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.
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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.
Manilla was a double winner this weekend.
Photo 2019 Us National singles, Photographer Kevin Savory
There was a smaller IRT Tier 4 this past weekend, held in Omaha, Nebraska, who were visited by the Manilla brother/sister crew. Here’s a quick recap of the results.
In the IRT Pro division, current #14 ranked Adam Manilla cruised to the singles title without dropping a game. Along the way he vanquished Iowan Alex Midkiff in the quarters, Kansas Lefty Derek Izzi in the semis, and then under-rated Minnesota top amateur @John Goth (who made the US National team in 2012) in the final. Goth had advanced to the final by topping Adam’s sister @Erika Manilla in the quarters and US Junior national team member Andrew Gleason in the semis.
In the Pro Doubles division, #1 seeds Gleason and Kansas’ @John Hudson swept through the 4-team round robin to take the title. Coming in 2nd was the surprise team of Aaron Kurowski and Gabrielle Shnurman.
In the Mixed Doubles division, the Manillas teamed up to win the division topping the Kurowski/Shnurman team in the first place game.
Congrats to Tourney Director Caroline Reitmeyer for bringing some pro racquetball to Nebraska!
— We’re entering a bit of a lull in the racquetball calendar; the next major event is not until the 2/20/22 weekend, when the LPRT heads to the Florida coast where host @sudsySudsy Monchik is holding the 2022 Vero Beach Open. Maybe i’ll do a Pro Racquetball Stats Ask Me Anything session on facebook live one night in the next couple of weeks.Racquetball Tournament in Omaha, NE USA. Dates: 1/28/2022 – 1/30/2022.R2SPORTS.COMNRT 2022 Kick Off TournamentRacquetball Tournament in Omaha, NE USA. Dates: 1/28/2022 – 1/30/2022.
Here’s some interesting statistics from the tiebreaker;
Game time: 28minutes, which included 1 tiebreaker and one appeal Average clock time per rally: 34 seconds (We’ll comeback to this later when we talk about rally scoring what-if scenario)
Total Rallies: 49 – AP Rallies won: 23 of 49 – KW Rallies won: 22 of 49 – Replays: 4 of 49 – Points: 21 of 49 – Side-Outs: 24 of 49
So, no surprise here in an 11-10 game; the number of rallies won was one more for Andree than Kane.
Serving Details: – AP service attempts: 23 – KW service attempts: 26. Kane had more service attempts b/c of replays more often occurring on his serve.
First Serve Percentage: – AP: 14 of 23 60.87% – KW: 13 of 26 50.00%
Neither player really served well, but a 50% first serve percentage by Kane is really bad at the pro level. By way of comparison, when I tracked this data in the one-serve era for Cliff, he made more than 90% of his first serves, all of which were drives.
First Serve direction (Forehand or Backhand) – AP hit 19/23 first serves to Kane’s forehand, and 9/9 second serves. – KW Evenly split his first serves; 13 drives to AP’s forehand, 13 to his backhand. All 13 of Kane’s 2nd serves were lobs to AP’s backhand.
Its pretty amazing how much AP picked on Kane’s forehand in this match.
First Serve selection: – AP hit 10/23 first serves: Hard Z-Serve to Forehand – AP hit 8/23 first serves: Drive to Forehand – KW hit exactly 13 Drive to Backhand first serves and 13 Drive to Forehand first serves.
Second serve selection: – AP hit the exact same 2nd serve the entire match: Nick-Lob to Forehand. 9/9 times – KW hit the exact same 2nd serve 12 of 13 times: Nick-Lob to Backhand. The one time he didn’t, he tried a lob Z that Andree cut off and killed easily.
Winners and Errors: here’s some fun stuff: – AP Rally Winners: 12. 6 on the forehand, 6 on the backhand. 5 were passes, 7 were pinches. Pretty even distribution. – KW Rally Winners: 16. 13 on the forehand, 3 on the backhand. 10 were passes, 6 were pinches.
So, this may just tell us what we already knew from the serving stats, but Kane spent most of his match hitting forehands.
– AP Rally ending Errors: just 3 the entire breaker. all three on the backhand – KW Rally Ending Errors; 10. 10 skips! 8 on the forehand, 2 on the backhand.
Now I do not have career stats on how many skips Kane averages per game. But i’m pretty sure it isn’t 10.
AP 12/3 ratio of Winners/Errors KW 16/10 ratio of Winners/Errors
Pretty interesting ratios here. Given these stats, its kind of amazing the game was 11-10.
Average # of shots per rally data (none of these figures include the serve):
Average # of shots per rally , entire game 2.249 Average # shots in AP-won rallys 1.91 Average # of shots in KW-won rallys: 2.89 Average # of shots in replay rallies 3.25 longest Rally of game 7 shots (three times; all three AP serves and KW side-outs)
Miscellaneous Stats # of Aces in game 4 total: 3 for KW, 1 for AP # of Dives in game 6 total: 2 for KW, 4 for AP # of Rollouts in game 12 total: 8 for KW, 4 for AP
Note: my “rollout” stat is an opinion based stat; was the shot a complete rollout/kill shot that would have been a point even if the opponent was standing right there? This is less important in singles than it is in doubles, where oftentimes yes there is an opponent standing there and you really have to roll balls out to get winners. This game featured a ton of “winners” and you could probably argue that many/most were “rollouts” … so maybe in the future I avoid this stat.
Game start in Video 51:51:00 Game end 1:19:00 Game duration 28 mins Avg time per rally (including Tos) 34 secs
IRF Rally scoring scenario: Game end if rally 1:03:44 Game duration if rally 12mins 45secs
Lastly, since the IRF is going to Rally scoring, I have a column that tracks the score as if we were using rally scoring. Kane wins this game 15-10 if using rally scoring at a point in the game where the actual score was 6-3. The game would have been over in 12mins 45seconds.
I’m pretty clearly on record disagreeing with the rally scoring decision by the IRF, and this match is a great example. Why do we need to change the scoring method that’s been in place for more than 50 years so as to neuter a fantastic game and force it into a premature end at 12minutes? What value does that serve?
Parrilla does the impossible, topping Kane in the final for his 2nd ever tier 1 win. Photo 2019 US Open via Kevin Savory
Congrats to your winners on the weekend: – Pro Singles: Andree Parrilla – Pro Doubles; Conrrado Moscoso & Roland Keller
Parrilla does the impossible and vanquishes the King, and gets a second career IRT win. Moscoso & Keller edge past a familiar rival team, one they’ve played 6 times in the last 2 years.
—————- In the 64s: – Mexican Jordy Alonso got a solid win against former IRT touring pro David Horn 14,7. – Mexican 18U junior @Mauricio Delgadillo had a great pro debut, topping IRT regular Sam Bredenbeck 13,13 to move into the 32s. – Mexican Rodrigo Rodriguez struggled with Guatemalan veteran @Christian Wer, going to a tiebreaker before moving on (11),10,4. – Mexican @Jaime Martel had a slow start this week, dropping the first game to Guatemalan Geovani Mendoza before moving on in the breaker (11),6,0. – Mexican veteran @Abraham Pena played a solid game and dispatched Maryland’s @DyDylan Pruitt 10,4 to move into the main draw.
In the 32s, we saw some interesting results and some upsets. – In the always-competitive #16/#17, we got a barn burner. #16 @SeSebastian Fernandez was pushed to the very edge, advancing over #17 @AlaAAlan Natera in an 11-10 tiebreaker thriller. – #8 Rocky Carson and #25 @CharCharlie Pratt Racquetball played a predictable match, each trying to out-think the other and stretching each other to a tie-breaker before Carson prevailed 11-5 to move on. – #22 Erick Trujillo was the beneficiary of an injury to veteran @AlAlvaro Beltran , who lost the first game 15-1 then retired. Trujillo thus earned the magic ticket to face the King in the next round. – #6 @Kane Waselenchuk started off his return to the tour with a straightforward 2,3 win over Mexican youngster @Elias Nieto . Kane shook off a bit of rust but was not really threatened by his round of 32 match. – #7 @CoConrrado Mosco was the unlucky top 8 seed to get the dangerous Martell in this tournament; he advanced but it was pretty close 14,11. This is two IRT events in a row for Martell, who as a full time player on tour probably gets into the teens relatively quickly; we’ll see if he sticks to the tour full time in 2022. – In the always-close #15/#18 slot, @ThThomas Carter got a solid win over Bolivian @Kadim Carrasco 11-8 in the breaker to force a meeting with Landa.
—————- In the 16s, we started to see some major developments in this tournament, as the challenges and part-timers were mostly vanquished and the veterans started to meet up.
– #1 Daniel de la Rosa was set for his expected stiff challenge from Patata, having faced him in the 16s in the last two events as well. But eight points in, Fernandez retired due to injury. Fernandez had tweaked his back in the round of 32 win, played about 5 minutes into his round of 16 and called it off. An unfortunate development for Sebastian, but DLR moves on with little fanfare. – In the #8/#9, a battle of two team USA players turned into a close encounter, eventually won by the veteran Carson, who took out #9 Jake Bredenbeck 14,11 to setup a rematch against long-time rival DLR in the quarters. – #5 Eduardo Portillo ‘s day came to a quick halt; at 1-4 in the first game he was also forced to retire due an unspecified injury against Sebastian Franco . Franco was definitely the underdog to Portillo here, who has been on a run and was a favorite to make the semis in this event. This definitely opens up the top half of the draw for all parties. -#4 Andree Parrilla frustrated #13 @AAndres Acuña on the court and grinded his way to an 5,12 win Parrilla used an effective Z serve most of the match, which Acuna struggled to attack, often attempting to jump the Z-serve but then jamming himself and making for easy points for the Mexican. Parrilla moves on. – #14 Rodrigo Montoya got his best win on tour in nearly two years by taking out #3 @Samuel Murray in a tiebreaker (12),9,6. Montoya may have World titles and Pan Am gold medals on his resume, but his pro results have been inconsistent. But this is a great win for the young Mexican, and one of his best ever wins on tour. Murray won this event last year but exits early. Murray eventually forfeited his doubles match later in the evening, with some implying he picked up an unspecified injury in this match that helped him to the door, so its an early exit all around. For the neutrals, we now get a Montoya-Kane match that could have some fireworks. – Whatever rust there was on Kane’s game in the round of 32 was completely gone by his round of 16, as he obliterated Mexican junior phenom @Erick Trujillo 1,1. Kane’s serving was crisp, as was his shot making. There was the familiar booming sound of his kill shots, and the excellent shotmaking from the back court. Look out; he’s back and he doesn’t seem like he’s lost a step. – #7 Moscoso advanced past a potentially tricky @Mario Mercado 8,13. Mercado has been playing really great ball lately, with a ton of “upsets” on his resume leading up to his first tier 1 win last November in Arizona. So far, the sometimes mercurial Moscoso has held serve and not taken the surprise loss; he now gets a shot at #2 Landa to move on. – #2 Landa moved past #15 Carter with relative ease 8,12 to setup what projects to be a challenging quarter final for the Mexican.
—————- In the Quarters…
– #1 DLR cruised past his long-time rival Rocky 8,8 to move into the semis. This was the 30th time they’ve met professionally, with DLR having taken their last three meetings – #4 Parrilla held serve against the surprise quarterfinalist Franco 10,11 to quietly move into the semis. Parrilla has two solid wins on his belt and has yet to really be troubled, and now gets a shot at #1 DLR in the semis. – #6 Waselenchuk played a fireworks-filled match against fellow power-player Rodrigo Montoya , who hung with him for most of the first game and was ahead 9-6 before Kane characteristically “turned it on” and ran away with the game and the match. From 6-9 down Kane scored 24 of the next 28 points to win 15-9, 15-4. Early in game one, Montoya’s serve and power seemed to nettle Kane, who gave up points here and there, but he played himself into more consistent power form by the middle of game one and completely ran away with game two. Montoya could do little to stem the flow of points from Kane, and was in danger of taking a twinkie before netting a few points at the end. For any who think Kane’s lost a step or a tick off his fastball, this match showed he can still out power one of the best power players on tour. – #2 Landa outclassed #7 Moscoso 9,6 in a match that wasn’t as close as the score suggests. Moscoso spent most of the match taking ill-advised shots and giving away points left and right on lob serves and defensive returns from Landa. He essentially gave up mid-way through game two and just went through the motions to even get it to 15-6. It was a real disappointment, in that I legitimately thought the Bolivian would be “up” for the challenge and the thought of a Kane matchup in the semis.
————— – #6 Kane absolutely demolished #2 Landa 1,5 in a match that barely took 30 minutes end to end. Landa had zero answers for Kane early, as he ran out to an 8-0 lead with little effort in game one. I texted a colleague and literally said at that point, “double donut is in play.” Landa’s mobility looked lacking, perhaps another remnant of months-long issues with his back bothering him, combined with Kane’s lethal attacks made for a quick game one. Kane began lob serving at some point, easing off as it became apparent he was going to be able to win this contest without exerting max effort. – #4 Parrilla came from a game down to shock the #1 player DLR 11-7 in the breaker. The game was played in spurts, as Parrilla ran out to a quick game one lead only to have DLR run off 10 straight points to take it. In game two, Parrilla ran out to an insurmountable 11-2 lead, but DLR pulled way back and for a short moment looked as if he could take the match in two. A couple of arguable points ended game two with some argument, and there was a tense feeling between the players (and with the referee) the rest of the way. The Tiebreaker was excellent, back and forth action up till around 9-7, when a very light hinder claim went uncalled for DLR and he literally stopped playing in the middle of the point. This immature action was more reminiscent of a C player, not the #1 player in the world, and he lost that point and eventually the match 11-7 in the breaker. Thus Parrilla advances to just his fourth career pro final (in 55 career Tier 1 events) and gets the top half’s shot at the King.
—
In the Finals, a pretty amazing match. Many thought we’d see a continuation of the steamrolling Kane has done through this draw. But Andree has a history of playing Kane tight and had something to say about the flow of the game. It was neck and neck for the entire first game, and Parrilla had first crack at a game point when he inexplicably held up on a very borderline avoidable claim, which seemed to get into his head and cost him game one 15-14. Instead of letting that call get to him and losing focus mentally, Andree hunkered down and gave Kane a beat-down like he hasn’t seen since the early 2000s, taking game two 15-2.
In the breaker, Kane took control and it looked like game two was just an aberration, jumping ahead 7-3. Parrilla fought back though, and lessened the gap. Parrilla was using a Z-serve with great effect, getting service winners and uncharacteristic weak returns. Meanwhile, Kane’s first serve percentage plummeted in the breaker, and Parrilla made a ton of shots. For me, this was all evidence of a gassed Waselenchuk just trying to get to the finish line. Despite his fatigue, Kane worked his way to match point at 10-7 for, but Parrilla calmly waited out a ball off the back wall and buried the return. From there, Andre never left the box again, serving out the match and scoring 4 straight in a flash to take the title 11-10. One of the best matches we’ve seen on tour in quite a while ended with a possibly transformative result for the tour.
—————- Points Implications of results
Assuming that the tour continues to expire points on the same cadence as before, this event should replace the two Jan 2020 events in Austin and Sioux Falls in the rolling calendar. Parrilla should thus move from #4 to #2 on tour, as he’s replacing two round of 16 losses in early 2020 with a massive 600-point grand slam win. The rest of the top 10 remains the same, just pushed down one slot (meaning Kane still sits at #6).
Other interesting moves: – Beltran drops from #11 to #13 and he seemingly gets closer to possible singles retirement. – Acuna rises from #16 to #14, which continues to put himself in place to face winnable round of 16s. – Carrasco enters the top 20. – Trujillo makes a big jump up to #23; he’ll be closing in on a 9-16 protected seed soon. – Martell makes a big jump up as well with this and last week’s results: I’ve got him projected as #33 now; lets hope he continues to feature on tour. – Rodrigo Rodriguez jumps from the 50s to the mid 30s. – Jordy Alonso jumps from the mid 70s to the mid 40s.
In the 16s: Injuries suffered by players playing singles earlier in the day Friday led to the withdrawing of two top teams and the hampering of two more, gutting the Pro doubles draw of some of its favorites but keeping in tact some stellar matchups. The #2 seeds Murray/Landa and #5 Portillo/Carson withdrew before playing, giving first round wins to Alonso/Rodriguez and @juaJuan Jose Salvatierra and @Javier Martinez respectively. Fernandez, who dropped out of his singles match with an injury, recovered enough to gut out a win with Parrilla in his opener. Beltran, who withdrew from singles after a heavy first round loss, came back to participate in an easy first round win as the #1 seed. The biggest upset went to the #9 team of Acuna/Natera, who took out the Bredenbeck brothers in a tiebreaker.
In the quarters: – #1 DLR/Beltran held off the upstart Acuna/Natera team in the first, then cruised to a 14,6 win. – #4 Moscoso and doubles specialist Roland Keller blasted the Guatemalan pair of Salvatierra & Martinez 5,8. – #3 Montoya and @Javier Mar faced tough opposition from the Bolivian pairing of Mercado & Carrasco, advancing in two closely fought games 11,12. – #7 Parrilla/Fernandez shook off ailments and took advantage of the #2 seeds withdrawal to advance to the semis over the young Mexicans Alonso & Rodriguez 12,6.
Doubles Semis: – The reigning Bolivian national champs upset the #1 seeds DLR/Beltran 11-7 in a breaker to move into the final. – Montoya & Mar cruised past #7 Parrilla/Patata to setup an excellent final.
In the final, we get a fun matchup. This is the sixth time these teams have met since mid 2019; they met at 2019 PARC, the finals of the 2019 Pan Am Games, the 2019 US Open, the 2021 World Doubles in Denver, and most recently in the finals of 2021 Worlds in Guatemala. Ahead of this match, they’re split 3-2 in favor of the Mexicans.
And on the court, we got a treat. The Bolivians evened the recent score of results by taking a two game match 14 and 14. In both games, the Mexican pair got to 14 first and served for the game, but in both cases the Bolivians saved game point against, got back in the box, and served it out. Great showing by both teams.
—————- Other Draws
In the 25-man Men’s Open Singles, the quarters went essentially chalk (with just small upsets at the 8/9 and 7/10). From there, the semis were nearly chalk as well, with #1 Mercado topping #9 Cuevas, #5 Trujillo upsetting #4 Natera, #3 Martell cruising past #6 @Sam Bredenbeck , and #2 Acuna defeating local Georgian Austin Cunningham In the semis, it was #1 and #2 prevailing; Mercado took a 14,14 win over the up and coming Trujillo, while Acuna labored to get past the always-tough Martell. In the Open singles final, Mercado grinded his way to an 11-7 breaker win over Acuna.
The men’s Open Doubles also went chalk to the semis, where the reigning world champion team of Montoya/Mar (the #3 seeds in the pro doubles draw) destroyed the #4 seeds Cunningham/Pruitt to make the final. From the bottom side, double specialist @Roland Keller teamed with Carrasco to top the all-American Pratt/@Robbie Collins pairing. Mar/Montoya got a walkover win in the final.
In the 3-team Mixed Open draw, Carrasco teamed with @Kelani Bailey to defeat her fellow team-USA teammate @Hollie Scott (playing with Sebastian Fernandez) 11-8 in their RR group final to take the crown.
In the 6-player Women’s Open, the two LPRT touring players Lawrence and Scott each topped their small RR group to advance to a winner-take-all final. There, Lawrence continued her recent dominance over Scott, winning in two 9,9
—————– Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew
Thanks again to the Tourney Directors Rob Lyons and @Chad Bailey for putting this event on! Thanks for all the sponsors as well; without you we have no pro racquetball.
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 FB stripped it.
There’s a Tier 5 in Nebraska that is drawing a bunch of top players from the mid-west. The 53rd annual Florida State Singles is being held in Sarasota, always a solid event featuring a bunch of top players. Kane & Sudsy are hosting another iteration of their Experience, this time in Vero Beach, Florida. The next pro event is in mid Feb when Sudsy also serves as a pro tour host, having the LPRT come visit his new home town in Vero Beach.
