Category: IRT

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Arizona Open IRT Singles Preview

Carson has a chance to get back to the finals this weekend. Photo Portland 2019 via Kevin Savory


Here’s part 2 of the previews for this weekend: the IRT draw.
We have a a full Men’s pro draw (with 45 players), so get ready for some great racquetball this weekend. Instead of a men’s pro doubles draw, we have big money in mixed doubles but still a huge Men’s Open doubles draw (38 teams), so we’ll run through that as well.


R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37835

top-20 players missing on the men’s side: A last minute withdrawal from #6 Moscoso caused some last minute draw adjustments. He misses the event along with 3 other top 20 players: #2 Waselenchuk, #17 Montoya and #18 Mar.

Here’s a preview of qualifying, with matches to watch for:

In the round of 128:

  • #32/#33: A very interesting first rounder between Texan Brennen Jennings and Arizonian Thomas Gerhardt. Gerhardt plays a ton of outdoor, but he’s also got a ton of indoor experience. This should be an intriguing match to follow.
  • #44 @Julius Ellis, son of IRT legend John Ellis, makes his pro debut on the heels of making the US junior national 18U final earlier this year. He faces Colombian veteran Set Cubillos Ruiz in an fun first rounder.
  • Former touring pro and 209-veteran Jose Diaz returns to the IRT for the first time since Nov 2019. He faces off against a dangerous up-and-coming lefty from Mexico Rodrigo Rodríguez.
  • 18U player Cody Elkins makes his pro debut here as well, and he gets long-time IRT player from Maryland MoMo Zelada for his troubles.
  • #23 Scott McClellan faces off against an interesting competitor in Bolivian Roland Keller, who is a doubles specialist and normally doesn’t play singles

Projecting the round of 64: if my predictions go as I think they will, here’s some interesting possible round of 64:

  • we might see an all-Guatemala grudge match between @Juan Salvatierra and Edwin Galicia for a shot at the main draw.
  • #19 @Felipe Camacho faces the winner of Diaz/Rodriguez in what could be a fun match.
  • An all-south American possibility between Kadim Carrasco and team Zurek’s Juan Pablo Rodriguez Castrillon is in the offing.
  • #18 Sam Bredenbeck will be pushed by Guatemalan Javier Martinez.

Projecting the 32s: here’s some possible matchups for a shot at the main draw.

  • #16/#17; thanks to two top10 players missing, we finally get a different 16/17 match from the past couple of events. This time Sebastian Fernandez is back to being “stuck” at #16, and he projects to play #17 Alan Natera Chavez in a battle of Mexicans.
  • Adam Manilla has gotten bumped up to #12 and likely faces Colombian veteran Cubillos for a shot at the main draw.
  • Eduardo Garay Rodriguez projects to face off against Bolivian veteran Carrasco, if he can get by the young Rodriguez.
  • An old-school IRT veteran matchup between Sebastian Franco and Jose Diaz projects in the #14/#19 spot.
  • #11 Thomas Carter will have his hands full to hold off an upset by #22 Zelada.
  • Lastly, #15 Andres Acuña gets a new match up in the round of 32 and projects to face the younger Bredenbeck brother.

round of 16: The first round will have some fun ones

  • #1 Daniel De La Rosa gets just his second ever #1 overall seed in an IRT event (first one was in march of 2018) having ascended to the #1 spot on tour after the US Open. He projects to face the winner of Patata and Natera, not the easiest opener he could have hoped for.
  • #8/#9 features two guys who have both been trending up this year in Carlos Keller Vargas and Jake Bredenbeck. Both players made pro finals in the past two events, and now they face off in the 16s. They’ve played twice, with Jake topping Carlos at the 2015 PARC and Keller topping Jake at the 2019 Iris open. I’m favoring Keller here.
  • #5 Lalo Portillo should cruise by Manilla here.
  • #4 Andree Parrilla will handle Garay’s pace and advance.
  • #3 Samuel Murray projects to face Sebastian Franco in the 16s again; these two met at the US Open at this juncture and Murray dominated.
  • #6 Rocky Carson will be favored to move on against the winner of Zelada/Carter.
  • #7 Alvaro Beltran, who I know hates it when i pick against him in these writings, has his hands full with #10 Mario Mercado. These two met in Denver and Mercado blitzed Alvaro 12,6 to move on. I’m predicting the upset here as well.
  • #2 Alex Landa is set to face none other than Acuna. Again. They played at this juncture in both Denver and Chicago earlier this year and there’s famously history here. These two have set to play a money match later this year and promotional videos have laid out all the past conflicts. Will this match prove to add another chapter to their story?

Projected Qtrs:

  • #1 DLR over #8 Keller. A rematch of the final of the US open happens two rounds earlier in Arizona, with Keller getting another shot at Daniel. DLR knows the game plan and will stick to it at his “home” tournament.
  • #4 Parrilla over his doubles partner #5 Lalo. The last time they played was at Mexican Nationals, a tie-breaker win for Andree. The gap between these two is closing though; and the last time they played professionally was a Lalo win. I expect a close breaker here, but like the way Andree has been playing and favor him to move on.
  • #6 Carson over #3 Murray. Carson is 11-0 lifetime over Murray, is not playing any doubles this weekend, and should have a somewhat easier time of it to get to the quarters. I like his chances here.
  • #2 Landa over #10 Mercado. Mercado can beat Landa; in fact the last time they played was a Mercado tight 2-game win over Landa. So this is no gimme for Alejandro. The question will be; is Alex healthy? He’s struggled with some physical issues lately, and has struggled to live up to his seeding for more than a year now.
  • Semis:
  • DLR over Parrilla. I think Daniel still has Andree’s number. They both play a similar style … Daniel just does it better right now.
  • Carson over Landa. Landa has not made a pro final since March 2020, the last event before Covid19 shut down. And even though Landa has a number of wins over Rocky in his career, he’s lost the last two times they played (both times for a USA national title). Landa is doing double duty this weekend as the #1 seed in Mixed, and I suspect it might just be enough of a toll on him physically to cost him in singles.
  • Finals;
  • DLR over Carson. An old-school meeting: these two have played no less than 31 times (29 on the IRT). Carson leads professionally 17-12 (19-12 including two IRF wins). But DLR has won 5 out of the last 7 times, dating to january 2018, sometimes impressively so. This could be a statement win for DLR, vanquishing a long-time rival when the stakes are highest.

Open Doubles review
Not an official “IRT pro doubles” draw, but there’s a massive Open doubles draw with a number of top team. here’s a quick preview:
From the top half, I like #1 Franco/Garay to top the young mexican lefty-righty team of Fernandez/Rodriguez in one semi. From the bottom half I’ll go chalk, with the #2 brother/brother Keller team topping #3 Diaz and Will reynolds.In the final, its Colombia over Bolivia, as Garay/Franco overpower the Kellers.

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 DeAngelo Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots!
Thanks to the Tourney Director Jim Winterton and to Arizona State 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 FB stripped it.
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2021 Spooky Splatober Open IRT Tier 4 Recap

Carter wins the battle of the pro lefties in Louisiana. Photo 2018 US Open Kevin Savory


There was an IRT tier 4 event held this past weekend at the University of Louisiana – Monroe (school mascot: the Warhawks) with a couple of touring pros popping in. Here’s a quick recap of the two Pro draws.

r2sports link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37833

The pro singles had a 12-man bracket, headlined by the top 2 seeds Thomas Carter and Robert Collins. The rest of the draw was players featuring from the southwest states of Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida.

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In the 16s:

Cole Sendry, Richard Eisemann, Paul Julbes, and Matthew Healey, advanced into the quarters.

In the Quarters

  • #1 and #2 seeds Carter and Collins cruised, but score one for the old guys as top age group players Eisemann and Julbes upset seeded competition to move into the semis. Eisemann topped #4 seed Patrick Quinlan 10,10 while Julbes beat #3 seed Kip Atwell in a breaker.
    In the Semis, the two top pros each cruised; Carter topped Texan Eisemann 5 and -1, while Collins cruised past Julbes 5,2. They setup the expected final Saturday morning.
  • In the Finals, the two lefties treated the Louisiana crowd to a great first game, taken by Collins 15-14, From there, Carter turned on the heat and blew the game wide open, giving up just 3 points the rest of the way. Final score: (14),3,0.

Doubles review
The #1 seeded team was comprised of the same two non-pro semi-finalists Eisemann/Julbes: they got a walkover in the semis to advance to the final.
On the bottom side, #2 seeded team of Carter and Raymond Flowers took two games to make the final.

In the final…Carter/Flowers won a close game one, then raced to the two game title.

Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from those at the tournament.
Thanks to the Tourney Director Mark Thompson 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 FB stripped it.

Next up?
Per our handy master racquetball calendar …
https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

Next up is the Long-Wall WOR championships in Davie Florida and the 2021 Long Island Open in NY.

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25th US Open Wrap-Up

DLR wins the US Open! Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory


Congrats to all the winners on the weekend’s return to Minneapolis:

  • Men’s Singles: Daniel De La Rosa
  • Women’s Singles: Paola Longoria
  • Men’s Doubles: De La Rosa & Alvaro Beltran
  • Women’s Doubles: Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas Solis


    PRS Reports for the four draws:
  • Men’s Singles:http://rball.pro/E898FF
  • Men’s Doubles: http://rball.pro/DED94C
  • Women’s Singles: http://rball.pro/004952
  • Women’s Doubles:http://rball.pro/E22640

    DLR becomes just the 6th man to win one of the 25 US Open IRT titles. Longoria wins her 10th straight US Open title and 11th overall.

    DLR and Beltran win their 2nd US Open pro doubles title and their 9th pro doubles title together since Jan 2017. Longoria/Salas win their 4th US Open pro doubles title together, to go with their astounding pro doubles title total playing together of 34 since Aug 2014.

Lets do a quick recap of the main draws.

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Men’s Singles: The round of 32 went relatively chalk, with just 3 upsets by seed. Adam Manilla finally got the better of Andres Acuña in their frequent 16/17 match-up, #18 Eduardo Garay Rodriguez got a walk-over against #15 seed Rodrigo Montoya Solis (who picked up a slight knock and decided to save himself for doubles), and #19 Sebastian Fernandez taking out #14 Thomas Carter in two.


Just one upset in the round of 16, but it was a huge one: #5 seed and defending finalist Conrrado Moscoso ousted by his countryman #12 Carlos Keller Vargas in two 13,5. Not even that close of a match. Keller, after touring for the entirety of the pre-covid season with little success, has suddenly become a force on tour, making a quarter, semi and (as we’ll soon see) a final in 2021.
In the quarters, two top seeds went down. Keller continued his run and took out #4 Samuel Murray in two tight games. On the bottom half, #6 Andree Parrilla took out the struggling #3 seed Alex Landa relatively easily 6,11. Landa has not lived up to his seeding basically since he ascended to #2 on tour, whether it be through injury or focus.
In the semis … well. A sh*t show for the sport. For reasons that remain unclear and unpublished as of this writing, #1 Kane Waselenchuk forfeited his singles semi final, stating in a facebook posting that he had a “disagreement” with the tour. This gives a walk-over into the final to Keller; his first pro final. On the bottom side, DLR had to battle to take out #6 Parrilla.

In the final, an excellent showing of shot-making by both players results pushed the match to a breaker, but DLR’s passion and energy won out going away with an 11-3 win.

Women’s Singles:
The LPRT draw was wide open, with upsets all up and down the bracket this weekend. Lets take a look back;


In the 32s, three upsets in one quarter, with the #5, #12 and #13 seeded players taken out early. Perhaps the biggest shock was the loss by #5 Montse Mejia, who won the Kansas City grand slam and seemed like a safe bet for the semis here, taken out by American Erika Manilla in a tie-breaker. Manilla, a 23-yr old part-time player over the past few years, had never advanced past the round of 32 in a pro draw (!!) but took out three higher-ranked players in Minneapolis, including two recent Tier-1 tourney winners, to make the semis. Just an amazing storyline.

Another great storyline that was cut short was the showing this weekend by Vero Sotomayor, who had not played the tour in years but who stretched the #8 seeded player Jessica Parrilla to an 11-10 tiebreaker.


In the 16s, a bunch more upsets. None bigger than the #2 seeded Alexandra Herrera getting upset by #15 Brenda Laime Jalil. But we also saw the #6 and #7 seeded players ousted at this juncture.


Heading into the quarters, half the top seeds were already done.
In the quarters, Manilla got her next big win, taking out Gaby Martinez, while former grand slam finalist Angelica Barrios took advantage of Laime’s upset to move into the semis herself.


In the semis, #1 Paola Longoria faced off against the Cinderella story Manilla, and was made to work for it, winning in two close games 13,10. On the bottom, #3 Maria Jose Vargas Parada went down big early to Barrios 14-1 in the first game, then completely flipped the script, getting the first game back to 15-10 then blitzing her young Bolivian rival in the next two games to move into the final.

In the final, it seemed fait accomplis for Longoria to win, and she cruised to her 11th US Open title 3,8.

The Men’s Doubles draw turned into a showcase for the state of doubles in the current game, with tough tiebreakers and close games throughout. The #1 seeds went breaker to win in both the quarters and semis over established and tough veteran teams, while on the bottom side the semis turned into a showcase for the doubles prowess of Sam Murray, who took over the match to lead his team to an upset over #2 Kane/ Sudsy Monchik. In the final, DLR/Beltran controlled the tempo and won perhaps their easiest match of the tournament 11,11 to take the crown.

The Women’s Doubles draw went mostly chalk, with the exception of the talented and under-seeded Vargas/Sotomayor team taking out the #4 seeded Guatemalans in the quarters. From there, the top two seeds cruised into the final, where we saw yet another major final battle between the two top teams from Mexico. This time around, the veterans triumped, with Longoria/Salas overcoming a game-one beat down to take the title.

Congrats to all winners, thanks to @doug ganim for 25 years of running this event.
International Racquetball Tour
LPRT
UnitedHealthcare US OPEN Racquetball Championships

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US Open Main Draw Previews

Sotomayor is the big upset winner from qualifying; how far can she go? photo credit; unknown.


Day one down, and all pro qualifying complete. We had some interesting results, but not a ton of super upsets on both sides, and we’re to the main draws.

Here’s a quick run through of matches to watch for today. We’re talking the 32s and 16s of IRT and LPRT singles, and the quarters of pro doubles on both sides.


IRT 32s and 16s: here’s what i’m looking for in terms of watchables:

  • #1 Kane Waselenchuk gets his first singles action since March of 2020 on the main court against noted trash talker Troy Warigon. A good warm-up for the King as he looks to retain his US Open title.
  • 16/17 seed we get, for the 3rd tourney running, Andres Acuña vs Adam Manilla. Can Acuna make it 3-for-3?
  • 8/25 Rocky Carson gets his tournament going against Bolivian vet Kadim Carrasco; can Carrasco make the USA veteran sweat?
  • 13/20 Sebastian Franco versus Mexican Alan Natera Chavez; Natera has shown upset power in the past; can he pull an upset here against the experienced Colombian?
  • 3/30 Alex Landa versus Erick Trujillo. A very intriguing opener for the #3 seed Landa, who has scuffled a bit over the last three events. He was seeded #1 at all three 2021 events, but got upset in each tournament (a Semi and two Quarters). In once case he was clearly hurt, in another he was clearly distracted. What is Landa this weekend? If he’s not on his game, Trujillo has been playing very well, with wins over solid players. If Landa isn’t 100%, this could be a huge upset.
  • 14/19 Thomas Carter has his work cut out for him against #19 Sebastian Fernandez; I sense an upset here. Patata’s seen his seeding slip a little bit as he’s stepped back a bit from playing, but he’s here and he’s a tough out.
  • #6 Andree Parrilla gets his start against a tough young mexican lefty Rodrigo Rodriguez. Expect Rodriguez to make Andree work for it here.
  • The 15/18 match will feature the most broken balls of the round, with two power players Rodrigo Montoya Solis and Eduardo Garay Rodriguez blasting off for a shot at DLR in the next round.
    Projecting round of 16s:
  • The big one here is 8/9: Carson vs Alvaro Beltran. These long-time IRT veterans have played each other no less than 50 times on tour, with Rocky leading 28-22. Who has the edge here?
  • 5/12 projects to two long-time Bolivian rivals in Conrrado Moscoso and Carlos Keller Vargas. They have met multiple times to determine the Bolivian national champion (including this year), they’ve met in IRF competitions … and they met earlier this year in Denver in the Semis, with Conrrado taking a close one. Keller can make this complicated for his talented rival.
  • 4/13 Samuel Murray vs Franco; every time these two meet, it goes the distance. Deep into tiebreakers, 5th game super tiebreaker, etc. Similar power games on display, both are one-time Tier1 winners. They havn’t met in years but they have split meetings in the past.
  • 7/10: Eduardo Portillo Rendon versus Jake Bredenbeck; a tough one to call. Jake played lights out in Chicago no doubt, but Lalo handled him in the 16s in Denver and has never lost to Jake. I know many are rooting for the home-town Minnesotan to advance, but Lalo is favored here.

LPRT 32s and 16s to look for:

  • 16/17 Kelani Lawrence versus Sheryl Lotts: Kelani has never lost to her sometimes-doubles partner, but its often pretty close.
  • #8 Jessica Parrilla is the unfortunate recipient of this year’s biggest draw wildcard in Vero Sotomayor. Sotomayor, who has not played an LPRT event since Dec 2016, blitzed through qualifying and has been training with other top LPRT players (not to mention her husband Sudsy Monchik), and looks to remind people of the player who finished #6 on tour in the 2008-09 season.
  • #13 Carla Muñoz Montesinos has a tough opponent in #20 Hollie Scott as her opener. They havn’t met on tour in years, but in the meantime Scott has proven herself to be among the elite the US has to offer.
  • 14/19 Amaya Cris versus Maria Renee Rodríguez; two long-time international rivals meet again. They’ve met 8 times in pro and IRF competitions, with Amaya holding a commanding 7-1 career lead.
  • #11 Rhonda Rajsich comes into the US Open with her lowest seeding since her debut (when she announced her presence to the world by racing to the final of the 2000 US Open as the #44 seed). Here she’ll be pressed by the tough mexican lefty Ana Laura Flores.
  • An all-Colombian 15/18 between Brenda Laime Jalil and Adriana Riveros should be close.
    projecting the 16s.
  • #8 Valeria Centellas set to take on the winner of Sotomayor/Parrilla; expect a battle here no matter who advances, with an eye out there for another upset in the Sotomayor run.
  • 5/12 Montse Mejia versus Nancy Enriquez; Mejia has shown signs of brilliance (winning in Kansas City) and then taken inexplicable losses (a round of 16 loss to Laime in Denver). Meanwhile, Enriquez has been playing well. upset watch here.
  • #7/10 Samantha Salas Solis vs #10 Angelica Barrios; an interesting matchup. Salas ended Barrios’ run at the 2019 Bolivian Iris open, but that was a different Salas. Meanwhile, Barrios has been ranked as high as 4th on tour but comes into this tourney 10th thanks to a dearth of events. Both of these players are better than their seeding, but only one can advance, and Barrios has shown some upset capabilities.

IRT doubles:

There’s still one qualifier to be played as of this writing and its between Mar/Montoya and Pratt/Natera; one would think the reigning gold medalists from the Pan Am Games would win, but its doubles. So you never know.
The Men’s doubles draw is stacked. All of these matches could go either way. Here’s a preview.

  • #1 Daniel De La Rosa/Beltran vs Roland Keller/Moscoso; the #1 seeds take on the very experienced Bolivian team, with a shot-maker in Moscoso and a doubles specialist in Keller. This is no cakewalk for the #1 seeds and could go breaker.
  • #4 Portillo/Parrilla take on the early morning final qualifier; it should be an all-Mexican affair, and I favor the Montoya/Mar pairing over their younger Mexican rivals in a slight upset by seed.
  • #3 Landa/Murray take on the upset kids of Manilla and David ” Bobby” Horn, who pulled off the upset last night to take out the 6th seeds in an 11-10 thrieller.
  • All eyes will be on the #2 seeds Monchik/Kane, who get their tournament started against the reigning Bolivian doubles champs in Keller/Carrasco. I’d expect this to be a straight forward two-game win for the #2 seeds.

LPRT Doubles
A couple of upsets in the qualifiers have led to some fun quarter final matches:

  • #1 Paola Longoria/Salas take on the all-american team of Scott/Kelani. Expect the top seeds to move on here.
  • #4 Ana Gabriela Martínez is paired with her long-time Guatemalan teammate MRR, but they face a tough quarter going up against Sotomayor and Maria Jose Vargas Parada. I sense they’ll “pick on” MRR here strategically and pull the upset.
  • #3 The current Argentinian national team pairing of Centellas and Natalia Mendez Erlwein takes on the reigning US champs Rajsich and Manilla. Fun match; can the US team pull the upset?
  • #2 Alexandra Herrera and Mejia take on the up-start all-Bolivian team of Barrios/Daza. While the Bolivian team are both top-notch doubles players, I’m not sure anyone is stopping Herrera/Mejia until the final.

both IRT and LPRT are streaming; make sure you follow both on Facebook for all your streaming needs.

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US Open Qualifying Preview

Kane is back playing singles for the first time since Mar 2020. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory


Welcome to the 25th annual US Open.


This is such a massive tournament that we’ll break down the preview into Wednesday’s qualifiers and then the rest of the tourney. 76 Men and 44 women pros entered into the respective singles draws; this is down a bit from 2019 for the Men, but is up a bit for the Women. Great to see players from all over the world in action on the sport’s biggest stage.
r2sports home page: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=31929
No real predictions here, just some thoughts on good matches in the four draws to look for as play starts on Wednesday.


IRT Men’s Pro qualifying features two rounds on Wednesday; the 128s and the 64s. Here’s some matches i’d be watching:

  • Solid east coast/west coast matchup between multi CT state champ Jose Flores and SoCal’s Majeed Shahin.
  • Bolivia’s Kadim Carrasco takes on Mexican legend Javier Moreno in a fun return for the former long-time International lefty. We havn’t seen Moreno in an IRT event since May 2016, not at a US Open since Nov 2015. Great to see him back.
  • Florida state champ Jonathan Burns takes on Mexican veteran Abraham Peña in an interesting opener.
  • The Kelley brothers are here; Sam takes on Colombian youngster and team Zurek player Juan Pablo Rodriguez Castrillon, while Joe takes on Idaho junior Alexxander Purcell . Both Kelley brothers have solid chances to move to the 64s.
  • Veteran lefty and multi-national amateur champ Jeff Stark takes on Bolivian Miguel A. Arteaga Guzman in a tough opener for both.
  • Maryland’s recently matriculated junior doubles national champ Dylan Pruitt faces off against a very tough Mexican lefty in @rodrigo rodriguez.
  • Arizona youngster Ben Baron takes on a player more than twice his age in veteran Floridian Alejandro Herrera Azcarate. Don’t be fooled by the age difference; Herrera brings the heat.
  • The legend Cliff Swain returns to the tour for the first time since oct 2016 and opens against “The Ref” Scott McClellan. Might be a short tourney for the IRT’s main ref; I have it on good authority that Cliff is playing lights out.
    Projecting to the 64s, here’s some possible great matches for spots in the main draw:
  • Troy Warigon versus Shaheen: another east coast vs west coast battle.
  • Carrasco vs Burns: I’m projecting a fun battle here of veteran players to make the main draw.
  • Georgia’s Maurice Miller likely takes on Guatemalan Juan Salvatierra for the main draw.
  • another Georgian Austin Cunningham has an excellent chance to get to the 32s, projecting against Mexican youngster Erick Cuevas
  • Alan Natera Chavez, one of the higest ranked players pushed to qualifying, has his work cut out for him against Colombian international vet @andres gomez.
  • If Pruitt can win his first match, he likely gets his long-awaited grudge match against Formulaflow’s Mauricio Zelada, who challenged his young Maryland-area rival last year in a money match that never materialized.
  • Sam Bredenbeck has a great chance to qualify against Colombian international veteran Set Cubillos Ruiz.
  • Two long-time international players project to play each other with Colombian Herrera projecting to Costa Rican vet Felipe Camacho.
  • Swain will have to earn his round of 32 against former IRT touring player Nick Riffel in the 64s.
  • Lastly, Eduardo Garay Rodriguez will be tested against the tricky Colombian player Francisco Gomez, who surprised with a couple of upsets in the 2019 US open.

LPRT qualifying preview

Like the Men, the women will play two rounds of qualifying to make the 32s. Here’s some interesting qualifiers to watch for.

  • We have not seen Verónica Sotomayor since Dec 2016 on tour; but she’s back and now living in Florida, training with her husband Sudsy Monchik and ready to play. I have it on good authority (ahem, Sudsy) that Vero is going to make noise this week. She starts in the 128s against Korean Sumin Lee.
  • Bolivian veteran Jenny Daza Navia gets started against American junior Minnesota native Ava Kaiser.
    Projecting the 64s
  • Sotomayor has a great chance to move into the 32s against Colombian María Paz Riquelme.
  • Two top American women are set to go head to head, with Michelle De La Rosa projecting to play Erika Manilla for a spot in the main draw. Tough match here for both.
  • USA Florida youngster Graci Wargo will be tested by Bolivian vet Daza.
  • Texan youngster Shane Diaz has an interesting match against Ecuadorian Maria Jose Munoz.
  • Lastly, there’s a second “Maria Munoz” in the draw who we think is actually Maria Paz Munoz ( Pazita Muñoz Albornoz ). We could be wrong, but if this is Pazita, she’s an excellent international veteran who will really push her round of 64 opponent Erin Nocam aka Erin (Rivera) Groves into a tougher match than either deserves here.

IRT Doubles preview

So, I’ll just say it. I hate the IRT doubles qualifying structure at the US Open. 4 teams get byes to the quarters, then another 17 compete for the other 4 spots. I just don’t like this, but i’m not sure what the right way to fix it is. If you gave top 8 teams byes into the 16s … then you have 13 teams competing for those 8 open spots, which means some of them don’t even have qualifiers and you’re giving another 3-4 teams byes as well. So there’s no good solution.

That being said, there’s some very good doubles teams in qualifying, and a lot of good teams are going home early.

  • Costa Rican national team of Andres Acuña and Camacho takes on the reigning us national doubles champ Charlie Pratt Racquetball, playing this weekend not with his title-winning partner Rocky Carson but with Natera. Carson opted not to play pro doubles … but is playing Centurian doubles with Jerry Hall.
  • The #9 seeded Bredenbeck brothers take on a very tough Mexican lefty/righty duo in Sebastian Fernandez and Rodrigo Rodriguez. Upset watch here.
  • Top Bolivian doubles team and multiple-IRF title wining duo of Conrrado Moscoso and Roland Keller take on the Guatemalan national team of Javier Martinez and @juan salvatierra. I don’t think the Bolivians are one and done here.
  • Meanwhile, the current reigning Bolivian National champs Carlos Keller Vargas and Carrasco take on two fellow Bolivians in Rodrigo Mendoza and Miguel Angel Arteaga Chavez. Tough draw; flying 4600 miles to play someone you could have driven to play in your home country.
  • Super interesting matchup between two all-American teams; Adam Manilla got David ” Bobby” Horn out of retirement to play, and they face off against Warigon & Miller, a veteran team who has played together for years. Should be a very interesting matchup with plenty of trash talk on the court.
    Assuming some first round results, here’s some very interesting possible round of 16 matches to determine who makes the money rounds:
  • #5 seeds Rodrigo Montoya Solis and Javier Mar probably feel hard-done by the seeding forcing them to play two extra matches, but they should be able to handle their opener and then a likely meeting with the Costa Ricans.
  • Kellern & Moscos project to play the Lefty/Righty mexican pair of Patata and Rodrigo; fun one.
  • In another all-Bolivian match-up, Keller/Carrasco project to play team Formulaflow in Zelada and Mario Mercado. Keller/Carrasco topped Zelada at Bolivian Nationals earlier this year, but Mercado is a different beast on the court.
  • the winner of the all-american trash talking match between Manilla/Horn and Warigon/Miller likely faces the #6 seeded Colombian/Zurek construction team of Eduardo Garay Rodriguez and Sebastian Franco. I don’t think Garay/Franco are losing here, irrespective of who they play.

LPRT doubles qualifying


Not a ton of doubles qualifying … but some very intriguing match-ups thanks to top players without a ton of doubles points.

  • Michelle De La Rosa and Sheryl Lotts take on Sotomayor and Maria Jose Vargas Parada. Wow. Brutal draw for both sides; It wasn’t too terribly long ago that Vargas was part of the 2nd best doubles team in the pro tour.
  • Another fun one: Angelica Barrios teams with veteran Bolivian and excellent doubles player Daza and face Micaela Meneses Cuellar playing with Ana Laura Flores. The Lefty/Righty pair will give Barrios/Daza some things to think about, but the two native Bolivians should move on.
  • Should Vero/Vargas move on, they face a winnable match against #5 seeds and longtime Colombian pairing of Adriana Riveros and Amaya Cris.
  • 2018 US national doubles champ Kelani Lawrence teams with Hollie Scott to take on two younger Colombians in Camila Rivero Torrez and Brenda Laime Jalil in a fun opener.
  • Should Barrios/Daza move on, they run into the tough lefty/righty Mexican pairing of Jessica Parrilla and Montserrat Perez, a darkhorse here.
  • the reigning US national doubles champions Manilla and Rhonda Rajsich should survive a first round against two young tough players in Naomi Ros and Shane Diaz, but will have their work cut out for them against #6 seeds Nancy Enriquez and Carla Muñoz Montesinos, two excellent doubles players.

Phew. Play starts bright and early Wednesday 10/6/21, 8am central. can’t wait to start seeing some match results.

Posted on

IRT Shamrock Shootout Wrap-Up

Bredenbeck makes his first IRT tier 1 pro final. Photo Kevin Savory 2020 USAR national doubles


Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

  • Singles: Daniel De La Rosa
  • Doubles; Daniel De La Rosa & Alvaro Beltran

    Daniel wins his second in a row, and now has 6 titles for his career, tying him with Drew Kachtik and Ruben Gonzalez for 16th all time. Quite heady company, now tied with two pro tour winners. Meanwhile, DLR and Beltran win their 8th IRT pro doubles title since 2017 and continue to claim the title of the best doubles team in the world.

    R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37339

Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/19A097

In the 128s and 64s:

  • Bolivian 18U junior Adrian Jaldin got a solid win over Guatemalan vet Juan Salvatierra, but couldn’t follow it up and lost to his countryman Kadim Carrasco in the 64s.
  • Guatemalan vet Edwin Galicia won two qualifiers, including a nice upset win over long-time Colombian rep Set Cubillos Ruiz to earn a spot in the 32s.
  • Alan Natera Chavez held serve against countryman Abraham Peña to advance 13,9.
  • Jordy Alonso blasted two higher-seeded players, giving up just 14 points in four games across two qualifiers to earn a round of 32 spot.
  • The biggest qualifier upset was clearly though by Mexican junior Erick Trujillo, who upset top Guatemalan player Javier Martinez in the 128s, then took out IRT touring vet and #18 seed Robert Collins in a tie-breaker to earn a spot in the 32s. Trujillo, who is in his age 18U season and made the Mexican adult open quarter finals earlier this year, has been playing great lately and will be a force at Junior Worlds later this year.

In the 32s, the 9th-16th seeds get going, but faced some stiff challenges from the early round qualifiers.

  • For the second tourney running, the 16/17 seed featured the Costa Rican #1 Andres Acuña taking out up-and-coming American Adam Manilla.
  • #9 Mario Mercado got a very solid win over long-time touring pro Charlie Pratt Racquetball.
  • #19 Alan Natera got a great win over #14 Eduardo Garay Rodriguez, who I predicted to the quarters, to make his way into the main draw.
  • #38 seed Jordy Alonso nearly made the main draw, taking the first game off of #11 Carlos Keller Vargas before the Bolivian turned the game around and eked out the tie-breaker 11-8. Great showing by Alonso this event; he’s definitely slimmed down since the last time I saw him on tour and he’s playing really well.
  • However, the result of the round was a shocking win by Mexican 18U star Trujillo, who continued his run by topping #15 Javier Mar with authority 8,7. Fantastic tournament for Trujillo.

In the 16s:

  • #1 Alex Landa was really stretched by #17 Acuna in a rematch of their tense round of 16 from a few weeks ago. No fireworks this time, but Andre made him work for it 10,14.
  • #8 Jake Bredenbeck won a close one against #9 Mercado to move on. This is a solid, professional win for Jake.
  • #5 Andree Parrilla took a very solid win over his long-time junior Mexican rival Rodrigo Montoya Solis 13,10. This is the kind of match-up that can give Parrilla fits, with two players who know each other’s game so well, but he held on for a solid win.
  • #4 Rocky Carson cruised past fellow American Thomas Carter to move into the quarters for the 228th time in 262 career tournaments. Just an amazing record for the veteran.
  • #3 Samuel Murray held off a challenge from Mexican Natera to move on. He resisted the post-Canadian nationals hang-over and moves on.
  • #11 Keller continues his hot streak, taking out #6 Alvaro Beltran with relative ease to move into the quarters. Keller looking to repeat his feat from Denver.
  • #7 Lalo Portillo won a close first game, then ran away from #10 Sebastian Franco 13,1. Portillo has really settled down into the top 8; when he first broached the lofty rankings on tour he struggled with round of 16 match-ups, but not lately, and it’s just a matter of time before he’s pushed his way into the top 4.
  • #2 Daniel De La Rosa began his quest towards a second successive title against his junior country rival Trujillo … and Trujillo came to play. DLR was nearly stretched to a tiebreaker and Trujillo really has made a statement lately. Final score 5,14, and nobody wants to see this kid in qualifying at the US Open.

In the Quarters, some big-time upsets

  • #8 Bredenbeck defeated #1 Landa for the first time in his career 10,12. Landa just seemed off all night and Jake capitalized. This loss removes any chance of Landa overtaking Kane Waselenchuk for #1 on tour and the #1 seed in the US Open, and gives Jake just his 3rd career IRT semifinal.
  • #5 Parrilla played flawless racquetball and dominated #4 Carson 6,5 to move into the semis. Parrilla loves this court, loves this town, and continues to dominate every time the tour comes to Chicago.
  • #3 Murray destroyed #11 Keller 8,5 and removed any doubt about his playing form as of late.
  • #2 DLR played a straightforward game against #7 Lalo, winning 6,13 to move business-man like into the semis once again.

In the Semis:

  • #8 Jake continued his run, taking out a player in #5 Parrilla who he had never beaten on the IRT. Jake kept the pressure on Andree through a tight tiebreaker, and Andree seemed to run out of ideas against Jake’s relentless pressure. Jake moves onto his first ever IRT final.
  • #2 DLR played solid ball once again, topping fellow vet #3 Murray 10,12 to move into the final. Murray didn’t play badly necessarily, just DLR was able to put balls away when he needed to.

In the Finals, Jake pushed DLR to a breaker but ran out of gas, and DLR raced to an 11-1 breaker finish to take the title.

Points Implications of results;

If my records are correct, the results on the weekend and Daniel’s win has massive implications for the tour rankings heading into the US Open. Assuming that the tour expires all the Sept 2019 points … DLR’s win pushes him to the #1 spot on tour. Kane drops to #2, with Landa getting pushed to #3.

Moscoso seems set to ascend to #4 thanks to having zero Sept 2019 points expiring, while Murray gets pushed to #5. Portillo’s run of form has him jumped up to #7. But the huge news is the precipitous drop of Rocky Carson, projected to be seeded 9th in the new rankings. He had 700 points to defend from Sept2019 and has struggled to make the semis for some time now, and is now in jeopardy of dropping out of the top 10.

Doubles review
Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/51BD4B

Well, after much social media consternation, the racquetball community was treated to a fantastic quarter final match involving four of the best doubles players to ever play the game on friday night, and they were not disappointed. GOAT Waselenchuk, playing only doubles here with his traveling clinic partner Sudsy Monchik, faced off against the #1 seeds and clearly the best doubles team in the world in De La Rosa and Beltran. The match featured some serious tactical play as the players tried to keep the ball away from the shooters in Kane and DLR, and much of the play came down to whether or not those players in particular were able to set their feet and put balls away. The second game featured one of those amazing rallies that pro racquetball is known for, a 17-shot rally that we’ve already submitted to ESPN. At the end of the night though, the #1 seeds advanced 14,14, with very little between the two teams on the night.

Elsewhere in the draw, the top four seeds went chalk into the semis. There, DLR/Beltran avenged a recent Mexican Nationals loss by topping #4 Montoya/Mar 12,11, while the #3 seeded youngster team of Portillo/Parrilla moved into their first final together (and first ever pro doubles final for Lalo), with an excellent win over #2 Landa/Murray.

In the all Mexican final, the #1 seeds cruised over their overmatched younger rivals 8,8 to take the title.

Men’s Open
The Men’s Open draw went nearly chalk to the quarters, and exactly chalk to the semis with the top 4 seeds advancing. This is quite shocking for a Men’s Open draw at a pro event, which usually features withdrawals and drastically poor seeding as compared to the IRT draws. Nonetheless, four tough IRT veterans made it to the semis in Acuna, Natera, Manilla and Mercado.

In the semis, Acuna took out Natera in two close games, while Mercado cruised over Manilla. Acuna wins the final 11,6.

Women’s Open
There was a small but talented Women’s Open draw filled with LPRT touring players. Here’s a quick recap:

  • In the quarters, Maria Renee Rodríguez took out Sheryl Lotts in a tie-breaker. These two are neck and neck in the LPRT rankings in the teens and this felt like a typical LPRT round of 32 match. Erika Manilla took out local open player Kristin Coulter in two. Lastly, Colombian Brenda Laime Jalil upset #2 seeded Bolivian junior phenom Micaela Meneses Cuellar 9,5, a match probably an upset by seed but not by talent levels.
  • In the semis, Top8 LPRT Bolivian Angelica Barrios took out MRR 1,10 to move into the finals. At the bottom, Manilla got a very solid win over Laime in a tie-breaker to also move to the finals.
  • In the final, Barrios was made to work for it by the American Manilla, but wins the breaker 11-8 to take the title.

Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Dean DeAngelo Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew
Thanks to the Tourney Director Geoff Peters for putting this event on, and congratulations on having the court dedicated in your name after such a long career of supporting the sport.

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.

—

Next up? The big one! The US Open in Minneapolis!

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IRT Shamrock Shootout Preview

Sudsy returns to the court, playing doubles with Kane. Photo unk


Professional racquetball is Back! The IRT heads to Chicago for one of its longer-running pro tournaments, the “36.5th annual” KWM Gutterman (fall) Shamrock shootout. Hosted by the legendary Geoff Peters and sponsored by long-time racquetball benefactor Keith Minor (the “KWM” in KWM Gutterman Inc.), this is the 36th iteration of this event.


R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37339
There are a ton of international players here; 7 countries are represented and includes what looks like the entire Guatemalan national team, most of the Bolivian national team, and a good chunk of the Colombian national team in addition to the regulars from the big 3. Its one of the last big events prior to IRF events and players want to get more tournament experience.


Who is missing? #1 Kane Waselenchuk is here, but only playing doubles (more on that later). #6 Conrrado Moscoso is also missing despite a bunch of his fellow countrymen being present. The only other top 20 ranked player missing is #20 Sebastian Fernandez.

Despite not playing an IRT event since Mar 2020, Kane still maintains the #1 overall ranking on tour, but that ranking (and his seeding at the US open in two weeks) is in jeopardy here. If #2 Landa advances to the final, he’ll take over the #1 spot on tour and push Kane into the bottom half of the pro draw in Minneapolis. Read on to see my prediction on whether that happens or not…

Lets preview the singles draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:
In the round of 128:

  • #40 seed Bolivian 18U junior Hector Barrios, younger sibling to current LPRT top 10 player Angelica Barrios, is in the draw after making his pro debut in Denver in August. He gets an interesting matchup against Erick Cuevas, seeded 25th here.
  • Bolivian touring regular #21 Kadim Carrasco is matched up with Californian Patrick Allin, who is much better known for his outdoor racquetball exploits.
  • #36 seed Colombian 18U junior Juan Pablo Rodriguez, part of team Zurek in Florida, gets a winnable international match against Guatemalan #29 Edwin Galicia.
  • Former IRT regular John Wolfe returns to the tour for the first time since Oct 2019 and faces off against Mexican vet Abraham Peña.
  • Former top Mexican junior Rodrigo Rodriguez plays in a top-level event for the first time since 2018 and faces off against Formulaflow’s MoMo Zelada, seeded #23.
  • top Mexican junior Erick Trujillo gets a tough test against Guatemalan veteran Javier Martinez.

In the round of 64, here’s some projected fun matches to watch for:

  • #20 seed Colombian vet Set Cubillos Ruiz is set to face the winner of Rodriguez/Galicia in another all-international qualifier.
  • #19 Alan Natera Chavez projects to face countryman Pena for a spot in the 32s. On paper this is an easy one to call, but Pena could make things difficult for his younger rival.
  • If #38 Jordy Alonso can get past Arteaga in the opener, he stands a good chance of moving into the 32s. He’s been playing well as of late, going deep into a local SLP event last weekend.
  • #18 Robert Collins faces a tough one in the winner of Trujillo/Martinez. I don’t necessarily expect an upset, but look out.

Projecting the 32s: here’s some possible matchups as the #9-#16 seeds enter into play:

  • In a bit of deja vu, the #16/#17 matchup is, again, Adam Manilla versus Acuna. They met in Denver, a 12,5 win for Acuna, and I see no reason for the result to change here … ensuring another juicy re-match that we’ll talk about in the next section.
  • #9 Mario Mercado projects to play #24 Charlie Pratt Racquetball, a tough match-up for Mercado. Pratt has never lost to Mercado, and in their most recent meeting (2020 Lewis drug) won in two straight-forward games. Mercado is playing well … but so is Pratt and I think we get an upset here.
  • #14 Eduardo Garay Rodriguez is set to face #19 Natera; Garay keeps creeping up the rankings and is edging closer to a breakthrough win; he should advance past the mercurial Natera here.
  • #11 Carlos Keller Vargas projects to play Alonso, which could be a closer match than Keller anticipates. The Bolivian will look to build on his career best showing in Denver and moves on.
  • #23 Zelada runs into his personal kryptonite, frequent playing partner #10 Sebastian Franco, who moves on here.
  • #15 Javier Mar gets a winnable play-in against #18 Collins.

So, i’m calling for a few minor upsets in the round of 32, but nothing major.

round of 16:

  • #1 Alex Landa gets a rematch of his opener from Denver against Acuna, a match that featured some … hostilities shall we say, as the players took turns whacking each other with the ball and then had to be separated on the court. So, look out for more fireworks here. Landa is firey on the court and seems to play better when agitated, so don’t be surprised if an innocuous play turns into another spat here.
  • #8 Jake Bredenbeck projects to play his doubles partner (both here and for Team USA) in Pratt at this juncture. Jake has not lost to Charlie in an event I track in the DB, but the matches are often close, since Pratt is a technician on the court and strategizes his way to wins. Look for jake in a tiebreaker.
  • #5 Andree Parrilla gets perhaps the one person he doesn’t want to see in a round of 16 in his long-time Mexican rival #12 Rodrigo Montoya Solis. These two have been playing each other since they were 8yr olds, and they’ve gone back and forth often. Montoya generally has the upper hand in national team events, but Parrilla is better suited in pro events. Last time they played, Parrilla ran away with the match after a close game one with Montoya falling apart mentally, and I suspect something similar happens here. Parrilla to move on.
  • #4 Rocky Carson gets a winnable opponent in #13 Thomas Carter for a chance to move into the quarters.
  • #3 Samuel Murray, fresh off a win at Canadian Nationals, runs into a buzz saw in #14 Garay. Murray was beaten badly in the 16s in Denver and faces a similar fate here against Garay, who has the benefit of training in Florida with a number of top players regularly. Big upset here but Garay makes just his second pro quarter.
  • #6 Alvaro Beltran faces off against #11 Keller, hot off his semis appearance in Denver. Beltran and Keller have played internationally twice, both times in PARC, both times Keller wins. As much as Alvi will complain that i’m picking against him again … i’m going with Keller here in an upset.
  • #7 Eduardo Portillo Rendon takes on #10 Franco, who he defeated in the finals of the lower-tier IRT event in Severna Park earlier this summer. Lalo should advance here as well, as he continues to improve.
  • #2 Daniel De La Rosa probably gets the one qualifier he doesn’t want to play, facing off against fellow country-man #15 Mar. But, these two also faced off in the 16s in Denver (when i probably wrote the same thing), and DLR took care of business en route to his title. DLR is playing with confidence and probably expects to win this tournament, and he’s not losing here.

Projected Qtrs:

  • #1 Landa over #8 Jake: they’ve played 11 times across IRT, WRT and USA national events. Alex is 11-0. He makes it 12-0 here.
  • #5 Parrilla over #4 Carson. There’s something about Chicago that Parrilla loves. He got his sole IRT win here in 2018. He made his first final in 2017. And, the last two times he’s played Rocky here … he’s gotten wins. I predict he wins again here.
  • #11 Keller over #14 Garay: in the upset special, one double digit seed advances to the semis. I have it being Keller, en fuego after a semis finish in Denver and who has topped Garay in the past.
  • #2 De La Rosa handles the youngster #7 Portillo again, as he did in the semis in Denver. Lalo pushed him to a breaker a few weeks ago and might do it again here, but DLR still has the upper hand in this rivalry … for now.
    Semis:
  • #5 Parrilla over #1 Landa. Parrilla’s Chicago streak continues. Parrilla beat Landa in Chicago in 2019 en route to the semis, has beaten him a number of times in the past, and moves onto the final here.
  • #2 DLR tops the upset-minded Keller. DLR is a step too far for Keller.

    Finals;
  • DLR wins over Parrilla. Andree has just one career win over DLR (guess where? Chicago in 2017), but DLR has taken his game to a new level, winning impressively in Denver (which included a quarters win over Parrilla) and I predict he wins here again.

Doubles review
A great doubles draw is set for Chicago, with 14 teams and a ton of talent. Included in this draw is the fun partnership of Kane and IRT legend Sudsy Monchik, who are partners off the court and now are giving it a go on the court. They present an intriguing lefty-righty pair, each covering their forehand side with lethal consequences..
Unfortunately for Sudsy/Kane, a lack of ranking points lands them in the 9th seed, meaning they project to play the top seeds in the quarters. Much ink has been spilled in social media on this seeding, but for the neutrals what it does mean is a fantastic (if early) projected quarter final in the prime-time 8:30 friday night slot. I guess there could be worse things.
The top-half of this draw is stacked: #1 seeds Beltran/DLR, #9 seeds Kane/Sudsy, #4 seeds Montoya/Mar (the reigning Mexican National champs) and hard-hitting #5 seeds Garay/Franco are all worth finalists, and it may be tough to separate them on any given sunday. I’m going to predict a win by Kane/Sudsy in the quarters, then a win over the Mexican duo in the semis.
The bottom half features the #2 seeded team of Murray/Landa, a very strong team that plays together regularly, plus the #7 USA national team of Pratt/Jake the #3 up-and-coming team of younger Mexican players Lalo/Parrilla and the newly crowned Bolivian national champs Keller/Carasco. From this group, I like Landa/Murray to advance.

Hard to pick against the King and Sudsy in the final.

Fun stuff: if you’re a better person, hit up Matthew Ivar Majxner on facebook for a $10 winner takes all prediction piece for the IRT singles draw. My picks are public … but not always right. I think i came in 2nd or 3rd in the previous competition, but i’m in it to win it this weekend.

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 DeAngelo Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots!
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.
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World Singles & Doubles Wrap-up Part 2: Doubles draws

Montoya a double winner on the weekend, solidifying his status as a top doubles player. Photo Gearbox promotional


Part 1 focused on the two pro singles draws; this one covers the three main doubles draws.
Congrats to your winners on the weekend:Mixed Pro Doubles: Rodrigo Montoya Solis / Samantha Salas Solis

Men’s Open Doubles: Rodrigo Montoya & Javier Mar

Women’s Open Doubles: Jessica Parrilla & Montserrat Pérez

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=30515

Quick commentary on the divisions…
In Mixed Pro, the #7 seeded Montoya/Salas blitzed through the draw, dominating every one of their matches save for their match against my pre-tournament favorite Alvaro Beltran & Montse Mejia. I think its safe to say that the pairing of Montoya and Salas, which comprises the reigning World and Pan Am Games doubles champion in Montoya and a woman in Salas who has won no less than 33 pro doubles titles should have been seeded higher.

They topped the #8 seeded team of Sebastian Fernandez and Alexandra Herrera in the final. Patata and Alexandra also similarly blitzed their way through the draw, not dropping a game until the final and including a dominant 8,10 win over the #1 seeds and defending champs Daniel De La Rosa and Michelle De La Rosa.

Men’s Open Doubles PRS Match Report: http://rball.pro/4CDCD8

In Men’s Open Doubles, Montoya & Mar (again, the reigning World, Pan Am Games and Mexican champions) were somehow only seeded 3rd and faced a gauntlet of matches to make the final. In the quarters they downed the top Bolivian team of Conrrado Moscoso and Roland Keller, a rematch of the 2019 Pan Am games gold medal match. In the semis they dominated the #2 seeded Colombian team of Eduardo Garay Rodriguez and Sebastian Franco, then got an unfortunate walk-over win in the final against the newly crowned Bolivian national champs Carlos Keller Vargas and Kadim Carrasco (reason unknown, maybe an early flight?). Nonetheless, Montoya & Mar proved once again that they’re in the conversation for best doubles team in the world.

Women’s Open Doubles PRS Match Report: http://rball.pro/FE4165

In Women’s Open doubles, the very solid lefty-righty team of Parrilla and Perez cruised through the bottom side of the draw to the finals. There, they met the newly crowned USA national champs Rhonda Rajsich and Erika Manilla, who had to win a rematch of the USA championships in their quarters, then down a tough #1 seeded team of Nancy Enriquez / Carla Muñoz Montesinos to make the final. There, a battle ensued, going down to the wire, with the Mexican pair saving match point against to win 11-10 and claim the crown.

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Next up?
we have a busy upcoming weekend:

  • the 3rd annual Alex Landa tournament is in Juarez: https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=37803
  • The annual New Smyrna Beach WOR event is in Florida: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37823
  • – the 4th Annual Rocky Carson clinic is in Indiana: https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=37829

Once again, thanks to all the streamers and to Jim Hiser for making this event happen.
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World Singles & Doubles Wrap-Up Part 1: Pro Singles draws

Ana Gabriela Martinez wins her first pro title. Photo via Gaby


Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

  • IRT pro Singles: Daniel De La Rosa
  • LPRT pro singles; Ana Gabriela Martinez

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=30515

Lets review the notable matches in the Men’s Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/C05199

In the 128s and 64s:

  • Kadim Carrasco got a solid tiebreaker win over Mexican vet Abraham Peña to earn a spot in the main draw.
  • We were robbed of a potentially awesome round of 32 projection when #20 seed Javier Estrada no showed; this paved the way for little-known Bolivian Miguel A. Arteaga Guzman to earn a spot in the main draw with two good wins.
  • – #23 seed MoMo Zelada got two solid wins over veteran internationals Set Cubillos Ruiz and Javier Martinez to earn a round of 32 main draw spot.

In the 32s:

  • #17 Andres Acuña cooled the home-town favorite #16 Adam Manilla and advanced 12,5. Manilla had a great tournament in Austin in January 2020, making the semis and nearly making the final, but more and more its looking like a one-off as he hasn’t been able to replicate that success since.
  • #19 Carlos Keller Vargas eked out game one against #14 Thomas Carter, then raced to a two game win 14,1 for one of the only two upsets by seeding in the round.
  • #11 Mario Mercado took a really tight match against #22 Alan Natera Chavez to move on 14,12. Two really evenly matched players and Mercado got a good win.
  • #10 Sebastian Franco played really solid ball to beat his former Baltimore neighbor Zelada 5,4 to move on.
  • – The only tiebreaker of the round, fittingly, was in the 15/18 match, where Eduardo Garay Rodriguez got a really solid win over Sebastian Fernandez 11-9 in the breaker. Might have been 11-10; i heard it one way but R2 has it another. Two really solid up and coming players and the crowd got a great match as a result.

In the 16s, a slew of upsets and really big surprises.

  • #1 Alex Landa and #17 Acuna played quite a contentious match, building one some previous “history” between the two players, which resulted at one point having to have the players separated on the court. The antics seemed to fire up Landa, who bounced back after dropping game one to dominate the second game and eventually advance in the breaker. No Love lost here.
  • #8 Lalo Portillo came back from a game one defeat to dominate the breaker 11-1 to move past #9 Jake Bredenbeck.
  • #5 Andree Parrilla turned the tide on recent matches against his long-time rival #12 Rodrigo Montoya Solis and advanced 14,3. Parrilla has really turned it around since going on a slide of form in early 2020 and this was a great win, avenging a loss to Montoya in the Mexican National finals earlier this year.
  • In the biggest upset of the round, Carlos Keller Vargas absolutely destroyed #3 Samuel Murray 6,4 to advance to just his second ever IRT pro quarterfinal. Murray was the champion of the previous IRT event and a favorite to advance deep, but is a one and done in the pro draw here.
  • #11 Mercado got another solid win, this time downing #6 Alvaro Beltran in two solid games 12,6.
  • #7 Conrrado Moscoso nearly got pushed to a breaker by #10 Franco, but finished the match off to win in two games.
  • – #2 Rocky Carson handled Garay’s pop and moved on in two games 11,10 to setup a juicy quarter final.

In the Quarters, some seriously unexpected results.

  • #1 Landa tweaked something in his back early in his match against youngster #8 Portillo and fell with little resistance 3,4. Landa asked for an injury time out but was denied, and basically went through the motions for the entirety of the match. Portillo advances to just his 4th ever pro semi.
  • #4 DLR handled #5 Parrilla 10,10, continuing his relative dominance over his younger country-man.
  • #19 Keller continued his career-best performance, building on just his second ever quarter final by winning a close match against his former country-man Mercado to advance to his first ever pro semi. Bravo to Keller for this great run.
  • – For the fourth time in four tries, #7 Moscoso downed #2 Carson on the pro tour. This time Carson bounced back from a blow out first game loss to make it a match, and Moscoso had to dig down to take the 11-9 breaker.

In the Semis

  • DLR took advantage of Landa’s upset loss by taking out Lalo in a breaker to move into the final.
  • Moscoso downed his countryman Keller, in a rematch of the Bolivian national singles final two weeks ago 10,14 to move into the final. Moscoso makes the finals for the 4th time in his 11 pro appearances.
    In the Finals, a meeting between two players who are 2-2 lifetime in pro and international events turned into a relatively one-sided affair. DLR took a commanding lead in the first game and threatened to donut Moscoso before Conrrado pulled back a handful of points to make it respectable. Everyone anticipated a rebound game in the 2nd, but DLR’s veteran, calm approach to the match was the story. Daniel did not panic, stuck to his game plan and wore down the flashy but inconsistent Bolivian to take the title 7,13.

With this win, DLR earns his 5th pro title and takes back over the title for most titles by a Mexican player from Landa.

Lets review the notable matches in the Women’s Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/9F93A8
In the 32s:

  • We were robbed of a fun all-USA match when Hollie Scott no-showed, giving Lotts a walkover.
  • #5 Natalia Mendez Erlwein was pushed to the absolute distance by USA’s Erika Manilla, the home-town favorite, but she saved match point against in a back-and-forth tiebreaker to win 11-10. Manilla crushed Mendez in game 2, but Mendez gritted out the win.
  • #19 Micaela Meneses Cuellar dominated #14 Maria Renee Rodríguez 10,2 to get a statement win on tour. The 18U junior is getting some really great international experience this year and could be one to watch for, the latest in a continuing line of top Bolivian juniors.
  • #11 Nancy Enriquez dominated #22 Lucia Gonzalez to advance 4,12. The last time they faced off, Gonzalez shocked Enriquez (and Herrera) to advance to the 2020 Mexican National semis … but Enriquez showed little weakness in this match.
  • 15 Brenda Laime Jalil cruised past her frequent DC-area rival Masiel Rivera Oporto 9,4. I thought this would be a lot closer.

In the 16s, one monumental upset and a couple of good matches.

  • #8 Valeria Centellas moved past #9 Rhonda Rajsich 9,4.
  • Bolivian junior Meneses took a game off of #3 Maria Jose Vargas Parada before Vargas took the match in a breaker. Great showing by Meneses, who has quickly been improving her game this year.
  • #11 Nancy Enriquez took a really tough match against #6 Jessica Parrilla, continuing her recent excellent run of form. The two traded blows and games to 14 before Enriquez blanked Leoni in the breaker.
  • #10 Ana Gabriela Martinez took a very nice close game against her long-time international rival #7 Angelica Barrios 11,14. These two go back well into Junior racquetball, and played a quality match here.
  • In the shocker of the tournament, #15 Laime took out #2 Montse Mejia in a tie-breaker. Mejia is the winner of the most recent tournament and was my odds-on favorite to blow through this draw; instead she’s out in the quarters in a shocking result. Kudos to Laime, who advances to her third career pro quarter.
    In the Quarters:
  • #1 Alexandra Herrera took care of business and downed #8 Centellas in two 9,9. I had predicted an upset here, but the lefty #1 seed played well and took out a dangerous opponent.
  • #5 Natalia Mendez Erlwein got a really good win over #4 Samantha Salas Solis to get into the semis of another major. These two have met in each of the last three LPRT events, and Mendez now has won two of those three meetings.
  • #3 Vargas showed that she’s back in full, advancing past the in-form Enriquez in two games.
  • #10 Martinez took advantage of Laime’s earlier round exploits and blasted the young Colombian 3,7 to move into the semis. Gaby is the new favorite to win this event.


    In the Semis:
  • Herrera topped Mendez for the 9th time in 10 tries on pro and IRF events, needing a tiebreaker to do it.
  • Martinez went two full games to top #3 Vargas 13,10 to move into the final.

In the final:…two good friends who just had a practice session in Guatemala a few weeks ago battled it out to determine which of the two would be a first-time pro winner. In the end, Gaby outlasted Alexandra in a tiebreaker, racing to a commanding lead and holding on as both players gave everything on the court. Gaby wins (12),9,4 to become the 30th known winner in the history of the Ladies pro tour.

Points Implications of results
On the IRT side, assuming the policy of not expiring old points, the rankings won’t move too much. But there are some moves:

  • DLR moves from #5 to #3.
  • Moscoso and Beltran switch places at 7/8.
  • Mercado and Franco switch places at 11/12
  • Keller the big mover; improving from 21 to 16 with his semis win.
  • The other big mover is Miguel Angel Arteaga, who takes advantage of a surprise withdrawal to make the 32s and jump from #71 to #47.


    On the LPRT side…. some big moves.
  • Martinez jumps from #11 to #4 with her win, rightfully taking her spot among the tour’s elite.
  • Despite missing the event, Longoria retains her #1 ranking by a sizeable margin. She could probably miss another 4 events without losing the top spot.
  • Mejia drops from 3 to 5, and Salas drops from 5 to 7 with their upsets.
  • – Lastly, a landmark bit of history on the professional tour. Rhonda’s finish likely means she’s dropping out of the top 10, which means that personally she drops out of the top 10 for the first time since 1999. However it also means that for the first time ever, no USA-born player is in the ladies top 10. The highest ranked USA player projects to be Sheryl Lotts at #16.

Open Singles and other significant draws:

  • Men’s Open Singles final was won impressively by Mexican junior Erick Trujillo, who topped Colombian veteran Set Cubillos Ruiz in the final. Cubillos advanced past a rich international draw, defeating players from Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Mexico. Trujillo’s more impressive win was in the semis, taking out top Mexican touring vet Alan Natera in the semis.
  • Trujillo also took the 18U title on the weekend, beating a number of players he’s likely to face in Junior Worlds later this fall. He topped Bolivian 18U champ Hector Barrios (Angelica’s brother) in that final.
  • Women’s Open was taken by Angelica Barrios – Raquetbolista, who topped American Sheryl Lotts in the final.
  • – Micaela Meneses took the Girls 18U title over American 18U champ Annie Roberts in a possible World Juniors final preview.

Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from both the IRT and LPRT crews, Thankyou Dean DeAngelo Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre, Timothy Baghurst and Tj Baumbaugh for all your hard work on the mike.
Thanks to the Tourney Director Jim Hiser for putting this event on!

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Next up?Part 2 of the wrap-up covering the doubles draws.

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World Singles & Doubles Open – Doubles Draws Preview

Michelle De La Rosa is part of the #1 ranked Mixed doubles team; can they prevail in Denver? Photo Mike Augustin Vegas 2019

Part 2 of our preview; the Doubles draws. This event is special because it is one of the few times a Mixed Pro doubles draw is offered and promoted heavily, and thanks to the prize money many of the pros are playing singles and mixed instead of gender doubles in Denver.
Once again, shout out to Tournament Director and primary sponsor Jim Hiser for making this event happen, with tons of sponsorship dollars and dealing with local covid related ordinances.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=30515

First, lets preview the Mixed Doubles draw, which is huge and which is a priority this weekend over the Gender-specific doubles draws.
20 teams are here. The seeding of Mixed pro doubles is tough since we have so few events to go by. By my count there’s only been two relatively full strength mixed doubles tournaments in the last 5 years, so we don’t have a ton to go on. The seeding of this draw may be debatable, but what’s for certain is that we’re going to get a ton of great matches.
Here’s a preview of the matches that i’ll be interested in watching:


In the 32s:

  • an all – Ecuadorian team of Juan Francisco Cueva and Maria Paz Munoz is here to compete, and they take on the all-american duo of veterans Charlie Pratt Racquetball and Rhonda Rajsich. I like the USA team to move on; Pratt is a highly decorated doubles player and Rajsich owns dozens of doubles titles in her career.
  • A heavy Bolivian presence in the 14/19 match, featuring Bolivian doubles specialist Roland Keller with junior phenom Micaela Meneses Cuellar taking on MoMo Zelada teamed with Brenda Laime Jalil . Laime represents Colombia now, but is Bolivian born.
    In the 16s:
  • #1 seeded husband/wife team of Daniel De La Rosa and Michelle De La Rosa get their tourney started, likely against a tough team of hard hitters in Erik Garcia and Masiel Rivera Oporto . This is going to be a tough tournament to win, and the DLRs have a tough opener.
  • The dark-horse team of Mario Mercado and Valeria Centellas is seeded 9th here. They have a really tough opener against LPRT #2 Alexandra Herrera playing with Sebastian Fernandez. Herrera is part of what is easily the 2nd best ladies doubles pairing in the world and arguably could be the best; this is a tough #8 seed and a tougher 8/9 matchup.
  • Samuel Murray is playing with Ana Gabriele Martinez, and they face off against the husband-wife pairing of Alan Natera Chavez and Carla Muñoz Montesinos. Natera is a frequent doubles competitor; how will he fare on the court with his wife?
  • The brother/sister team of Andree Parrilla and Jessica Parrilla is seeded 4th here and should be a threat to win. They’ll have their hands full though in their opener against Pratt/Rajsich. Both Parrillas can out hit the veteran Americans, but doubles is about tactics as well. I like the USA vets to upset here.
  • The hard-hitting #3 seeds of Conrrado Moscoso and Maria Jose Vargas Parada should be interesting to watch: they will be tested early by the all-Bolivian winners (likely Keller and Meneses)
  • Angelica Barrios and Lalo Portillo are you 6th seeds; they are set to face two excellent doubles players in Javier Mar and Amaya Cris. Upset watch here over the young 6th seeded team.
  • The 7th seed team of Rodrigo Montoya Solis and Samantha Salas Solis seems painfully under-seeded: Salas has won dozens of doubles titles with Longoria, and Montoya is the reigning Pan Am Games doubles champ with Mar. They will be tested by two excellent doubles players here in Natalia Mendez Erlwein and Andres Acuña but should move on.
  • The all-Manilla team of Adam Manilla and sister Erika Manilla will face off against the #2 seeds Alvaro Beltran and Montse Mejia; despite the lefty-righty combination I sense the excellent Mexican pair will advance.
    In the Quarters, my projections:
  • #1 DLR/DLR will have their hands full with the Mercado/Centellas team; Mercado is a sneaky good doubles player and Centellas is a rising star on the LPRT. But there’s no finer doubles player in the world than Daniel De La Rosa; tiebreaker win for the top seeded husband/wife pair.
  • Murray and Martinez advance past the American Vet team Pratt/Rajsich.
  • Moscoso/Vargas make quick work of the Mar/Amaya team by dominating the right-side of the court.
  • In a phenomenal All-Mexican battle, Beltran/Mejia somehow eke it out over Montoya/Salas in a bruising tiebreaker win.
    Semis projection:
  • I think the run of the DLRs ends here: Murray and Martinez are both just too good for the DLRs to overcome, especially with right on right side battles.
  • Beltran and Mejia use their wits and outlast the firepower of Moscoso/Vargas in the other semi.

In the final: I like the Mexican pair to vanquish the upstart Murray/Martinez pair.

Men’s Open Draw
21 teams entered here, including some of the top teams in the world. Lets do a quick preview
In the top half, i see an easy pathway for #1 seeds Murray and Jake Bredenbeck to cruise into the semis. But the 4/5 match-up looks great: recently crowned Bolivian national champs Carlos Keller Vargas and Kadim Carrasco are set to take on one-half of the team they beat in that final two weekends ago in MoMo Zelada, only this weekend Zelada is playing with fellow Formulaflow entreprenuer Mario Mercado . Zelada/Mercado is one tough team, and I think they’ll take out the Bolivian national champs.
In the bottom half, three excellent teams are set to compete. They include the reigning Pan Am games champions in Montoya/Mar, the 2018 PARC champs in Moscoso/Keller and the #2 seeded team of Eduardo Garay Rodriguez and Sebastian Franco . Garay/Franco has a pathway to the semis, but the other two teams must compete in the quarters to get there. Look for Montoya/Mar to vanquish Moscoso/Keller, a rematch of the 2019 Pan Am Games final, so as to reach the semis.
In the semis, I see #1 Murray/Bredenbeck moving into the final over Zelada/Mercado, while in the bottom half I expect the Mexican pair Montoya/Mar to take out #2 Garay/Franco to make the final.

In that final, expect Montoya & Mar to take the title.

Women’s Open Draw
There’s 9 teams here and some intriguing matchups.
In the top half, an all-American match-up of the current USA title-holders Rajsich and Manilla as they take on mDLR and Lotts; this wasn’t quite settled on the court in Des Moines a few weeks back, but the current champs advance nonetheless to face off against the #1 seeds Enriquez/Munoz.
In the bottom half, I see an intriguing semi between Lefty/Righty pairs Parrilla/ Montserrat Pérez and Rivera/Laime. I feel like Rivera & Laime will pull this out.

In the final, Enriquez & Munoz are the favorites.

Can’t wait for the matches this weekend!
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