Category: Mexico

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2026 Mexican Junior Nationals recap

In Mid August, The Federacion Mexicana de Raquetbol (FMR) held the 2026 Mexican Junior National tournament in the Mexican racquetball hotbed of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Mexico is the last of the “big 3” North American countries to hold its Junior Nationals (Canada held theirs along with their Adult nationals at the end of May, while USA had theirs at the end of June), and the results of these events determine the national team members that will represent their country at the upcoming World Juniors in December in Bolivia.

Here’s a quick recap of the qualifiers and some commentary. It always takes me some time to get to the data entry for junior tourneys (its like entering the data for 18-20 pro events at once), but with this posting the PRS database is live with these results.

Mexican Junior tournament and qualification goes as follows: the entrants play a double elimination singles draw; the winner of the winner’s bracket is the champion and Junior National titlist, while the winner of the loser’s bracket is the 2nd player to join the delegation. This consolation bracket champ often is not the winner’s bracket finalist, and the format gives players hope of getting back on the team even with an early loss.

Mexico does not normally play any official doubles competitions at its junior nationals; the 2 singles qualifiers will form the gender doubles teams at Worlds. However, this year they played a full slate of Mixed doubles draws which WILL determine the representatives at Junior Worlds in the Mixed doubles competition. Thanks to Tourney Director and IRT broadcasting legend Favio Soto for the details.

R2 site for 2026 Mexican Jr Nationals: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=54254

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Congrats to the following Boys Singles winners and finalists for team Mexico (each has the winner’s bracket titlist listed first, then the consolation bracket champion and second national team representative second)

(click here https://rball.pro/olf for a Matrix of all Mexican boy’s titlists loaded into the database currently, dating to 2012)

– Boys 21U: Jorge Gutierrez, Sebastian Chevaile

– Boys 18U: Sebastian Reulas Reza, Nicolas Galindo

– Boys 16U: Santiago Castillo, Axel Sanchez

– Boys 14U: Alejandro Robles Picon, Matias Sandoval

– Boys 12U: Kerman Damian Gracia, Daniel Rodriguez

– Boys 10U: Daniel Alejandro Ayala, Angel Perez Rodriguez

– Boys 10Udb: Leon Sebastian Cardona

– Boys 8Udb: Mateo Ochoa

– Boys 6Umb: Carin Mora.

Commentary on the divisions:

In 21U, Gutierrez (the 2023 and 2024 18U champion) returns to holding a Mexican title with the graduation of 2-time defending champ Sebastian Hernandez, while Chevaile tops last year’s 18U champ Eder Renteria in the consolation bracket final to claim the 2nd national team spot as the 5th seed.

In 18U, all four top-4 seeds lost in their first round of playing in a rather large indictment of the seeding in this bracket (not an uncommon issue in these Mexican Junior tournaments). The 9th seeded Sebastian Ruelas ended up winning his 4th Junior national title and first sine holding the 2023 16U title. Top seeded and 2024 16U champ Galindo came all the way back in the loser’s bracket after losing to Ruelas in the quarters to claim the 2nd spot.

In 16U, Santiago Castillo repeated as 16U champ, beating his top rival Brian Axel Sanchez in the final. Sanchez won two 14U titles over Castillo, but now Santiago has his number. Sanchez secured the 2nd qualifying spot after losing the title game by winning the consolation bracket.

In 14U: US Expat Alejandro Robles Picon, who converted along with his older sister to represent Mexico in early 2024, won his first Mexican Junior National title as the #1 seed in 14U. He beat multi-junior titlist Hermann Raciel Gracia in the final, but Gracia got pipped for the other national team spot by #2 seeded Matias Sandoval, who Gracia had beaten earlier in the event.

In 12U, Kerman Damian Gracia, despite being the 2x defending 10U champ moving up to 12U, was the 12th seed but nonetheless made it 3 titles in a row. He beat 14th seeded Daniel Rodriguez in the title game, who then came back around to join him on the national team.

10U was won by Daniel Alejandro Ayala, his 2nd career Jr title. In the younger divisions, we got first time winners in 10Udb, 8Umb, and 6Umb by Leon Sebastian

Ochoa, Mateo, and Mora, Carin respectively. World Juniors no longer holds divisions for age groups younger than 10, so these national titlists will have to wait to compete internationally.

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Congrats to the following Girls Singles finalists for team Mexico:

(click here: https://rball.pro/qcm for a Matrix of all Mexican Girl’s titlists loaded into the database currently, dating to 2012)

– Girls 21U: Ivanna Balderrama, Yanna Salazar

– Girls 18U: Miranda Barraza, Andrea Perez-Picon

– Girls 16U: Maria Malo, Selene Bernal

– Girls 14U: Michelle Gomez, Valeria Covarrubias Delgado

– Girls 12U: Lia Medrano, Lia Montserrat Gonzalez

– Girls 10U: Jocelyn Dominguez Chavez, Valeria Carmona

– Girls 10Udb: Regina Castillo and Andrea Cancino both went 3-1 in their gruop stage.

– Girls 8Umb: Natalia Serrano

Commentary on the Girls divisions:

In 21U, Balderrama wins back the 21U title she lost last year in her final year of eligibility. She’s joined by Yanna Salazar on the team, who was the 18U champ two years ago. All Five ladies in this draw are former Jr National champs, and last year’s 21U champ Angelica Veronica Ortega didn’t even make the consolation bracket final to defend her title.

In 18U, Miranda Barraza ascended to #1 seed with the matriculation of both of last year’s finalists, then cruised to the title. She’s joined on the national team by Andrea Perez-Picon, last year’s 16U champion who made her way through the consolation bracket and secured the national team slot with a walkover against the player (Guillen) who knocked her out of the winner’s bracket.

In 16U: Maria Malo, who hadn’t won a junior national title since 8U in 2019, took the title. She’s joined by Selene Bernal, the 14U finalist two years ago to give the Mexican team some new faces in this age group.

In 14U, Michelle Gomez repeated as 14U champ by cruising through the draw. She was joined on the national team by Valeria Covarrubias Delgado, a newcomer.

in 12U, first time winner in Lia Medrano. In 10U, Jocelyn Dominguez Chavez repeated as the titlist. There were no girls-only multi/double bounce draws; they played co-ed in these draws and the champions were declared in the database from the best-finishing girl in each division.

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Here were the winners of the Mixed Doubles competitions:

– Mixed 21U: Cristhian Sanchez / Cynthia Gutierrez

– Mixed 18U: Nicolas Galindo / Miranda Barraza

– Mixed 16U; Danna Hernández / Santiago Castillo

– Mixed 14U: Max Soto / Michelle Gomez

– Mixed 12U: Lia Montserrat Gonzalez Perez / Kerman Damian Gracia Castro

– Mixed 10U: Daniel Alejandro Ayala Garcia / Jocelyn Dominguez Chavez

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Congrats to all the Mexican Junior National title winners and National team qualifiers for 2026. See you in December for World Juniors in Bolivia.

@International Racquetball Tour

@LPRT

@Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol

@International Racquetball Federation – IRF

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Selectivo Nactional Raquetbol 2026 (aka Mexican Adult Nationals) Recap

Herrera claims her first Mexican National singles title Photo Denver 2021 KenFife

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Singles: Eduardo Portillo (Rodrigo Montoya was the 2nd qualifier)

– Women’s Singles: Alexandra Herrera (with Montse Mejia as 2nd qualifier)

– Men’s Doubles: Eduardo Portillo & Andree Parrilla

– Women’s Doubles Alexandra Herrera & Montse Mejia

TL/DR Executive Summary: Huge weekends for Portillo and Herrera, who both win their first ever Mexican National adult singles titles. Portillo & Parrilla win their second National doubles title in the last 3 years, while Herrera/Mejia win their 3rd out of the last 4 years.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=52435

Mexican Nationals runs as the rare double elimination event, at least for its singles draws. Qualification works like this: the winner of the winner’s bracket in Singles is qualifier #1, then the winner of the Loser’s bracket becomes qualifier #2. This may not necessarily be the other winner’s bracket finalist, and often is not. We only load the winner’s bracket matches into the PRS database.

Furthermore, unlike USA, Mexico does not run Mixed Doubles draws, instead choosing from their qualifiers to put together a mixed team at each Int’l event.

Here’s the Match report links to the four main draws this past weekend:

– Men’s Singles: https://rball.pro/363a40

– Women’s Singles: https://rball.pro/a7ff86

– Men’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/fc5f23

– Women’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/0f9c1a

And, here’s some historical links showing all the past Mexican champions in one spot. This data only goes back to around 2014 or so, which is when the current FMR regime “took over” and basically wiped out all the history. I’ve tried to create some placeholders to give past champions due credit, but if you’re reading this and you’re from FMR or from Mexico and you’d like to help build older Mexican nationals history so we can recognize accomplishments of Mexican Legends like Aliv, DLR, Gilberto Mejia, etc reach out please.

– Mexican National Champions history: Men’s Singles: https://rball.pro/1ae500

– Mexican National Champions history: Women’s Singles: https://rball.pro/1ae500

– Mexican National Champions history: Men’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/298f76

– Mexican National Champions history: Women’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/298f76

Let’s recap the four draws.

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Men’s Singles

The big early upset was Sebastian Hernandez, who just aged out of Juniors by reaching the semis of World U21s last December, taking out Andree Parrilla in the qtrs. Hernandez has NEVER played on the IRT but has represented Mexico internationally at the adult level twice. Mar took him out in the semis but he continues to get results. Portillo upset Montoya in the winner’s bracket semi with relative ease, then topped Mar for the title and #1 qualifying spot. Montoya dropped into the loser’s bracket and beat both Trujillo and Parrilla to get to the consolation final, where his doubles partner Mar gave him a walkover for the #2 spot on the team.

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Women’s Singles

I generally don’t like to talk about who wasn’t there … but in this case it needs discussing. Paola Longoria, who has won every single Women’s Mexican national title save for one since the 2007-08 timeframe, was not here. It was inevitable that she’d eventually have to miss an event like this due to injury, work, or life, but here we are. It will be the first time in a generation that she’s not leading the charge for her country internationally. In her absence, the two top seeds Mejia and Herrera cruised into the final, with the lefty Alexandra topping her doubles partner to claim her first national title. Mejia took out Jessica Parilla in the consolation bracket to claim the #2 spot on the team.

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Men’s Doubles

Portillo and Parrilla may only have a couple pro titles under their belt, but they’re becoming a force in world doubles. They cruised past both Hernandez/Trujillo in the semis and Montoya/Mar in the final to regain their title first won two years ago.

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Women’s Doubles

The Mexican National doubles title has historically been a battle between Longoria/Salas and Herrera/Mejia … the two pairs have met 7 times out of the last 8 years for the title. But, with no Longoria or Salas here, Mejia & Herrera faced little resistance rolling to their 3rd title together. They beat Jessica Parrilla and Anna Rivera in the final.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMM

There was an IRT satellite last weekend in Portland which we’ll recap soon, then next weekend is the IRT Minnesota Hall of Fame event as well as USA Racquetball High School Nationals.

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2025 Academy Open recap

Mar with the double on the weekend. Photo Kevin Savory 2019 US Open

The Lomas Racquet club in San Luis Potosi held a solid local event last weekend, which ended up drawing a slew of top touring pros both Male and Female, especially those with ties to the SLP racquetball community, competing in the 2025 Academy open.

Congrats to the winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Open Singles: Javier Mar

– Women’s Open Singles: Paola Longoria

– Men’s Open Doubles: Javier Mar & Rodrigo Montoya

– Women’s Open Doubles: Montse Mejia & Alexandra Herrera

Perhaps the most surprising entrant across the board was 3-time IRT champion @Daniel De La Rosa, who hails from the area and grew up playing on these courts, but who has “retired” from pro racquetball to pursue Pro Pickleball and who last appeared in an IRT event in January 2024. How rusty was DLR and how would he fair against the top Mexican touring pros of today?

Let’s do a quick recap of the Open Draws.

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Men’s Open Singles:

Seeding at FMR events always makes me scratch my head; DLR was seeded 3rd, ahead of Andree Parrilla (currently ranked in the top 8 on tour). I suppose out of respect. Nonetheless, he played to his seed, making the semis before falling to #2 Javier Mar. Mar beat him 10,1,9, probably a fair result and one where DLR showed a ton of rust against a player he normally handles easily. From the top half, #5 @Diego Gastelum upset #4 @Andree Parrilla in the quarters, then fell to top seed #1 @Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball to setup a 1-vs-2 singles final between doubles partners Mar & Montoya. In the final, Mar got the better of his friend and long-time partner Montoya in four games.

Men’s Open Doubles:

Mar/Montoya and Parrilla/Gastelum took the group stages, forcing DLR/Mendoza to face the favorites in the semis. There they lost, and Mar & Montoya took the title, giving Mar the double for the weekend.

Women’s Open Singles:

Four top-10 LPRT pros headlined the draw and played to their seeds into the semis. #1 Paola Longoria topped Jessica Parrilla in one semi, while Montse Mejia topped Alexandra Herrera in the other. In the final, Mejia cruised to a game one win, then Longoria turned it around and won three straight for the title.

Women’s Open Doubles:

Five teams played a full RR for the title: LPRT #1 teamed with Hollie Scott, who traveled with boyfriend De la Rosa down for the event, and were “upset” in the group stage final by Mejia & Herrera (seeded 2nd despite being the best doubles team in the world for some time now).

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An excellent draw and great competition in SLP, even if we didn’t really get any of the up and coming juniors in Mexico making any noise this weekend. The tourney certainly served as a great tune-up for next Week’s Golden State Open, which we’ll preview in a few days.

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IRT Copa Corpoil Quick Recap

Andree Parrilla with the win on home soil. Photo 2019 US Open via Kevin Savory

The first IRT event of the season* (more on that in a moment) was held last weekend in Mexican racquetball hotbed San Luis Potosi, and it featured a solid draw of locals competing for IRT Satellite points. Here’s a quick recap. No r2sports link, so we had to draw inferences on some of the results, but here we go:

* you may notice that I said first event of the season, even though we’re in August. That’s right; the IRT’s new leadership has decided to go back to the fall-to-spring schedule instead of the Jan-Dec schedule adopted during the Covid mess. So, we declared a 2024 season champion, and then we’ll declare a 2025-26 season champion next June after the US Open. This was considered more ideal than just declaring a “2025” champ based on the 3 events held in Feb and March of this year.

Here’s how this weekend’s event went down:

The top four seeds were, in order, Andrés Parrilla , @Erick Trujillo , @jordy alonso, and Diego Gastelum , all four regular IRT touring pros. However, the rest of the draw featured a slew of solid up and coming players from Mexico and the southwest, including US Junior National team member @DJ Mendoza, @Elias Neito, and 2-time defending Mexican U21 champ @Sebastian Hernandez.

When the semis hit thought, the top four seeds had advanced to face off. In the top half, Parrillao advanced past Gastelum, while from the bottom half Trujillo got a solid win over Alonso to setup a 1-vs-2 final.

In the final, Parrilla topped Trujillo in a battle of two IRT top 10 players 7,9 to take the title on his home court.

It’s a new International Racquetball Tour world, with new blood and new ownership, and this is the first of a possible 20-event slate. Great to see.

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2025 Mexican Junior Nationals Recap

This past weekend featured the 2025 Mexican Junior National tournament in the Mexican racquetball hotbed of Chihuahua, Mexico. Mexico is the last of the “big 3” North American countries to hold its Junior Nationals, and the results of these events determine the national team members that will represent their country at the upcoming World Juniors in the Dominican Republic in mid December later this year.

Here’s a quick recap of the qualifiers and some commentary.

Mexican Junior tournament and qualification goes as follows: the entrants play a double elimination draw; the winner of the winner’s bracket is the champion and Junior National titlist, while the winner of the loser’s bracket is the 2nd player to join the delegation. This consolation bracket champ often is not the winner’s bracket finalist, and the format gives players hope of getting back on the team even with an early loss. Mexico does not play any official doubles competitions at its junior nationals; the singles qualifiers will form the doubles teams at Worlds.

R2 site for 2025 Mexican Jr Nationals: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=48744

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Congrats to the following Boys Singles winners and finalists for team Mexico (each has the winner’s bracket titlist listed first, then the consolation bracket champion and second national team representative second)

(click here https://rball.pro/olf for a Matrix of all Mexican boy’s titlists loaded into the database currently, dating to 2012)

– Boys 21U: Sebastian Hernandez, Jorge Gutierrez

– Boys 18U: Eder Renteria, Diego Romano

– Boys 16U: Santiago Castillo, Emilio Jurado

– Boys 14U: Elias Medrano, Alejandro Perez Picon

– Boys 12U: Max Soto, Hermann Gracia Castro

– Boys 10U: Kerman Gracia Castro, Isaac Soto

– Boys 10Udb: Jose Enrique Caro, Diego Diaz

– Boys 8U: Angel Perez, Esteban Sandoval

– Boys 8Udb: Luis Enrique Rivera, Esteban Sandoval

– Boys 6Umb: Angel Perez, Alex Nunez

Commentary on the divisions:

Hernandez repeats as U21 champ, but has still yet to appear in an IRT event. Eder Renteria wins his first Jr title since 2018. Santiago Castillo also returns to the title-holders club after a few years off, having been shut out of the entire 14U cycle. Medrano wins his 2nd title in three years. Soto wins his 3rd title in three years and is setup to plow through the Mexican Juniors. Kerman Damian Gracia repeats as 10U champ and gets his 3rd overall title. Lastly, newcomer Angel Perez wins both the 6U and 8U multi bounce competitions to start off his junior career with a bang.

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Congrats to the following Girls Singles finalists for team Mexico:

(click here: https://rball.pro/qcm for a Matrix of all Mexican Girls’s titlists loaded into the database currently, dating to 2012)

– Girls 21U: Angela veronica ortega, Ivanna Balderrama

– Girls 18U: Marifernanda Trujillo, Yanna Salazar

– Girls 16U: Andrea Perez Picon, Lily Farias

– Girls 14U: Michelle Gomez, Grissel Gomez Rubio

– Girls 12U: Maria Jose Jurado, Mia Almanza

– Girls 10U: Jocelyn dominguez Chavez, Ana Paula De la Riva

– Girls 10Udb: Ana Paula De la Riva, Andrea Carrasco

– Girls 8Udb: Maria Rivera, Areai Maldonado

Commentary on the Girls divisions:

Ortega gets back on top, adding her 5th career Junior title to her bookshelf with one year of eligibility left. Trujillo claims her 5th title and now has one in each of the 5 traditional age slots (10,12,14,16,18). Former USA national Andrea Perez Picon wins her first Mexican junior title as the #1 seed in 16s. Michelle Gomez returns to the winner’s circle after a year off. 12U champ Jurado earns her 3rd career title.

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Congrats to all the Mexican Junior National title winners and National team qualifiers for 2025.

International Racquetball Tour

LPRT

@Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol

@International Racquetball Federation – IRF

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2025 Campeonato Nacional FMR (aka Mexican Nationals) Recap

Trujillo teamed with Hernandez to win his first Adult national title. Photo Kevin Savory/US Open 2021

The FMR, aka the @federacion Mexicana de Raquetbol, held its 2025 National championships at the famous FitMax courts that have defined the Chihuahua racquetball scene for decades. This event serves to select the Mexican National team that will compete for this year’s slate of International Racquetball Federation – IRF events that Mexico is eligible for, namely the upcoming PARC event in Guatemala.

Interestingly, the federation already decided its two participants for the upcoming 2025 World Games, discussed with the team that played in Worlds last fall and determined to be the male and female who advanced the furthest in Singles. That ended up being 13-time pro champ Paola Longoria (who won) and @Eduardo Portillo Rendon (who made the semis ahead of his teammate Parrilla).

That may have played a part in the smaller draws here, and some missing top names. Defending champ Parrilla was not present; per a source he has been battling an injury and had a trip already planned that ended up conflicting with the event once the FMR settled on a date. Also missing from this event on the Men’s this year were long-time competitors DLR (converted to USA), Landa (retired), Beltran (retired), Alonso, Natera (converted to Chile), Garay and Estrada (stepped back), Polo Gutierrez (stepped back), former top juniors like Gutierrez & Sanchez, Christian Longoria (only played doubles), and a slew of frequent IRT players like Nieto, Valadez, Erick Cuevas Fernandez, Arteaga, and a few other lesser known players. All these guys used to make this a full round of 32 draw and would result in crazy results.

Lets recap what happened in Chihuahua for those that did come.

Men’s Open Singles Recap.

PRS report: https://rball.pro/077f23

Tourney director @Favio Soto predicted that the home court would play a role here, and it definitely did, with 5 of the 8 quarterfinalists hailing from this area, 3 of the 4 semi-finalists, and both finalists. #12 seed @Javier Mar, who never seems to rate a top seed at these events, cruised past fellow IRT touring pros Carlos Ramirez and Erick Trujiollo in the first two rounds before downing #1 seed @Eduardo Portillo

in the semis to make the final from the top-side

The bottom half of the draw was appreciably thinned for #2 seed Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball , who handled Martell in the quarters and then U21 starlet Javi Sebastian Hernandez in the semis who setup a final against his long-time doubles partner. In the final, Montoya took three close games over the classy Mar to claim the National title, his 3rd.

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Women’s Open Singles Recap:

PRS Report: https://rball.pro/98caa3

Unlike with the men, where home-town players From Chihuahua dominated play, the top four ladies all currently live in the same place: Monterrey. The top four seeds, all top-8 players on the @LPRT tour, advanced as expected to the semis.

Longoria topped her doubles partner Salas in one semi, while Mejia topped her doubles partner Herrera in the other, to setup the third straight meeting between Montse and Paola for the National title. And, like the previous two meetings, Longoria came through with the win, claiming her 11th title in the last 12 years and what is probably her 13th or 14th career title (our records only go back 2008).

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Men’s Doubles Recap:

PRS report: https://rball.pro/4841f8

The u21 team of Trujillo & Hernandez overcame Portillo/Martell to make the final from the bottom side, then shocked the #1 seeds Montoya & Mar, who were making their 8th straight final but who got upended by their youthful rivals for their first title.

Women’s Doubles Recap:

PRS Report: https://rball.pro/22ebc2

Only four teams entered, and we got the same final that we normally get on tour: Longoria & Salas vs Mejia & Herrera. Longoria & Salas reversed the trend from the last two years this time around and secured the title, earning Longoria a double on the weekend. It is (I believe) their 16th national title together.

(Note: Mexico doesn’t hold mixed doubles competitions like the USA; they select their mixed team from the qualified players ahead of each event).

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Congrats to all 2025’s Mexican National champs.

Next up on the racquetball calendar? Next weekend features @USA Racquetball High School Nationals in Portland as well as an @International Racquetball Tour satellite event in New Mexico.

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San Luis Open 2024 Recap

Trujillo took out three tough IRT pros to take the SLP Open. Photo Kevin Savory/US Open 2021

There was another big-time non-sanctioned pro event last weekend, featuring a ton of top-level talent in the Mexican racquetball hotbed of San Luis Potosi; the 2024 San Luis Open. The pro draws were solid and we saw some big-time matchups last weekend. Here’s a run down of the action.

r2sports site: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=45655

Men’s Open Singles:

Nearly all top 10 seeds are now household names to regular followers of the Men’s Pro game, and included a couple of players who have made huge impacts this season. The seeds held to the quarters, then we saw some fireworks.

– #1 @Andree Parrilla downed @Oscar Elias Nieto in the first QF with ease.

– In the second QF, #5 Erick Trujillo shocked #4 Jordy Alonso in four close games (they were playing international scoring rules). Alonso of course had made deep runs in both IRT events he’s entered, while Trujillo has been grinding his way into the top 8 and this is a solid win for the youngster.

– #6 Andres Acuña , probably underseeded, topped #3 Sebastian Hernandez in a five game thriller. Hernandez is no slouch: he was the 2022 18U world c hamp and is the reigning 21U Mexican champion, but has never played an IRT event.

– #2 Eduardo Portillo Rendon downed SLP local @Emir Martinez in three.

In the semis:

– Trujillo took out #1 Parrilla in four tight games, all of which went 11-9 one way or the other. A great win for Trujillo to build on.

– In the other semi, Portillo eased past Acuna as one might expect based on their h2h history.

In the final, Trujillo finished the job and took out Lalo for the title. Quite an event for Trujillo, beating Alonso, Parrilla, and Portillo in succession.

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Women’s Open

Just a ho-hum local open draw: four top-10 LPRT pros plus the 2024 U21 and 2023 u18 Mexican champs. How did it play out?

In the quarters, the two junior champs fell to the touring pros, leaving us with an all-LPRT semis. In the first semi, #1 Paola Longoria cruised past #4 Jessica Parrilla in three straight games, while from the lower side #2 Montse Mejia took out her doubles partner #3 @Alexandra Herrera in four.

In the final, Mejia reversed a recent losing trend to Paola and won a 5-game thriller for the title.

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Men’s Doubles:

Portillo & Parrilla teamed up to take the doubles title, beating Alonso & Acuna in the final.

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Next up, Golden State Open! we’ll preview the draw ahead of the thursday kickoff.

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2024 KWM Gutterman Inc. 3Wall Ball Outdoor Championships Preview

Florida’s Chris McDonald is the top seed in multiple pro draws this weekend in Vegas. Photo 2023 Outdoor Nats via Lara

Hello racquetball fans. Its time for the big daddy of outdoor tournaments, the 2024 14th annual 3WallBall championships. More than 375 participants are in Vegas for the weekend to play, watch, and socialize on the grounds of The STRAT Las Vegas hotel.

r2sports link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=41864

Each year I publish a Media guide for this event; here’s a direct link to that guide for 2024. It has bios and pictures for nearly 100% of the players in pro draws, along with player profile information, career indoor accomplishments, and career outdoor achievements.

https://3wallball.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/3WallBall-2024-Broadcast-Binder-v1.0.docx

If anyone in the community has corrections or updates please DM me and I’ll make them at least on the electronic version for next time.

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Draw Previews: Here’s a quick run through of the pro draws. Disclosure: I helped the team with seeding this year, as we found that the WOR points system combined with the abnormally high number of non-regular outdoor players resulted in the need to do some manual seeding this year versus 100% depending on the points system.

Also notably this year; not enough players signed up for either singles divisions, so we’ll have no Pro 3Wall Singles champs in Vegas for 2024.

Here’s some quick thoughts on the pro draws:

– Men’s 3-Wall Pro Doubles: We’ll have a new champion this year, as last year’s champs are not defending their title. Two-time defending finalists Adam Manilla and @Nick Riffel are the #1 seeds, rightfully so after earning the final two years in a row as the underdogs. They’ll likely face a gauntlet of tough teams to get back to this year’s final, which could include Natera/Acuna in the quarters and the top doubles team in the world Mar/Montoya in the semis.

The bottom half features quite the dangerous team in @kaKane Waselenchuk and Chris MacDonald as the #2 seeds. McDonald made the finals in Vegas in 2019, the closest he’s come to a Men’s pro outdoor doubles title in his long career. Kane is coming off an Outdoor Nationals title. They’ll probably face grizzled SoCal vets Allin/Orosco in the quarters, and then will get a massive test from the winner of the 3/6 seeds Beltran/Lalo and Carson/Ustarroz, both teams of which are multi-pro champs in their history.

Prediction: Look for Manilla/Riffel to silence the doubters and beat Chris/Kane in the final.

– Women’s 3-Wall Pro Doubles: Munoz and Laime just won Outdoor Nationals, but are seeded 3rd here thanks to the two defending finalists returning intact and earning the #1 and #2 seeds. This will make for a heck of a semi on the bottom side, and I think they’ll take out #2 Scott/Lawrence here to get into the final. The top half semi should also be one for the ages, as Key/Longoria (who I think edge Tisinger/Roehler in a tantalizing quarterfinal) should take out the defending champs Herrera/Mejia to get to the final. We just saw in WTR a straight-forward win for Longoria/Key over Munoz/Laime and I think we see that again in the final

– Mixed 3-Wall Pro Doubles: This was one of the most difficult draws to seed. I could make a case for more than half the draw to be a top 4 seed. If you’re reading this and questioning why one team is seeded X and another Y and you think it should be the reverse, keep in mind we tried to make the eventual quarter finals as fair as possible. So it’s less about who’s (say) #7 and who is #2 versus what the matchup will be. I like #1 McDonald & Key to get to the semis with relative ease, topping whichever one-wall specialist team gets out of the round of 16 ahead of them, and I like McDonald/Key’s chances to top whichever indoor-heavy team comes out of the 4/5 quarter will be 50/50 at best; Longoria is a tough out in any format, but she’s alongside an outdoor newbie in Montoya. Meanwhile Mar has shown he’s nearly unbeatable in one wall, but less so in three wall. That’ll be an interesting quarter for sure. From the bottom half, I like Manilla/Laime’s chances to move on here to the final, but they have to get by Natera/Munoz first. I think whoever wins that gets past Lalo/Herrera in the bottom semi. McDonald/Key for the win.

(Caveat to one-wall brackets: these brackets and seedings may change from the brackets used for these predictions; if the brackets are changed prior to the start of the draws on Friday 9am PST, my apologies).

– Men’s One-Wall Pro Doubles: Javier Mar has two Beach Bash titles and is a dangerous #2 seed here, but they’ll have to play past William Rolon , owner of four 1-wall major titles to get to the final. The top-side features #1 Lalo/Acuna, but watch out for #5 @DJ Mendoza and Waselenchuk; Mendoza won Beach Bash singles and Kane’s game is tailor made for one-wall. I see DJ/Kane taking out #1 and then winning the title in a slug-fest over Mar/Montoya.

– Women’s One-Wall Pro Doubles: Phew; there’s 8 teams here and I think 5-6 are thinking right now that they’re winning this thing. #1 Munoz/Laime won this in Vegas last year, but they’ll have to get past 2023 beach bash champs Scott/Lawrence in the semis to repeat. Key won beach bash this year with Katie Neils; they’ll face each other in the quarters on opposite teams as Key picks up Longoria. I think Key/Longoria will get past Tisinger/Roehler in the semi and will tak out Laime/Munoz in the final.

– Mixed One-Wall Pro Doubles: Sostre/Lawrence were your 2024 Beach Bash champs and will be tough to beat as the #2 seeds here; on and off-the court partners Lalo & Herrera will give a challenge in the semis … that is if they can get past NY one wall giants Goldenberg & Roehler in the quarters. From the top-side, McDonald is less known for his one-wall exploits, but he’s paired with Key and have a decent path into the semis. They’ll face a pair of touring pros with solid one-wall experience there, likely the husband-wife pair of Natera & Munoz. Look for an upset in the semis but for the Beach Bash mixed one-wall champs Sostre/Lawrence to get the 2024 one-wall pro double.

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– CPRT 40+ is nearly as deep as the Men’s Pro draw, with a high likelihood of a pro semis rematch to occur in the semis here between Waslenechuk/McDonald and Carson/Ustarroz to play for the title. #1 Beltran/Koll likely faces the lefty/righty legends Orosco/Solis in the semis to play for the title. I predict the winner of the bottom semi wins the title.

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Streaming: the @LPRT streaming team is in Vegas and is leading the way. Follow LPRT, sign up for live feed notifications, subscribe to their YouTube channel.

Thanks to the Tourney Directors @Peggine Tellez , @Mike Coulter and Jen O’Meara for putting this event on! Thanks to our main sponsors @KWM Gutterman Inc. , ProKennex Racquetball , @Team DOVETAIL , Abel Perez, LPL Financial and others I may have forgotten here . It goes without saying that without you and your support, we don’t have a 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 Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.

Associations

@USA Racquetball

WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball

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Landa-Montoya Invitational 2024 Recap

Mar gets the double in Juarez last weekend. Photo via PK

Last weekend, there was as small non-sanctioned event in Juarez that featured a number of top Mexican players held in honor of the retiring Alejandro Landa and the current #2 @Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball Here’s a recap of the top divisions.

r2sports site: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=45146

The top six seeds are regulars on the pro tour. The 8/9 match was between two top Mexican juniors in Sebastian Hernandez (who just won Mexican 21U junior nationals) and @Eder Renteria (who made the finals of 16U Junior worlds last November and the semis of Mexican 18U last month). Hernandez handled Renteria as expected to face off against #1 Montoya.

In the quarters:

– Montoya needed to go breaker to take down the Mexican 21U champ Hernandez but moved on.

– Long-time top Mexican player @Javier Mar, who’s been bedeviled with injuries the last couple of years, taking out Guatemala’s #1 Juan Salvatierra

– #3 @Jaime Martell topped Guatemalan veteran Edwin Galicia in two.

– #2 Alan Natera topped Mexican open player Mario Zamora .

In the semis, an upset. Mar took out his long-time doubles partner Montoya in two relatively easy games 5,12, while Natera eased past Martell 11,2.

In the final, Mar continued his run and topped Natera 12,12 for the title.

Side note: Natera recently converted to represent Chile, eligible by virtue of his marriage to long-time Chilean representative Carla Munoz , and recently claimed the Chilean national title and secured a berth at Worlds in San Antonio later this month.

There was a 3-team doubles competition that came down to the two top seeds for the final. There, #1 Montoya/Mar topped Chihuahua-based team of Natera/Hernandez 9,(13),5.

Congrats Mar for the double on the weekend, and for Montoya for winning his namesake event.

ps: thanks to Natera for giving me the results … the r2 site never got the singles final nor the doubles knockouts updated online but Alan provided the data.

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2024 Mexican Junior Nationals Recap

This past weekend featured the 2024 Mexican Junior National tournament in Monterrey, Mexico. Mexico is the last of the “big 3” North American countries to hold its Junior Nationals, and the results of these events determine the national team members that will represent their country at the upcoming World Juniors in Guatemala in Late November/Early December.

Here’s a quick recap of the qualifiers and some commentary.

Mexican Junior tournament and qualification goes as follows: the entrants play a double elimination draw; the winner of the winner’s bracket is the champion and Junior National titlist, while the winner of the loser’s bracket is the 2nd player to join the delegation. This consolation bracket champ often is not the winner’s bracket finalist, and the format gives players hope of getting back on the team even with an early loss (read down for more). Mexico does not play any official doubles competitions at its junior nationals; the singles qualifiers will form the doubles teams at Worlds (unless something’s changed this year, because they played a full set of Mixed doubles divisions but not gender doubles.).

R2 site for 2024 Mexican Jr Nationals: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=42398

Congrats to the following Boys singles finalists for team Mexico:

(click here https://rball.pro/olf for a Matrix of all Mexican boy’s titlists loaded into the database currently, dating to 2012)

– Boys 21U: Sebastian Hernandez & Erick Trujillo.

– Boys 18U: Jorge Gutierrez & Eder Renteria

– Boys 16U: Nicholas Galindo & Sebastian Ruelas

– Boys 14U: Brian Axel Sanchez & Santiago Castillo

– Boys 12U: Max Soto & Alejandro Robles Picon

– Boys 10U: Kerman Damian Gracia & Santiago Gullen

– Boys 8U: Daniel Alejandro Ayala & Yacu Hernandez

– Boys 8Udb: Enrique Rivera & Massimo Loretto Bustillo

Commentary on the older divisions:

Boys 21U gave us a big surprise early, as #2 seed and 10th ranked IRT player @Erick Trujillo was shocked by little-known @Christhian Sanchez in the opening round, knocking him from title contention. Sanchez then topped Luis Renteria (who was on the 18U team last year) to open some eyes before falling to Hernandez. Last year’s champion and #1 seed Diego Gastelum cruised to the final but was topped by 2022 18U champ @Sebastian Hernandez. Gastelum then got knocked out by Trujillo for the second team spot in the consolation final; Trujillo won 7 straight loser’s bracket matches to secure his spot in Guatemala.

Boys 18U featured a repeat winner in @Jorge Gutierrez, who did not drop a game and won the final 2,4,2. It’s the fourth straight junior national title for Jorge, to go along with several junior world titles. Gutierrez might be better than any of the 21U players right now, but has just one IRT appearance (in 2022 as a 16yr old). Lets hope he can find his way to some pro events soon. Eder Renteria , who owns 6 mexican junior titles himself. secured the 2nd national team spot as he moves up to 18U.

Boys 16U’s champ Nicholas Galindo hadn’t won a junior title in Mexico since 2016, but lived up to his seeding and knocked off last year’s champ and #1 seed

Sebastian Alejandro Ruelas in the final. Ruelas salvaged the second national team spot by taking the consolation bracket.

Bryan Axle Sanchez repeated in 14U. In 12U, Max Soto moved up from 12U to take the crown. Interestingly, four-time USA junior national champ Alejandro Robles Picon competed in Mexico and secured the second 12U national team spot. He won USA’s 12U last year. In 10U, Kerman Damian Gracia wins his 2nd junior title. New winners were had in both 8U and 8Udb.

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Congrats to the following Girls Singles finalists for team Mexico:

(click here: https://rball.pro/qcm for a Matrix of all Mexican Girls’s titlists loaded into the database currently, dating to 2012)

– Girls 21U: Ivanna Balderama & Angela Veronica Ortega

– Girls 18U: Yanna Salazar & Cynthia Gutierrez

– Girls 16U: Miranda Bazzara & Andrea Perez Picon

– Girls 14U: Danna Portillo & Danna Hernandez

– Girls 12U: Grissel Gómez Rubio & Michelle Gomez

– Girls 10U: Lia Montserrat Gonzalez Perez & Lia Medrano

– Girls 8Udb: Jocelyn_Dominguez_Chavez & Andrea_Carrasco

Commentary on the older divisions:

21U sees a changing of the guard, as 2-time defending champ Maria Gutierrez ahs aged out, and last year’s finalist and #1 seed Leonela Osorio failed to secure one of the two spots. Instead they go to @Ivanna Balderrama , who moved up to 21U for the first time this year and who hadn’t won a junior title since 2019. The 2nd spot goes to frequent LPRT tour player @AAngela Veronica Vera Ortega .

In 18U, defending champ Cynthia Gutierrez was upset by rising 17yr old @Yanna Salazar , runner-up last year in 16U. Salazar topped Gutierrez both in the round robin stage and then again for the title. Last year’s 16U title winner Trujillo failed to secure a team spot as she moved up to the competitive 18U division.

In 16U, Miranda Bazzara, the 14U titlist two years ago, took the division as the #1 seed. In the semis she took out last year’s 14U champ Farias, and then in the final, she topped Andrea Perez Picon, who like her brother is switching to represent Mexico for now, or for this year (if they have dual citizenship, they can continue to play for/represent either country I believe).

in 14U, last year’s finalist Danna Portillo went a step further and secured the title. In 12U, Grissel Gomez Rubio dethroned the defending champ Michelle Gomez. Lastly we got new winners in 10U and 8U divisions for Mexico.

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Congrats to all the Mexican Junior National title winners for 2024, and congrats to the National team qualifiers as well.

Congrats to Favio Soto for another successful Mexican national tournament.

International Racquetball Tour

@LPRT

Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol

International Racquetball Federation – IRF