Jhonathan Flores became the 47th person in the history of the IRT (and its predecessors) to win a Tier 1/full draw event. After doing my recaps and podcasts, I realized that I had some hard coded nuggets of information in the underlying perl code that would make for a great report.
So here it is; this is a breakdown of some key information related to each of the 47 first time winners. Take a look: i’ve got the data sorted from most recent winners to the oldest.
IRT: https://rball.pro/c288b0
Also, here’s the same data for the LPRT: https://rball.pro/e19899
(LPRT has only had 30 winners in its history … crazy).
Anyway, take a look, let me know if there’s other data you’d like to see on this report.
To run it yourself, go to the PRS home page, pick either the IRT or LPRT, then in the lower section of reports select and run the “First Time Tour Winners” report.
Back in 2019, I saw a cool graphic showing the slow change over time of rankings of some IT thing; maybe it was market share of browsers or ranking of cell phone providers. After digging in, I found the site (Flourish.studio) and, what do you know, you can upload your own data. I created visual racing bar charts showing the Men and Women’s top 10s since the beginning of the tours in 1974, and those posts were one of the most popular I ever did.
@JT R Ball reached out this week and asked if I had thought about updating them … and I said, “Hey What a great idea!”
So, without further ado, here’s the two graphics, updated to the current rankings on both tours for the 2025-26 rankings.
Quick data caveats, since, well, this is Racquetball and no good deed goes published on the internet without someone complaining about it:
– These are End of Season top 10 lists. If you are a player who was ranked in the top 10 for a few weeks in a season 20 years ago and don’t see your name … don’t @ to tell me the data is wrong. Nobody captured mid-season top 10 data and I have no way of showing anything other than season ending top 10 ranks.
– In the The first few years of the tours, Basically there wasn’t a rolling ranking. The champions were determined by who won the season-ending Nationals event. That’s why the first few years look weird; i just took the Nationals finish and kind of jury-rigged a top 10.
Some fun facts:
– in 2019, there had only been 79 distinct players in the history of Pro racquetball to finish in the top 10 in any season. That number has now risen to 94 through this season, as we’ve had a ton of new faces make top 10 debuts in the last 5-6 years. Moscoso, Acuna, Jake, Montoya, Natera, Portillo, Adam, Carter, Martell, Trujillo? All new within the last few years, along with a slew of others.
– Same info for the Women: in 2019 there had been 97 women who had a top10 finish … now that number is up to 106. We haven’t really had that many new women debut that high in the last half decade. Gaby, Laime, Manilla, Barrios, Centellas, and this year Lotts is in the top 10.
Happy Friday. As always, if you can think of a cool application of this data that I should do or think about i’m always open to it.
Costa Rican junior phenom takes the Pro/Am Doubles and gets a win in the main draw. Photo via RG Deportes
Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:
– Singles: Maria Jose Vargas
– Doubles: Montse Mejia & Alexandra Herrera
– Pro/Am Doubles: Natalia Mendez & Larissa Faeth
TL/DR Executive Summary: Vargas wins again, in dominant fashion, never truly challenged in this event. She’s now won 5 of the last 6 LPRT events and is starting to truly take over on tour. See https://rball.pro/499ce2 for a list of all finals to see how dominant Vargas has been as of late.
Meanwhile, the Mejia/Herrera doubles team won their third straight doubles title, and should be near returning to the top. See https://rball.pro/4d751c for all LPRT doubles finals.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=47436
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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/4d751c
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In the 32s
– Acosta played her second event of the season, her 28th on tour.
– Recently elected USAR hall of famer @rhonda rajsich played, beating NorCal’s Erica Williams in the first round before being relegated to referee duty in the 16s.
– Costa Rican’ junior phenom Larissa Faeth got a solid win over MRR before falling to Herrera. Faeth is the 2-time defending 14U junior world Champion and has also been representing CR in Adult events, and per insiders seems to really have what it takes to make a splash on tour, and soon.
– We got a rare appearance from Lucia Gonzalez, who won a slew of Junior World titles in her career (7 in total, plus all her Mexican junior titles), but whose pro career never materialized. She took out Stephanie Synhorst before falling to Gaby 12,4.
– Manilla continued her comeback efforts, blasting Mexican veteran Nancy Enriquez before falling to #2 Mejia.
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In the 16s:
– Annie Sanchez got her best career win, and her first pro quarterfinal, topping Colombian turned Italian Cristina Amaya.
– Carla Munoz, who has slipped in the rankings after taking a few events off mid 2025, got a solid win over #5 Mendez to push back towards the top 10
– York pushed Centellas in the 7/10 match before ultimately falling 10,12
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In the Quarters, seeds took over, as all top four seeds won. Longoria had the hardest go of it, having to face her former vanquisher Herrera, who’s on the downslope from her peak a few years ago. Gaby was pushed to double digits in one game, otherwise the top four seeds advanced without opponents reaching 10 in any game.
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In the Semis:
– Vargas crunched Martinez 6,9. Vargas has really taken over on tour.
– Longoria-Mejia needed nearly 2 hours, and needed to go to 10-10 in the breaker before a winner was determined. The two split games, then were neck and neck in the breaker before a mini-run from Mejia gave her match point at 10-7. Longoria saved it, then ground out 3 points to put it at 10-10 … where Mejia got a gutsy side-out on a fly-ball kill shot. Longoria wasn’t out of her own bag of tricks, crushing a cross court to get back match point on her racquet, which she took with a well-struck deep court forehand kill for the win. Someone had to lose, and it was Mejia.
In the Finals, anticlimactic after the semis, as Vargas won her 3rd in a row, and 4th of the season, crushing Longoria 4,5 to leave no doubt. She’s won 5 of the last 6 events (making the final in the other), and has opened a massive lead atop the standings.
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Points Implications of results
Here’s a link to my LPRT Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It may not exactly match the LPRT’s standings, but should be close enough to gauge post-event results in the immediate.
Vargas, on the strength of 3 in a row and 5 of the last 6, has opened a massive lead atop the standings. She’s up by more than 500 points now to 2nd place (Longoria, who overtakes Mejia with the head to head win). But, Vargas will need to have something catastrophic happen to be caught this season at this point.
Other notable movement: Sanchez should enter the top 10 for the first time, and Munoz should be right on the cusp at #11. Lawrence, who seems to have quit the tour lately, will drop to #15.
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Doubles review
Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/fd24f8
Mejia and Herrera beat Vargas & Centellas for the title for the 3rd straight event running, but they had to work for it. They squeaked by Manilla/Key in the quarters, then had to outlast the solid new-look team of Longoria/GAby in the semis to make it there.
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Other Notable Draws:
– The LPRT ran a super-fun looking event called the “Pro/Am Doubles,” where pros teamed up with “Open players,” which usually means low-end/younger pros, for a fun pro/am division. It was taken by Mendez & Faeth, who took out Mejia and Mexican junior Yanna Salazar. Great idea, hope to see more of this in the future.
– The Men’s Open was not complete as of this writing, but is headlined by top-10 IRT pro Alan Natera, in town supporting his wife Carla Munoz. I may regret writing this, but its hard to imagine him losing this draw.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., JTRball, and Tj Baumbaugh
Next week is an IRT satellite event at the long-running Carl Myers event in Kansas, then the week after that is the annual Lewis Drug pro-am in Sioux Falls, the long-running event that’s a huge favorite of players on tour.
Rhonda Rajsich continues her comeback tour.
Photo 202 USAR Doubles by Kevin Savory
The pro first event of the 2026 season us, as the ladies head to Tempe for a long-running event in the Arizona Open. Legendary coach Jim Winterton has organized the event once again and has a solid draw of ladies pros in town.
I’m going to do the preview a little different this time, since to me there’s now a very clear-cut line between the top 4-5 players on tour and the rest of the draw. I’m going to call out some storylines to watch instead of playing out the entire draw.
– Mexican junior Mariafernanda Trujillo is set for just her second ever LPRT appearance after a long junior career; she’s still 21U eligible.
– Former top junior and a constant dark-horse when she plays Lucia Gonzalez is here, and she has a relatively winnable first round to get to the 16s.
– Newly elected Hall of Famer Rhonda Rajsich is playing in her home town; she says she’s playing the tour full time this season; can she get back to the top 10?
– Costa Rican phenom Larissa Faeth is here with a good shot at getting into the 16s.
– Erika Manilla is here, but runs into the #2 seed in the 16s. Coming back from zero points is super tough.
– Semis: hard not to predict the top 4 to the semis in Vargas, Longoria, Mejia, and Gaby.
– Vargas has won three straight, and I think she’s winning here again.
– Longoria is #3, but I like her for the final.
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Doubles review
There’s interesting teams here: Longoria no longer has her long-time partner Salas to depend on here, so she’s partnered with Gaby and they’re just the #4 seed. Watch out for that pair. Manilla & Key are seeded dead last but would probably cruise to the US national title right now. Munoz and Rajsich are the #6 seed; i’d be deathly afraid of this team in Outdoor; can they make it happen in indoor?
prediction: Herrera/Mejia over Longoria/Gaby in the final
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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.
Look for Timothy Baghurst, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh 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 Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.
Longoria won her 14th title mid 2025. Photo via Fran Davis Racquetball
After last week’s IRT post, here’s the same for the LPRT. I’ll list the original text as I captured it in real-time, then in some cases add my 2 cents.
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– 1/15/25: Former LPRT #1 Christie (Van Hees) Huczek has been elected to the USA Racquetball Hall of Fame. Its the first Ladies pro player elected since Gudinas was selected as part of the class of 2019, and she’s just the 9th ladies pro ever elected to the Hall.
Additional thoughts: She’s also just the second non-US player after Heather McKay to be elected to the USAR Hall of Fame, having grown up in Canada before moving to the US, where she’s lived for 20 years after marrying fellow racquetball Pro Jack Huczek. Her career is an interesting “what-if” case; she was ranked in the top 3 in 2000, then abruptly retired at the age of 24 (the tour decided to completely omit her from the year end rankings for reasons inexplicable). She came back two years later and finished #2 on tour in her first full season back. Then, after winning the year end title for the 2004-5 season, she won the first 3 events of the next season, then summarily stopped playing again (still finishing 3rd that season on the strength of those wins). She had eight top-10 seasons … but it feels like she left a ton on the table.
This is an ironic book-end to the year, since the final news item below is the announcement that we’ve also elected another LPRT legend to the Hall, namely Rhonda Rajsich.
– 1/19/25: Paola Longoria officially regains the #1 ranking spot on tour heading into the January Arizona Open. This sets up a dog-fight for the top spot for the rest of the season, as Longoria, Mejia, and Vargas trade blows all spring. Some thought Longoria may have been “done” after two seasons being supplanted at the top of the tour and taking some losses as her live and career shifted, but she has made it back to the top.
– 6/16/25: Thanks to the results at the Northern Virginia Invitational, Paola Longoria has an insurmountable lead in the 2024-25 tour race and has officially
secured her 14th Pro title. She returns to the summit of the sport after two years away.
– 8/14/25: At the 2025 World Games, while leading 9-7 in the 5th game over Longoria, Angelica Barrios badly injures her knee and has to retire. This
knocks Bolivia out of the Mixed competition as well, and Barrios reportedly needs surgery to repair the damage, which could cost her half a season or more.
Update as of this writing, Barrios has still not returned to action.
– 10/12/25 with a win over Longoria in the final of Golden State, Vargas takes back over #1 on tour. She’s won the last three events (also the first three events of the new season), and is now poised to dominate the LPRT for the time being.
Narrative: Vargas has opened the 2025-26 season with three wins and a final. Longoria is trying to keep pace (she was the losing finalist to all three of Vargas’ wins so far).
– 11/7/25: Former top 4 player Erika Manilla plays her first LPRT pro event since Dec 2024, and just her second pro event since her hip injury in Feb 2024, at her home-town event, where she’s also the tournament director. She wins her round of 32 but loses to the top seed.
Comments: It has taken Erika far, far longer to get back into playing shape than anyone thought. She finished the 2022-23 season ranked #4 and had a couple of finals under her belt, and she had a triple crown at the 2023 USAR Nationals, but now faces a huge up-hill battle to get back to the same lofty heights.
– 11/7/25: #2 Longoria is forced to miss the Denver Open due to her new legislative duties, which will severely hamper her chances of winning the year end title this season. There’s just too few events and Vargas is playing too well to miss out on any chances.
Commentary: For those who don’t know, Longoria was selected by her party to represent her district in the Mexican congress back in Sept 2024. We had not seen these duties interfere with her racquetball career, until now. I don’t believe this absence in and among itself will cost her the title, not with Vargas stepping her game up so much, but it can’t help.
– 11/19/25: LPRT loses access to its Facebook page for unknown reasons, likely inadvertent music copyright issues on a video of a match being played
at a club with ambient music playing. This is a huge dagger for the social media pursuits of the organization, and now a decade of videos and content is gone.
This is a shame really. No two ways about it. Facebook isn’t exactly the easiest tech support organization to deal with either.
– 12/7/25: Some player participation observations at the halfway point of the season: long-time top 10 player Kelani Lawrence has quietly skipped the entire first half of the 2025-26 LPRT season, possibly indicating the decision to step away from active touring (I asked her directly and didn’t get a response). Furthermore, after 3 full seasons away, Rhonda Rajsich is back and intends to play nearly a full slate of events this season. Other former regulars now absent for more than half a season: Angela Barrios (bad injury), Hollie Scott, and Michelle Key.
Thoughts: we’ve suddenly seen a slew of USA players … mostly dropping off the tour. Manilla just getting back, Key hasn’t played since September, same with reigning US National champ Ros (who, to be fair, may be prioritizing school right now), and Hollie seems to be as done with rball as her beau DLR. This has dampened the draw sizes for LPRT events this year unfortunately.
– 12/9/25: Squash and Racquetball legend Heather McKay to be officially inducted into the PSA Squash Hall of Fame in March 2026 in Brisbane.
Thoughts: for anyone who thinks that Kane or Paola were “dominant” in their careers, just check out this link to McKay’s squash career. She went 18 years without losing professionally, and she once won the British Open final with a triple donut (9-0, 9-0, 9-0).
– 12/31/25: 4-time LPRT champion and 20-year legend Rhonda Rajsich is elected to the USA Racquetball hall of Fame. Rajsich’s exploits on the pro game,
in the Amateur game, and in the Outdoor game uniquely qualifier her for the hall across the entire landscape of the sport.
Rajsich became eligible coincidentally after a 3-year pause of playing pro events, which made her seem “retired” as far as Hall of Fame eligibility is concerned. She continues to mount a comeback and intends to play a full slate of pro events this season.
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I may have missed some notable events for the Ladies; feel free to remind me in the comments.
TL/DR Executive Summary: Vargas extends her lead atop the LPRT rankings with a solid win in singles, while the world’s top doubles team wins another.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=51202
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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/3f08be
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In the 32s, just a handful of matches as just 19 ladies entered this event. The tour was definitely missing some of its younger competitors, away at Junior Worlds, but the tour is also missing several touring regulars from the recent years past who seem to have either stepped away due to injury or priorities.
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In the 16s:
– In the 8/9, Lotts pressed Centellas but fell.
– Laime crushed Munoz 2,5 in the 6/11 matchup
– Herrera held on against veteran Parrilla, winning 9,12
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In the Quarters
– The big s hock was Mendez taking out Gaby Martinez 13,11; that’s a solid win for Mendez.
– Vargas was pressed by her Argentine teammate Centellas but won 11,11
– Mejia had to go breaker to beat her doubles partner Herrera.
– Longoria cruised past Laime 1,6, perhaps looking to make a statement against a player who’s beaten her in the past.
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In the Semis
– Vargas took out Mendez , but not before dropping the first game 15-2 in a crazy scoreline.
– Longoria got some revenge against Mejia from the last event, winning 7,9.
In the Finals, Vargas won with relative ease 6,12 to claim her 14th career LPRT title. She’s now in 10th place all time.
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Points Implications of results
Despite making the finals over Mejia, Montse leapfrogged Paola for #2 on tour for the time being, as points expiration from last year conspired against the GOAT. No other major movement in the top 10 other than Kelani Lawrence continuing to fall; she’s apparently quiet retired.
Here’s a link to my LPRT Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which @Ryan Rodgers does with @R2 Sports App on behalf of the tour after each event, to allow some quick post-event analysis before the rankings post.
Manilla is back, but for how long? Photo 2021 US Open via Kevin Savory
As the Men are playing on one coast, the ladies are clear across the country, about as far away as one can get from Fullerton, visiting Severna Park, Maryland for the 33rd annual Christmas Classic. This event is being held at the venerable Severna Park Racquet club, one the last old-school hold out venues anywhere. The championship court is sunken and features stadium seating, there remains at least 6 functional courts (at least there were the last time I attended an event there), and this 33rd annual event is now one of (if not THE) longest running pro events in the sport.
9 of the top 10 ladies are here, and most of the rest of the top 20 is present as well. We’re missing a couple of veteran regulars, which will give us some interesting doubles teams, but more on that in a moment.
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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:
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In the 32s,
– Erika Manilla returns; the former top 4 player has struggled to get back to form since her hip issue; she faces the Canadian #2 Parent in the opener.
– Synhorts faces the ageless Brandt in the play-in to #2 Mejia.
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round of 16:
– Manilla plays into #1 Vargas: normally this would be a semis-quality match. Vargas holds the career lead 5-1 and seems the favorite to make it 6-1.
– @sheryl Lotts celebrates her career high ranking with a juicy matchup against #8 Centellas: great “show-me” match for Lotts to see if she can make the quarters.
– 5/12 Mendez-York could be upset city.
– Gaby has to play her doubles partner MRR in the opener; hate it when that happens. I once entered an out-of-town event with my partner and roommate at the time @Ben Hale; we both played open singles and open doubles. I called for start times; they forgot to put us in. So the TD gives me a start time … I ask him who i’m playing and he slowly says… Ben Hale. I’m like, “absolutely not. You forgot to put us both in and now have us playing each other in some play-in to a top seed; make the draw right, and make us play someone else.” This is TD 101; never, never have out-of-town doubles partners playing each other in the singles first round. Of course, in teh Pros … its all by points, and this happens all the time.
– Munoz-Laime is a great match in 6/11: both players play classical drive and shoot ball.
– Herrera-Parrilla is a frequently seen matchup both home and abroad
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Projected Qtrs:
– Vargas vs Centellas; doubles partners and Argentina team mates face off. Vargas should cruise here.
– Gaby-Mendez: the Guatemalan shouldn’t have any issues advancing.
– Longoria-Laime: there’s danger here for the GOAT, as Laime has put losses on her in the past. Laime is Jeckyl & Hyde: you just never know if you’re getting someone who can cruise into the finals without breaking a sweat, or a one-and-done loser.
– Mejia-Herrera: more doubles partner action, though Mejia has taken a step forward in this singles rivalry over hte past few years.
Semis: Vargas over Gaby, Longoria over Mejia.
Finals; Vargas over Longoria, though honestly these days on tour any one of the top three ladies can and will win events. If Mejia gets hot, forget it. If Longoria is “on” this weekend, she can’t be stopped.
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Doubles review
Longoria is missing Salas here, so she picked up Manilla, who has no points, and they’re seeded 7th out of 8. Taht means we get Longoria/Manilla vs Mejia/Herrera in the first round. wow. I’ll say it now; whoever wins this, wins the event.
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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.
Look for Timothy Baghurst, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!
Mejia with the double in Denver.
Photo Kevin Savory US Open 2019
I had a bit of fixture congestion personally this week and couldn’t get a preview out for this one. My apologies there. But, here’s the recap. The Ladies pros were back in action for their third singles event of the new season (but, ironically, their first doubles event) in Denver, with hostess and fellow touring pro @erika Manilla in action and running the show.
Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:
– Singles: Montse Mejia
– Doubles: Montse Mejia & Alexandra Herrera
The event was missing #1 Longoria, who may have had legislative duties back home, and the absence will do a bit of harm to her chances for finishing #1 on the season based on the results. But Mejia’s win (instead of Vargas) may have helped her keep the pace.
Mejia’s singles win gives her 9 career tier 1 titles now, in 12th place all time. Meanwhile, the Mejia/Herrera doubles win is their 14th professionally, though both remain well behind the Longoria/Salas duo in terms of career LPRT pro doubles wins.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=49237
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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/f5eb2b
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In the 32s:
– A great matchup between the legend @Rhonda Rajsich and a player on the comeback trail in Manilla went Erika’s way
– @Susy Acosta, appearing in her 27th season, took out @Maria Renee Rodriguez
in a breaker.
– @Annie Sanchez got a really nice win against the rarely seen but former top 10 Mexican @Nancy Enriquez.
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In the 16s, just one upset by seed:
– #10 @Sheryl Lotts was well ahead of #7 @Cristina Amaya when the Colombian turned Italian had to retire due to injury.
– The only other real close round of 16 match was in the 8/9 spot, as Argentine @Valeria Centellas picked up a solid win over @Jessica Parrilla to move into the quarters.
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In the Quarters
– #1 @maria Jose Vargas had to dig deep to beat her doubles partner Centellas 12,8
– #5 @brenda Laime held serve and beat #4 @Natalia Mendez in a breaker.
– #3 @Gaby Martinez beat #6 Alexandra Herrera in the round’s best matchup of former Tier 1 winners
– #2 @Montse Mejia cruised last Lotts to earn another semis.
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In the Semis
– In a very topsy turvy match, Vargas destroyed Laime in games 1 and 3 to win 1,(7),2 and move into the final. As they say, it only takes 26 to win.
– In a great semi final, Mejia rebounded after a first game loss to beat Gaby (7),7,7 to setup a 1v2 final.
In the Finals, Montse turned the tide and took out Vargas, reversing the trend of her latest match winning streak.
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Points Implications of results
With no Longoria, Vargas, who had already taken back over #1 on tour, extends her lead atop the standings to a more comfortable level. Mejia closes the gap on Longoria for #2 but stays in third. There’s still a huge gap between the top 3 players and the rest of the field, big enough that there’s just no way anyone can catch them at this moment. Elsewhere, Centellas’ result puts her back in the top 10 for the first time in years, Lotts moves up to #11 on tour, while Salas’ absence drops her to #13.
Here’s a link to my rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings.
Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/2a7b95
Mejia got the double on the weekend, grinding her way to a title with long-time partner Herrera without dropping a game. They certainly worked for it, topping the very-good Guatemalan national team in the quarters, Laime/Mendez in the semis, and the Argentine national team in the finals.
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Open Singles, other notable draws
– Lotts beat Synhorst in the Women’s Open singles final
– Yelverton & Amaya took the Mixed Open doubles draw.
– Adam Manilla beat Erik Garcia in the IRT singles exhibition draw
– Yelverton & Garcia beat the legend Woody Clouse and top Texan Craig Clement in the Men’s Open Doubles final.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., JTRball, and Tj Baumbaugh
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Stuart Solomon, Richard Eisemann, etc.
Thanks to the Tourney Directors the Manillas for putting this event on!
There’s two different IRT-350s next weekend, one in Boston and one in Tucson. The LPRT will be back the first weekend of December for its long running Christmas Classc in the DC area.
Vargas takes back over #1 on tour with her win in Golden State Open.
Photo via usaracquetballevents.com
Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:
– Men’s Pro Singles: Conrrado Moscoso
– Women’s Pro Singles: Maria Jose Vargas
– Mixed Pro Doubles: Conrrado Moscoso & Gaby Martinez
Moscoso wins his 10th career singles title (he’s now 14th all time) and his third straight major Mixed Pro Doubles title (to go along with the 2023 and 2025 World Singles & Doubles titles). Vargas wins her 13th career title, tied for 10th ever, and takes over World #1.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=48678
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Let’s review the notable matches in the Men’s Pro Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/42ed4b
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In the 32s:
– @Robbie Collins dropped the first game to @Wayne Antone 15-1, then came back to win 15-10 and 11-0 thereout.
– @DJ Mendoza grabbed the first game against Bolivian vet Carrasco, but couldn’t finish it out, losing in three.
– Bolivian junior debutant Santiago Borja certainly made #2 Javier Mar work for it, losing into 14 & 11. Great showing.
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In the 16s:
– Martell made fast work of Carter 7,3 in the 8/9 seed matchup
– Parrilla came back from a blowout game 1 loss to edge Diego Garcia in three 11-9. This was an upset special for me, but Parrilla held him off.
– Carrasco earned his first career pro IRT tier1 quarterfinal with a walkover injury against Natera. Alan had major knee surgery earlier this year and struggled a bit in his round of 32 match against a junior, and had to step out of this match.
– Alonso squeaked past Gastelum 6,14.
– Moscoso crushed Bolivian native turned Argentine Miranda 0,2.
– Lastly, the big result of the round: #2 Mar, who we already had circled as a potential upset in this match, had to retire after losing the first game to Bolivian phenom Flores.
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In the Quarters, all four matches go breaker:
– Montoya was stretched to three against countryman Martell but advanced.
– Parrilla held off Manilla 11-9 in the third to move into the semis.
– Alonso was pressed by Carrasco, but moved on in a very close 13,(13),8 result.
– Moscoso was pressed all night by Flores, but found an extra gear in the breaker to win 14,(10),6.
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In the Semis, the two top players in the draw (Montoya and Moscoso) cruised into the finals with little trouble; Montoya frustrated his long-time rival Parrilla 8,2 and Moscoso blasted Alonso 4,0 to setup the dream final.
In the Finals, we had two players who seem like they’re a lot closer than they historically have been: Moscoso led the h2h for their careers 9-5, but had won the last 5 meetings to put some separation between them from a period a few years ago where Montoya really seemed to have his number. Rodrigo did his best here to reverse the trend, taking game one 15-13, but Moscoso took over from there, winning games two and three by 15-7, 11-5 margins that weren’t ever really in doubt.
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Points Implications of Men’s Pro results
Moscoso’s win should move him up to #5, which once again in a full draw would put him on a collision course with Kane prior to a final. Montoya moves up one spot and now sits #3, though there’s little separating #2 to #6 (270 total points). Any missed event and a big run from any of the #2 to #6 guys will put them right behind Kane, who despite missing this event still maintains a massive lead atop the rankings.
In other movement: Natera’s injury loss costs him; he drops from 6 to 9. Flores now sits 16th in the rankings, meaning he’s creeping closer to more manageable round of 16s with each passing event; he was the #15 seed as the #19th ranked player this past weekend, moving up 4 spots due to missing players, and that should just continue. Trujillo, a mainstay on tour for the last couple of years, has missed his 3rd straight Tier 1 and may be quietly stepping back from touring for now.
Here’s a link to my IRT Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which @Ryan Rodgers does with @R2 Sports App on behalf of the tour after each event, to allow some quick post-event analysis before the rankings post.
Let’s review the notable matches in the Women’s Pro Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/300dd0
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In the 32s:
– MRR got a solid win over Mexican junior Gutierrez 13,11 in kind of a trap match.
– Rajsich won her most recent return to LPRT, 6,3 over the elder Perez-Picon sisters.
– Andrea Perez-Picon, the reigning 16U Mexican Jr Champ who has also won US Jr National titles in the past out of the 209 Stockton Jr. factory, got a win over fellow Norcal player Erica Williams to advance.
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In the 16s:
– Centellas got a solid win over Parrilla in the 8/9 matchup, a good sign for the Argentine as she gets back into regular touring.
– Mendez was pressed by MRR before winning in three
– Gaby dominated US National Sanchez 4,2
– Mejia took out former 4-time pro champ Rajsich in two
– Laime was stretched before topping Munoz in three
– Lotts got a career win, topping Amaya in three, earning her 4th career quarter final appearance.
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In the Quarters, all four matches go chalk.
– #1 Longoria was pushed by Centellas 9,10
– #4 Gaby Martinez cruised past Mendez 7,11
– #3 Mejia had a match, going toe to toe with fellow power hitter Laime before advancing 11-8 in the third
– #2 Vargas moved past upset-minded Lotts 6,10
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In the Semis, Longoria was pressed to a breaker by Gaby as she often is, but she persevered after some acrobatic rallies to move into the final. Meanwhile, Vargas-Mejia turned into a smooth win for the Argentine, who is dialed in this weekend and advances 7,9.
In the Finals, Vargas just controlled the match from start to finish, Longoria just couldn’t seem to hit her serves or her lines, and Maria Jose won 8,8 to take her third straight title on tour. As @Steve Castleberry pointed out to me, It has been nearly to the beginning of Longoria’s touring career since she failed to win a tournament one out of four in a row … Vargas has now won the last three events, matching her career best stretch that powered her to her first pro title at the end of 2023.
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Points Implications of Women’s Pro results
The Points are tight at the top, and I may have my XLS calcs wrong, but I believe with this win Vargas takes back over #1 on tour by around 20 points. My sources tell me Longoria may miss the next event due to conflicts with her new career in politics, which could spell trouble for her title defense. Other movements: despite Herrera’s absence she will jump Laime for #6. There should be a wholesale shuffling of the ladies ranked 14th to 18th with Lott’s big win, MRR’s strong return, and York/Synhorst’s absence this weekend.
Here’s a link to my running 2-year+ Women’s ranking worksheet.
Natera’s injury suffered during singles resulted in his wife picking up a last minute sub … and she managed to “find” a suitable replacement in the legendary Alvaro Beltran. Alvi’s inclusion caused a last minute shuffling of the whole mixed draft and actually improved the draw, removing one blatantly too-early matchup and getting neutrals a better draw. Here’s a quick rundown of how the action went:
In the 16s:
– the Parrillas were pushed to an 11-10 limit by Guatemalans MRR and Galicia, a testament to how “back” Maria Renee seems to be based on her results this weekend.
– Last minute sub Beltran got to a breaker, but fell alongside Munoz to the Argentines MIranda and Mendez
– The Manillas, kind of inexplicably seeded 10th despite winning US Nationals Mixed two years ago, “uspet” the #7 seeds Carter & Lotts.
In the quarters:
– Mejia & Mar held off the tough young Flores/Centellas pairing.
– The Parrilla siblings took out the #4 seeds Miranda & Mendez
– Moscoso &Martinez had a great win over Vargas & Garcia in the match of the round.
– The Manilla siblings, seeded 10th, continue to upset and prove the seeding committee wrong with a solid 15,7 win over #2 Montoya/Laime.
Semis: the two favorites advanced, with Mar/Mejia dominating the Parrillas and Moscoso/Martinez crushing the Manillas.
In the final, Moscoso won his 3rd straight major Mixed Pro doubles title with a come-from-behind win over Mar & Mejia (14),10,2.
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Open Singles, Open Doubles, other notable draws
– Texan USA Junior National DJ Mendoza won a stacked Men’s Open singles draw, beating the surprise finalist Alvaro Guillen from Costa Rica
– Mexican former Jr star Ivanna Balderrama won a solid international junior laden Women’s Open/Elite draw, beating fellow Mexican Michelle Gomez in the final.
– Flores & Guillen took the big Men’s Open Doubles draw, getting a walk-over in the final but more than earning their title.
– Guatemalans MRR and Reyes won the small RR Women’s Open Doubles draw.
– Guatemalans continued to shine, taking the Mixed Open doubles draw as Mansilla/Sipac beat Mexicans Martin & Gutierrez in the final.
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Thanks for all the streaming, thanks for the Tourney directors, and the sponsors.
The 10th annual Asia Open Racquetball competition is next weekend in Seoul. After that, there’s an IRT Satellite just announced in the Chicagoland area. November features more IRT events plus a possible IRT/LPRT collab in Denver.
Rhonda Rajsich with a rare pro appearance.
Photo 202 USAR Doubles by Kevin Savory
One of the year’s biggest events is this coming weekend; the 2025 Golden State Open, the brainchild of two former touring pros in @David ” Bobby” Horn and @Adam Manilla, hosted by two of Stockton’s legends @John Ellis and Steve Cook. Both pro tours are onsite at the Bay Club Pleasanton in the East Bay portion of the San Francisco bay area, which means a huge prize purse fundraising effort was done and we get Mixed Pro Doubles for the second time in as many months.
There’s 38 men’s pros and 21 Women’s pros on hand, with fireworks and unexpected results anticipated. By the time you read this play has already started, with the round of 64 on the mens side getting a rare Wednesday evening start.
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Let’s preview the Draws. We’ll do the two singles draws and then the Mixed Pro draw. They’re hosting Open doubles draws for both genders, but the top pros are not entered.
This leaves Rodrigo Montoya to get a #1 seed, a career high. In fact, most of the top 8 at this event are at career high seedings: Mar at #2, Natera at #3, Alonso at #6, and Carter at #8 are all career-best seeds, and the mashed up top 8 is going to give us some new and unexpected head-to-heads here.
More importantly, the absence of Kane in particular historically has been a big indicator that we may get a first time winner.
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In the round of 64 and 32, here’s a few matches to watch for:
– Mauro Rojas vs Emir Martinez: Rojas a former US Junior National champ, and Emir a former top Junior from Mexico. Tough opener, and as it turns out it went three before Rojas fell.
– There’s a few unknown Bolivians who made the trip and who could make waves: Arnez & Borja in particular. Santiago Borja is the two-time defending World 14U junior champion. Both won their openers to face off against top ranked pros in the 32s.
– Sendrey vs Wolfe in the 32s is a solid test for the teenager to see if he can take out a semi-regular IRT touring player.
– Mexican Junior Santiago Castillo, who owns a slew of Mexican Jr National titles including the 2024 16U title, faces off against IRT veteran @Thomas Carter in a match he can’t look past.
– Carrasco-Mendoza in the 14-19 matchup could be close: how much is Mendoza improving versus how quickly is the aging Carrasco’s skills fading?
– If Borja wins his first, he plays into #2 Mar. A good pro debut for the 15yr old.
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Round of 16:
– Martell-Carter in the 8/9 is an interesting matchup; they’ve never met in a top-level event.
– We’re projecting two lefties who both play out of the Bay Area a lot in Collins and Manilla into the 16s.
– Tough draw once again for Parrilla: last week Moscoso played into him early, this week is Garcia, who’s demonstrated his ability to beat nearly anyone on tour.
– Gastelum-Alonso could be close: they met at 2024 Mexican Nationals and Alonso prevailed in three, but Gastelum has come a long way. This is Pineda’s big upset pick.
– the dangerous Miranda meets Moscoso in the 7-10 matchup; this is too bad for Miranda, who has been eyeing a deep run.
– #2 Mar faces off against #15 Flores in a huge trouble area for the Mexican. If Flores plays up to his capabilities, this might be a huge upset.
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Projected Qtrs:
– Montoya over the Carter/Martel winner: Montoya will be favored no matter who comes out here, and has to like his draw this weekend in general. No crazy bolivian junior world champs, no Moscoso seeded 16th, etc.
– Manilla-Garcia: Manilla made a massive run here last year as the host; can he do it again?
– Natera v Alonso: both players are probably looking at each other going, “hey i should win this” and get back to the semis. Could be close
– Moscoso will be favored over whoever comes out of that bottom half, whether its a huge shock like Borja, an upset-minded Flores, or Mar holding serve against two top Bolivian juniors he’s set to face early.
Semis:
– Montoya over Manilla/Garcia winner: Montoya’s only obstacle to the final this week is injury.
– Moscoso over Natera/Alonso winner: this could be over fast.
Finals; I’m calling a Moscoso-Montoya final, with Conrrado taking the title.
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Women’s Pro Singles preview:
Like with the Men’s draw, the ladies draw is missing a few key players. Herrera is out, as is Lawrence and Salas (surgery). So that’s three top 10 ladies missing. What we do have in this draw is a bunch of top Junior Mexicans who we rarely see, including the Perez-Picon sisters. Plus, we get a rare sighting of Rhonda Rajsich, which is awesome to see the future Hall of Famer.
Preview of the draw:
round of 32s to watch for:
– top Mexican U21 player Cynthia Gutierrez makes her LPRT debut and faces Maria Renee Rodriguez-Josey in a tough one for the veteran
– Andrea Perez PIcon, the reigning Mexican 16U champ and finalist at World Juniors last December, faces Norcal’s ERica Williams. Andrea’s older sister Estefania feeds into the Legend Rajsich.
Projected 16s of note:
– The 8/9 between Centellas and Parrilla will be awesome.
– #4 Gaby Martinez projects to play rising USA player Annie Sanchez, who’s played some top players close lately.
– Mejia could face Rhonda in a generational battle of top players
– Munoz-Laime is probably the match of the round.
– Amaya-Lotts will be a battle.
Qtrs on: From here, I see the top four ladies advancing as they typically do: there’s such a gap between Longoria/Mejia/Vargas/Gaby to the rest of the tour right now, it’s hard to predict any upsets. I see Longoria topping Mejia in the final.
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Mixed Pro Doubles
I love Mixed pro doubles: we just have no idea who’s going to win some of these early matches. Normally I look at the two women’s players and try to use that as a determining factor (thinking that the weakest link on the court will get the most shots and will play the biggest part in the match result), but that doesn’t always tell the whole story, and the doubles acumen of the players involved needs to be given more weight. With Salas missing (one of the best mixed doubles players ever) and Longoria skipping out, there’s some new teams and tough matchups.
Here’s some matches to look for and some guesses how this draw will go:
In the 16s, easily the match of the round is the Manilla siblings versus the Argentine mixed national team of Garcia/Vargas: how this is an opening round match is beyond me.
In the quarters:
– Mar/Mejia should advance
– I like Natera/Munoz over the Parrilla sisters
– Moscoso/Martinez should beat whoever comes out of the above 6/11 match, but once again this is the toughest part of the bracket.
– Montoya/Laime is an amazing team and should top Miranda/Mendez.
Semis:
– Mar/Mejia should beat Natera/Munoz … but when these two teams met in the 2023 World Doubles competition it was an 8,9 win for the Chileans. So who knows. I think Munoz is a better doubles player than her counterpart, but Mejia is the harder hitter. Mar-Natera is probably a wash on the left, but Mar is a superior doubles player when he plays with Montoya on the right.
– Moscoso/Gaby over Montoya/Laime, but I have no confidence here. Montoya won the 2025 World Doubles mixed title with Paola in both 2023 and 2025, and Gaby should hold her own as a solid doubles player on the right. But, Laime is no doubles slouch and they could surprise here. Great match.
In the final, i’ll go with the winner of the bottom semi, who i’m thinking is going to be Moscoso/Gaby.
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IRT Club Fantasy: If you’re in the IRT Club, sign up to play Fantasy Racquetball along with myself, Brian Pineda, and other club members. Also, be sure to tune into our Fantasy Fast Break podcast, which we do before and after every IRT Tier 1 event!
