Category: RKT

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3rd Annual Alex Landa Wrap-up

Landa’s annual namesake event featured some great play. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

Hot on the heels of the big World Singles & Doubles event last weekend was a talent-laden tournament in Juarez hosted in honor of current IRT #2 Alex Landa. A solid set of the top Mexican players were joined by a big chunk of the Guatemalan national team, who stopped in Juarez on their way back from Denver, to have a nice tournament. Here’s a recap of some of the top events.

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

  • Men’s Pro Exhibition: Rodrigo Montoya Solis
  • Men’s Open; Jaime Martel
  • Men’s Open Doubles: Landa/Montoya
  • Women’s Open: Cristina Amaya

R2 Sports App home page for event:https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=37803

Here’s a recap of the Men’s Pro exhibition:
22 players played the Pro “exhibition” event, headlined by the tournament’s namesake Landa as the #1 seed. Its great to see two guys in the draw in Polo Gutiérrez and Alex Cardona who don’t really tour anymore but who are forces on the court. Most of the top 10 players are regular IRT touring vets, and the rest of the draw is filled with Guatemalan nationals, Mexican rising juniors and top local players.
The 16s saw a couple of upsets and tough matches as a result:

  • Chihuahua’s Roldofo Esparza upset #5 seed Alan Natera Chavez in a tie-breaker.
  • #4 Polo was stretched to a breaker against Mexican 18U player Sebastián Longoria before advancing.
  • #3 Rodrigo Montoya Solis needed a breaker to get past Guatemalan Juan Salvatierra.
  • Guatemalan #1 Edwin Galicia took out #6 Javier Estrada 11-9 in a big upset.
    In the quarters:
  • #1 Alex Landa handled the talented but rarely seen Jaime Martell Racquetball 12,8. Hope to see Martell at the US Open.
  • #4 Polo Gutiérrez and #3 Montoya each cruised past upset-minded opponents Esparza and Galicia
  • #7 Lalo Portillo got a statement win, dominating the #2 Alex Cardona 9,4 to move on and setup a great semi.
    In the semis:
  • Landa needed a tiebreaker to get past his long-time Juarez-based playing partner and friend Gutierrez.
  • Montoya held off his young Mexican rival Lalo in two.

In the final, Landa and Montoya played a bit less intensive a match, ending up trading match point attempts at 10-10 before Montoya got the last rally.

The Men’s Open Draw was headlined by #1 Jaime Martell Neri, but also featured a couple of top LPRT women’s players in the draw competing against the men. This included Lucia Gonzalez and Ana Gabriela Martinez, fresh off her first ever professional win last weekend; she opted to just play the Men’s open here and not the women’s draws.

Both ladies in the draw won their openers to force matches against the #1 and #2 seeds (@sebastian longoria), but neither moved on from there. In the final, Martell took out Mexican junior Hernandez in a tie-breaker for the win.

The Men’s Open Doubles draw was stacked, with most of the top pros teamed up to provide some tantalizing later round matches. The Guatemalan pairing of Christian Wer and Edwin Galicia played great all weekend, taking out the #3 seeded teams of Javier Estrada/Alan Natera and then the #2 seeded team of Cardona/Polo to make the final.

However, the #1 team of top doubles players Landa/Montoya topped the Guatemalans for the title.

The Women’s Open featured 9 players, nearly all of which who have featured on the LPRT at some point. #1 seed Amaya Cris and #2 seed Lucia Gonzalez headlined the draw, but Gonzalez was upset in the semis by fellow up-and-coming player Delia. Aguilar. In the final, Amaya took a close 11-9 tie-breaker to win the title.

Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from various sources, including some players and some RKT. Make sure you follow the players and RKT on facebook and signup for live stream notifications to stay in the loop.
Thanks to the Tourney Directors RKT and Salvador Rentería for putting this event on!

Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on FB. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but FB stripped it.

Next up?

Breaking news; PARC 2021 in Bolivia has been cancelled due to covid-19 issues. The next major events on the schedule happen towards the end of September, when Canadian Nationals and the rescheduled Chicago IRT pro stop occur.

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Deportivo Xtreme 1st annual Racquetball Tournament results

Estrada with a nice win in Juarez. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

There was a small RKT sponsored event in Juarez over the weekend with an 18-man pro singles draw. No r2sports link, and it was a bit tough to get the results, but here’s a quick wrap.

If you follow Xtreme deportivo on Facebook you can find some video for the matches from the quarters onward.

In the qtrs:
– #1 Javier Estrada advanced to the semis.
, #4 Javier Mar advanced to the semis.
– #3 Ernesto Ochoa defeated #6 Rogelio Ramírez Castillo,
– #7 Rodolfo Esparza upset #2 Alan Natera Chavez 11-9 in the breaker for a surprise win.

In the semis:
– #1 Estrada d #4 Mar, a second successive win over Mar for Estrada in a local Mexican event and a good statement on his ability to consistently play with top players like Mar.

– #3 Ochoa d #7 Esparza to move on to the final.

Final: #1 Estrada d #3 Ochoa.

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there’s one more RKT event on the schedule for December; it’s two weeks from now again in Juarez and is a lower-tier IRT sanctioned event, so it should have a solid showing.

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San Luis Open 2019 Wrap-up

Portillo gets a win on home soil. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

RKT hosted a solid event in San Luis Potosi over the weekend. The 2019 San Luis Potosi open. The draws weren’t online: thanks to Lalo Portillo for emailing me a picture of the draw so that I can do this recap.

Lets recap the Men’s singles event:

In the 16s, just two upsets by seeds both in the typical spots (8/9 and 7/10 matches):

– #1 Andree Parrilla took out #16 Rodrigo Nino
– #9 Jordy Alonso got a nice win over #8 Christian Longoria.
– #5 Javier Estrada took out #12 Andres Trejo
– #4 Javier Mar beat #13 Emir Mtz, fresh of an appearance at the junior worlds.
– #3 Rodrigo Montoya Solís took out Cristhian Sanchez Rico in two.
– #6 Alan Natera Chavez defeated Saul Rivera in two.
– #10 Alejandro Romo took out the youngster Elias NIeeto Zedalav in two closer games.
– #2 Lalo Portillo99 defeated Diego Gastelum in two.

These results setup some really solid quarter finals.
– #1 Parrilla took out #9 Alonso 9,6
– #4 Mar handled #5 Estrada in two games 5,6 to avenge a loss in an RKT event earlier this fall in Mexico City.
– #6 Natera got a solid win over Montoya 10,9. These two have split matches evenly against each other all year.
– #2 Portillo crushed the upset minded Romo in two.

In the semis, we got the 1-2 final we sought.
– #1 Parrilla took out #4 Mar (13),10,9. Despite the seeding (which was done with IRT points b/c this was an IRT sanctioned event), this is an upset in my book.
– #2 Portillo advanced with a solid two game win over Natera 12,12 (this may have been 2,12; the handwriting on the draw is pretty scratchy). Either way, this is not the first time in 2019 that Portillo has beaten Natera in SLP on home soil.

In the final:
– #2 Portillo got one of the best wins of his career, topping #1 Parrilla (13),12,5 to take the event.

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This event was purportedly an IRT Tier 5 event, so the players will get a bit of a ratings bump ahead of next weekend’s IRT event in Oregon. It won’t be enough for Portillo to eclipse Samuel Murray for 8th place on the tour, but he’s well on his way to that goal.

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Next up! IRT Tier 1 action in Oregon, with one of the better events of the year.

International Racquetball Tour
RKT
Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol

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Abierto Monterrey 2019 Wrap-Up

Natera wins in Monterrey. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

There was a nice little RKT event in San Nicolas (Monterrey), NL, Mexico over the weekend that also was an IRT Tier 4 event. Lets do a quick run through the draw.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=31726

13 in the Men’s pro draw. Lets review the notable matches. The draw went chalk to the quarters.

In the quarters:
– #1 Javier Estrada got a straight forward win over #8 Juan Loreto in two.
– #5 Alex Cardona was taken to the distance by #4 Gerardo Franco Gonzalez before winning 11-10. Despite being basically a part-time pro player Cardona continues to get wins.
– #3 Alan Natera Chavez advanced in two over #6 Erick Cuevas.
– #7 Jaime Martell Neri took out #2 Ernesto Ochoa in two games. This was an upset by seeds, but not by our personal rankings, which have Martell playing exceptionally well lately and really rising up the world ranks.

In the semis:
– #5 Cardona avenged a recent loss to Estrada in Mexico City, advancing in a tie-breaker after two close games.
– #3 Natera took out #7 Martell in an 11-9 breaker

In the final
– #3 Natera saved match point against in game two, then got it to the tie-breaker where he ran away with the win over #5 Cardona (13),14,4.

I have Natera slowly creeping up my personal world rankings; i’ve now got him just outside the top 10. He’s one of a slew of top Mexican players who I wish could compete on the IRT more frequently to see how they’d rate. Cardona is well known to racquetball enthusiasts, as a 2-time WRT winner and a constant for years in the back ends of Mexican regional events.

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In doubles, Franco/Cardona met up with Estrada/Natera in the final. Both teams featured excellent doubles players, making for an exciting final. Franco & Cardona came out on top 12,12, preventing a double win on the weekend for Natera.

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International Racquetball Tour
RKT
Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol

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Abierto Nacional 2019 (Mexico City) Wrap-up

Estrada tops a solid field with a couple of good wins to take the title. Photo via US Open 2019, Photographer: Kevin Savory

Here’s a quick wrap up of the excellent RKT event held this past weekend in Mexico City, Mexico, which featured a solid set of top seeds of Mexican Nationals, a full 32-man Open draw, and a solid 15-team doubles draw.

R2 Sports App link:https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=31579

Even experienced fans may have had a tough time recognizing the bulk of the draw in this event; past the top 8 seeds there are not too many players who have appeared in pro events in the past, but the top seeds in this event made for a great saturday/sunday of action. Lets recap the action:

There were no real surprises in the round of 32.

In the 16s, just two close matches:
– #12 Jordy Alonso stretched #5 Ernesto Ochoa to a breaker before falling.
– #7 Oscar Nieto was taken to the limit by #10 Alejandro Romo Gonzalez advancing 11-10 to the quarters.

The quarters featured top-level racquetball by number of Mexico’s finest:
– #1 @Gerardo Gerardo Franco Gonzalez took out youngster Erick Cuevas 12,3. Franco had benefited from the rare double forfeit to basically get a bye into the quarters here.
– #5 Ochoa got a very solid win over #4 Alan Natera Chavez 11,4. Ochoa lost to Natera in a local Juarez event earlier this year, but turned the tides to take this solid win.
– #3 Javier Estrada had the most impressive win in the round, avenging a loss in the Juarez event earlier this year and topping the dangerous former WRT champ Alex Cardona 11,13 to move on. Since his Black Gold win, Estrada has struggled to maintain consistency in his results and could use a solid run of wins.
– #2 Javier Mar, the tourney favorite despite being seeded behind Franco, eased past NIeto 5,10 to setup an excellent semi against Estrada.

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In the semis, a couple of upsets and surprising results.

– #5 Ochoa continued his run of upsets, taking out #1 Franco in two solid games. Great tourney for Ochoa.

– #3 Estrada outlasted #2 Mar in an 11-8 tie-breaker. This is the best win Estrada has had since he took the Black Gold Cup.

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In the final, Estrada held off Ochoa’s attempts in game 2 to push the match to a tiebreaker and took the title 9,14.

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In the solid Doubles draw:

– Mar/Ochoa, as the 1 seeds, advanced to the final with a walkover win over Ruben Martinez/Romo in the semis.
– Franco/Cardona upset the #2 seeded team of Estrada/Natera 11-8 to make the final.

In the final, Cardona continued to show why he’s one of the best doubles players out there by helping his team to victory, winning 10,13.

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Great event, I hope they continue it and coordinate with the IRT next year so there’s not a scheduling conflict.

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RKT
Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol

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Chihuahua YMCA Wrap-Up

Landa the double winner in Chihuahua this past weekend. Photo unk

A RKT-associated tourney was put on this past weekend with little fan fare…. but it featured most of the top Mexican pros and some excellent singles and doubles action.

Here’s a quick wrap-up. Follow RKT to get video streams of most of the good matches from the weekend.

Thanks to Jaime Martell Neri for the heads up and sending me the draws 🙂

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Singles wrap-up

In the qtrs:
– #1 Alex Landa advanced over a local player.

– #5 Eduardo Garay Rodriguez upset Alan Natera Chavez to move on; Natera was upset early in the US Open and I probably would have favored him in this match too. Garay has been trying to get it going this season but has been unlucky in match-ups on the pro tour thus far (his losses this season have been to Carson, DLR and Keller; a tough slate).

– #3 Javier Mar took out Javier Estrada, who was not able to replicate his success from the Black Gold event in his home town.

– #7 Alex Cardona upset #2 Rodrigo Montoya Solís to move on. This was much better than a 2/7 match-up; the two-time WRT winner holds a 4-2 career h2h lead over Montoya on that tour … and beat him again here.

In the semis:
– #1 Landa topped hard-hitting #5 Garay
– #3 Mar beat #7 Cardona (11),4,4; I wonder if this score-line indicates a lack of match fitness for Cardona; after beating the very top-quality Mar in game one, he gets wiped out in games 2 and 3.

In the final: #1 Landa eked by #3 Mar 14,10, a scoreline I would have expected knowing the quality of these two players. Mar has more than demonstrated that he’s a top 8 player in the world through his periodic IRT results.

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Doubles wrap-up:

The doubles draw was solid, and quality teams such as Ernesto Ochoa/Estrada, the Nateras and the Garays couldn’t even make the final.

The final ended up being #1 vs #2: Landa/Cardona d Montoya/Mar 11-7 to make Landa a double winner on the weekend. Its saying something when the defending Pan American champion team of Montoya/Mar is beaten by their countrymen on the depth of the doubles circuit right now.

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Good little tourney
International Racquetball Tour
Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol
RKT