Championships. Results are a little hard to come by since no international countries use r2sports outside of the “big 3” … but here’s what we’ve been able to glean from various Facebook Posts:
Costa Rica held their men’s championships last weekend; in the men’s final: Andres Acuna d Gabriel Garcia 6,7,5. This is somewhat of a changing of the guard, as @FelipFelipe Camacho has represented the country for many, many years.
Colombia held a Men’s Selection event in Pereia, COL over the weekend.
Guatemala held their Men’s Selection event this past week and weekend (Women’s will be next weekend). The 4 semi finalists competed (presumably) in a RR draw; here was the results:
@EdwEdwin Galicia
@Juan Jose Salvatierra
Christian Wer
Geovani Mendoza
The top 3 will represent Guatemala, with Mendoza as the alternate.
