Congrats to Coby Iwaasa and Frederique Lambert for taking the two Singles qualifiers this past weekend.
Iwaasa wins his first Canadian National event since May of 2015. He had faced off against finalist @Samuel Murray in the last 10 straight Canadian national event finals and got the win by virtue of an injury related walkover. It is Iwaasa’s 3rd overall title (1 National title, 2 qualifier titles).
Lambert wins her 4th straight Canadian national event, and her 14th overall with the win. She now owns 4 National titles and another 10 National qualifying tournament titles. She has not been defeated in Canadian competition since May of 2014, though her participation is understandably spotty thanks to her day job of being a Medical professional. She defeated Michele Morissette in the final, the third straight time these two have met in a Canadian national event final.
The Canadian Amateurs will presumably play another qualifier in the winter months before competing for their 2023 National title next May.
De La Rosa wins his 9th career tier 1 title, putting him 13th all time. Mar/Montoya win their 4th pro doubles title together, first since Chicago in March.
– #20 @Jaime Martell played well and downed #13 @SSebastian Fran in two straight forward games, perhaps not really an upset by true talent levels.
– Solid win by #14 Thomas Carter over the upstart Longoria.
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In the 16s, some upsets for sure
– #1 Daniel de la Rosa had to deal with Mar, a matchup that is more of a semis-quality match. 15-2 in the first made it seem like it’d be a laugher, but Mar ground out game 2 to force DLR to win the breaker.
– #12 Andres Acuña blew out a rusty #5 @Alejandro Landa 5,7. Landa reportedly had not played since the US Open and showed it on the court against the always-consistent Acuna.
– #4 @Eduardo Portilla outlasted the dangerous Martell in two tight games.
– #3 Andrés Parrilla was pressed by #14 Carter but moved on 11,8
– #11 Rodrigo Montoya is fast becoming the non-top 8 player nobody wants to see, again claiming a top-8 scalp in dominating #6 Samuel Murray 11,6. Are we finally going to see the uber-talented Montoya take his rightful place at the top of the IRT tour, after years of partial touring costing him the points he needed to stay there?
– #7 @Rocky Carson held off fellow American #10 @Adam Manilla, has he has done for a few tournaments now at this juncture.
– #2 Conrrado Moscoso surprisingly dropped game one to fellow hard-hitter @Eduardo Gara , but bounced back to move on.
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In the Quarters
– #1 DLR continues to bedevil #8 Jake in the quarters when they generally meet (three times in the last year), but Jake did force him to a breaker this time. Being “stuck” at #8 can be a tough place to get out of without the “flip seeding” that the tour seems to have done away with.
– #12 Acuna got a walkover win against #4 Portillo, who was under the weather and was advised not to play. Acuna makes a semi for the first time in his pro career.
– #11 Montoya topped #3 Parrilla once again; it has been more than a year since Parrilla has beaten his cohort-mate in Rodrigo.
– #2 Moscoso cruised past #7 Carson 11,5.
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In the Semis,
– DLR was pressed by the upstart Costa Rican Acuna, but moved into the final 10,13
– In the other semi, what was shaping up to be a fantastic match on paper was cut short quickly when #2 Conrrado tripped over #11 Montoya’s feet while back-pedalling to retrieve a ceiling ball, and banged his head on the back wall. He was judged not to have been concussed, but was advised to retire unfortunately.
In the Finals, DLR absolutely destroyed the player who put him out of the US Open, beating Montoya 5,3 to claim the title.
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Points Implications of results;
This tourney expires the 2021 World Singles & Doubles championship, which was DLR over Moscoso in the final. So, DLR defends his winner points, and with just one tier 1 remaining in 2022 has an insurmountable lead at the top of the IRT tour. Congratulations to DLR for securing his second straight #1 year end ranking.
Other expected points machinations:
– Parrilla and Moscoso should switch places at 2/3, but its super close and if one or the other has some random tier 2/3 points that aren’t in my model they may stay the same 2/3 order.
– Despite both losing early, Murray should move ahead of Landa at the 5/6 by virtue of having fewer points to defend from Denver.
– Manilla continues to climb the ranks; he’s nearly in the top 10 now.
– Keller’s absenses are catching up to him; he’s nearly out of the top 16 now.
– Kane won’t drop too much for the time being: he’s entering a period where he missed most of the 2021 slate of events, so he’ll have no expiring points. Meanwhil,e Beltran will continue to fall as he recovers from his injury; he’ll likely be out of the top 20 soon.
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Doubles review
– The #1 seeds Parrilla/Murray were upset in the quarters by Natera/Acuna.
– The Bredenbecks had to work far harder than they should have to top Cuevas/Ramirez
– Landa & Moscoso teamed up for the first time and looked solid together
– DLR picked up a last minute partner in Carrasco, topped Carson/Portillo, and took Mar/Montoya to a breaker. Not bad.
The final was a walkover unfortunately, when Moscoso got hurt. Would have been a solid match to see Landa/Moscoso vs Mar/Montoya.
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Other notable draws from the event
– Erick Cuevas took the IRT U21 event with a solid win over Trujillo in the final.
– Diego Gastellum took the Men’s open with the help of a couple of walkovers from the top two seeds along the way.
– Florida pair @Bradley Knudsen and Matt Fontana took the Men’s Open doubles draw.
– Hollie Scott took the Women’s Open draw, which featured 7 regular LPRT players, topping Veronica Sotomayor 11-9 in the final.
– Scott teamed up with Maria Renee Rodriguez to win the 5-team Women’s Open Doubles over solid competition. Sotomayor and Costa Rican top junior Maricruz Ortiz finished 2nd.
– Finally, two Californians who made the trip won the Mixed Open title when Will Reynolds and @EsEstefania Perez Piña took out the all-florida pair of @Assuan Castaneda and @Graci Wargo in the final.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Favio Soto and Karen Grisz who worked the mike all weekend.
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.
Can Conrrado make it 3 IRT tourneys in a row? Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory
Just a couple days after we all got back from Vegas for @3w3Wall Ball , the IRT returns for the 2022 Team Dovetail open, being held in Sarasota, FL (home town of Mike Kinkin and the Dovetail enterprise).
Draw size, observations; 38 players are here, a solid draw for a back to back.
top20 players missing; the two known injured veterans Kane Waselenchuk and Alvaro Beltran , both of whom are out for a bit. The rest of the top 10 is here, even those who just burned it up in Vegas. No #17 @Sebastian Fernandez , a west coaster who didn’t want to make the west-to-east trip after a busy Vegas. No #11 @Carlos Keller, opting to skip the long Bolivan trip this time.
Other draw observations: we have a few of the Florida open regulars (@aleAlejandro Herrera , @Alex Zamudio ), a couple of notable juniors (@cCole Send , looking for some challenging matches ahead of Junior Worlds), and a few new names making their pro tour debuts (David Sosa Lopez and Lincoln Andres-beck ). Should be a solid tourney.
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Lets preview the singles draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:
128s:
– Vargas vs Sendry: Vargas rarely plays the IRT, and is more of a Fronton player back home in Bolivia, but he can ball. Sendry has his hands full.
– Herrera vs @Christian Longoria : tough draw for both. Herrera still has the power, but Longoria is a tough out.
64s.
– @Sam Bredenbeck vs Rodrigo Rodriguez : great qualifier, R vs L, power versus touch. Hard to predict; Sam has been playing well, but Rodriguez has some scalps.
– Vargas/Sendry winner vs @ErErick Fernanado Cuevas : the 128 winner will like their chances over the young Mexican in the 64s to qualify.
– Jaime Martell vs Floridian Alex Zamudio ; Zamudio is tough, Martel is tougher and will look to build on his run to the quarters in Pleasanton.
– @Alan Natera versus the Herrera/Longoria winner: no easy match for Natera, especially for someone who just played Vegas.
– Kadim Carrasco vs Esteban Requez : two Bolivians battle it out; Reque just impressed highly in Vegas, winning the Open 3-wall singles over some very tough players.
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Projecting the 32s: here’s some possible matchups, though the depth of this draw could make for some upsets and make these predictions moot:
– #16/#17 should be Erick Trujillo versus Javier Mar . Two great players, and possible trouble for DLR in the 16s (read on). I don’t think Trujillo can top the veteran Mar just yet, but another good test.
– #20 Martell will favor his chances for another upset of #13 @Sebastian Franco in the round of 32.
– #14 Thomas Carter projects to face #19 Natera, and this could be a solid match. Carter has never faced Natera in a tier 1 event.
– The 15/18 match between Garay and Carrasco could be interesting.
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round of 16:
– #1 @dDaniel de la Rosa faces yet another far-too-difficult round of 16 matchup. He frequently plays Fernandez at this juncture, but has had to face off against Alonso, Montoya, and now likely Mar here. These are all better than #16 players, and the risk of a third straight upset of the #1 seed is in play. DLR looked laser focused though in Vegas and is still the favorite here.
– 8/9 Jake Bredenbeck v Mario Mercado : Mercado was lights out in Vegas and is sharp. But Jake made the final in Pleasanton and topped Mario 9,9 along the way. I think Jake’s got his number for now.
– #4 Eduardo Portillo , newly crowned 3WB Outdoor pro doubles champ, projects to face the Martel/Franco winner to open his tourney.
– #6/#11 Montoya v Samuel Murray : tough opener for Murray; he’s 2-2 lifetime versus Montoya and he’s hot this season, having made the US Open final. Upset watch.
– 7/10 Battle of the Americans between @Rocky Carson and Adam Manilla . Manilla is 0-7 lifetime against Rocky indoors, but did take him to a breaker in Minneapolis last month.
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Projected Qtrs:
– DLR over Jake; DLR’s wired in right now.
– Portillo over Landa : Alex got him in US Open, but Lalo topped him the two times before.
– Montoya over Andree Parrilla : a rematch of the 1v16 upset in Maryland earlier this year; Montoya has his number.
– #2 Conrrado Moscoso over #7 Carson: Moscoso has owned this h2h matchup since Bolivia in 2019.
Semis:
– DLR over Portillo
– Moscoso over Montoya
Finals; 1 v 2: this is the match we all want to see right now as a measuring stick of how far Moscoso has come. Most observers have now elevated Conrrado to the “2nd best player in the world” status (behind a healthy Kane) and having pipped DLR for that mantle … but this would be a great final to see where they are right now. They havn’t run into each other in a while: DLR won in 2021 Denver and 2020 Sioux Falls, but Moscoso has some h2h wins internationally and at the US Open semis in 2019.
I like Moscoso to win his 3rd straight pro title.
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Doubles review:
With the Beltran injury, DLR picked up a last minute doubles replacement in Carrasco and are seeded third; not likely they can top the dominant Mar/Montoya pairing from the lower half. 3WB champs Rocky/Lalo are the #6 seed, team Zurek (Garay/Franco) is #7, and an intriguing Mercado/Vargas all-Bolivian native pairing is #10, making for a stacked lower half.
From the upper side, #1 Murray/Parrilla is clearly the team to beat … but we get a Landa/Conrrado pairing for the first time at #4. Also at the top: the US national finalists Bredenbeck brothers at #5 and an interesting Trujillo/Manilla lefty-righty pairing at #9 will challenge.
Prediction: Montoya/Mar top Murray/Parrilla in the final.
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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.
Yours truly was at the event this year, and on the mike for a lot of the Men’s and Mixed pro events; check out the @inInternational Racquetball Tour feed on FB or on YouTube for rebroadcasts.
This is one of the longest recaps we do all year, with so many divisions and so many great matches to talk about. Get ready to dig in.
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Men’s Pro 3-wall Doubles Recap
19 Teams entered the Men’s Pro doubles to compete for the biggest outdoor title of the event. And we got some fantastic teams and a great draw.
A few upsets in the round of 16:
– Floridian Chris McDonald , son of outdoor Hall of famers Greg and Martha, teamed up with another WOR Hall of famer in @Greg Solis to upset the #5 seeds Emmett Coe and @Thomas Gerhard to move into the quarters. McDonald is a force on the court, with incredible power and an intimidating playing style borne of short-court play in North Florida, where he stands almost with his toes on the short line to receive serve and then relies on some of the fastest hands in the sport to return drive serves.
– Colorado pair Adam Manilla and Nick Riffel upset the #3 seeded team of Soda Man and Brandon Davis in two closer games 10,13. Both players may not have a ton of access to outdoor courts in Colorado but have been making waves in the genre and got a great win against two very solid outdoor pros.
– IRT legend and outdoor newbie @Sudsy Monchik teamed up with a very talented outdoor player from Southern California in @Patrick Allin to upset the #6 seeded team of top Floridians Joe Young and Marcos J. Gravier in a tiebreaker 11-8. The two teams played back and forth racquetball, with all four players at various times taking over and attempting to impart their will on the match.
In the quarters:
– #1 Daniel de la Rosa and @Alvaro Beltran rose to the challenge and topped the #8 seeds, Beach Bash pro doubles champs @Javier Mar and @Mario Mercado 12,12. This was perhaps the best match I saw all weekend in terms of talent and shot-making on the court, with all four players at the top of their game. DLR was (as he always is) the dominant player on the court and came to Las Vegas looking in-shape and laser focused. The ball sizzles off his racquet, and he remains as always one of the best players in the world at ending rallies with pinch kills. Beltran remains the shot-making crafty veteran, routinely pulled off the court but making running over-the-shoulder shots to keep the ball in play. Mar has come into his own, with a recent IRT pro finals appearance and hit shot for shot with DLR along the left side. Lastly Mercado displayed getting ability on a par with anyone in the world, with some of the fastest hands around (its no wonder they’re one-wall kings). But in the end, the talent of DLR took over and was the difference maker in this shot-maker’s paradise.
– #4 @Rocky Carson and his young teammate @Eduardo Portillo (aka “Team Dovetail”) ground out a win over the dangerous McDonald/Solis pairing 9,9 to move on. Future WOR Hall of Famer Carson put on a clinic of outdoor racquetball, and Lalo continues to show his mastery of the classification improves at every outdoor event.
– #14 Riffel/Manilla continued their run, upsetting fellow upstarts #11 Monchik/Allin with ease 10,5 to move into the semis. Riffel’s mustache game is as strong as his racquetball game this weekend, but the story of the team is Manilla’s growing dominance of outdoor racquetball this weekend.
– #2 seeds and reigning Outdoor Nationals champs Jason Geis and @Micah Rich dominated NorCal’s @Tom Durham and HoFamer Robert Sostre 11,4 to move into the semis. Sostre and Durham had no answers for the great lefty-righty pairing of Rich and Geis, nor for the power and outdoor finesse that Rich displays on the left hand side.
In the semis on Saturday afternoon, we started out with hopes of a great set of matches but ended up with a jarring injury that silenced the crowd.
– The #1 vs #4 semi final pro doubles match was shaping up to be a fantastic contest, featuring the red-hot De La Rosa on one side and the legendary outdoor Goat in Carson on the other. Game one did not disappoint, as Carson/Portillo fell behind DLR/Beltran 10-5 early, ground their way back to tie it at 11, then saved a couple of game points before getting the serve back and getting to 14-14. At game point, Carson hit a high Z to Beltran, and when Portillo went for a reverse pinch kill both DLR and Beltran dove for the ball at the same time in the front court, colliding as they retrieved the ball. Beltran immediately began writhing in pain as Rocky hit the game winning shot. Soon it was clear that Alvaro was badly injured: DLR dove into Alvi’s outstretched left arm and he suffered a dislocated elbow on the court. Unfortunately this knocked the DLR/Beltran team out of the event; Carson/Lalo advance 15-14, inj fft.
– The second semi was played under a somber tone; the crowd and the players seemed in shock after watching the injury in the first game. Nonetheless, a spot was on the line in the final. #2 Rich/Geis seemed to be the prohibitive favorites over the upstart #14 Manilla/Riffel team and jumped out to a first game lead. The Colorado duo ground their way back into the game and shocked the Outdoor National reigning champs by taking game one 15-14. Game two was a back and forth affair, close all the way to the death, when Nick and Adam got to match point and then took it on a scuffled service return error. Riffel played fantastic on the day, and the SoCal team seemed a bit off, missing a number of offensive opportunities that ended up costing them the game.
The final turned out to be a blowout: Carson and Portillo dominated from start to the end, and Riffel/Manilla couldn’t find the magic that led them to get there, losing 6,3. Carson wins his 6th pro doubles title in Vegas, first since 2015, while Portillo gets his first outdoor title.
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Women’s Pro 3-wall Doubles Recap:
Lots of new teams this year in the Ladies pro, guaranteeing a new winner and some great action.
Just one upset in the quarters, as two relatively newcomers to outdoor in @Brenda Laime and @Alexandra Herrera took out #3 seeds, reigning US National doubles champions @Kelani Lawrence and @Hollie Scott 6,10. Laime has made a heck of an impression here despite little prior outdoor tourney experience, but its worth noting she lives with and plays frequently with Mercado in the DC Area where a strong outdoor community exists.
In the semis…
– The #1 seeds De La Rosa and Tisinger-Ledkins went down a game to the upstart Manilla/Roehler team, but raced back to take the tiebreaker 11-7 to move on.
– The upstart team of Laime and Herrera dominated the #2 seeds Parrilla and Carla Munoz 6,12 to become the surprise finalists.
In the final … the #1 seeds crushed the #6 upstarts in game one 15-2, then held on 15-11 for the title. Each player wins their 5th Vegas doubles title, but their first one playing together.
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Mixed Pro 3-wall Doubles:
14 teams entered into the stacked Mixed Pro doubles division looking to take down three-time defending champs in the De La Rosa husband/wife team. And the early rounds did not disappoint, with two teams running multiple upsets to make the semis:
– #12 seeded Brother/Sister Manilla pairing of @Adam Manilla and @Erika Manilla advanced past the husband/wife team of @Alan Natera and @Carla Munoz in the 16s before taking it right at #4 Rich/Lawrence in the quarters, dominating the action and doing a masterful job of neutralizing Rich’s power to win the Friday nightcap quarter 11,8 to move into the semis.
– Meanwhile on the bottom side, #7 Mercado/Laime took out the hard-hitting Mexican team of @Rodrigo Montoya and Herrera in the 16s before shocking the #2 seeds Janel Tisinger-Ledkins and Solis 8,7 in the quarters. The two outdoor legends just had no answers for the shot-making exploits of Mercado and the power of Laime, who worked drive serves at Solis with great effect all match. Look out for this team.
In the Semis…
– #1 DLRx2 cruised past Manillax2 10,8 to move into the final. The Cinderella Brother/Sister team just had no answers for the dominant husband/wife team.
– Team FormulaFlow Laime/Mercado came from a game down to upset the #3 seeds Scott/Portillo in a tough 11-8 breaker.
In the final, Laime continued to show why she will be a force to reckon with in the outdoor game for some time to come, leading her team to a game one victory. In game two, Mercado thought he had rolled out the match winner at 14-14 … but it was overturned on appeal. Daniel got the game 2 winner and pushed the match to a breaker. Perhaps deflated from having thought they won at the end of game two, Laime and Mercado fell behind big early in the breaker and were steamrolled 11-3 to give the title to the DLRs. Daniel and Michelle win their 8th Vegas Mixed pro title in the last 9 years, and complete the 2022 “triple crown” of mixed pro titles (they also won Pro mixed in Florida and in Huntington Beach).
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Men’s Pro 1-wall Doubles recap:
#1 Seeds @Robert Sostre (aka the Iceman) and @William Rolon (aka the Warrior) cruised into the final from the top half of the draw looking to win together for the third time.
Meanwhile the bottom half of the draw featured the two teams that competed in the Beach Bash finals earlier this year. Javier Mar & Mario Mercado topped Acuna/Portillo again (just as the did in March), then upset the Sostre/Rolon one-wall specialists for the title.
Mercado & Mar win the one-wall pro doubles “double” on the year, having won both Beach Bash and Vegas.
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Women’s Pro 1-wall Doubles:
Michelle De La Rosa did the Women’s pro doubles “double” on the weekend, and won her third title out of the four events she entered, by teaming with her regular partner Carla Munoz to take a tightly contested Women’s one-wall doubles draw. They topped two LPRT top 10 players in Parrilla and Herrera in the final.
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Mixed Pro 1-wall Doubles:
The #9 seeded Montoya/Herrera pairing upset three teams to make the final, but then ran into outdoor juggernaut Daniel De La Rosa , paired in one wall with Hollie Scott. The final went breaker, but the #1 ranked IRT pro outslugged his Mexican counterparts and led his team to the title.
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Men’s 3-wall Singles:
10 brave souls entered the most grueling division of the tournament: 3-wall singles. And we got some unexpected results in the early rounds.
In the top half, top seeds Andres Acuña and Mar advanced to the semis as expected, but the bottom half featured #2 and #3 getting upset in the quarters. IRT #2 Conrrado Moscoso took out #3 @Brandon Davis 7,14, while the shock result was relative unknown Mexican lefty Mario Hildago taking out first #7 @Jeremy McGlothin and then #2 Gerhardt 8,14 to advance to the semis against Conrrado. Hildago hasn’t had a top-level tournament result since the 2017 Mexican Nationals and plays out of Juarez, but impressed with his diving and shot making to take out two really solid outdoor players.
In the semis, Outdoor Nationals singles champ Acuna took out Beach Bash singles finalist Mar in two close games, while Outdoor newcomer Moscoso (the #2 ranked IRT player on tour) cruised to a victory over Hildago to make the final.
In the final, two IRT regulars took to battle in the sun. Acuna mounted a huge comeback to force a tiebreaker, when Conrrado finally started to go to more of an “outdoor” style serve that threw the Costa Rican off balance and drove him to victory. Moscoso adds an outdoor singles title to his growing collection of pro titles in 2022.
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Women’s 3-wall Singles:
In the end it was #1 vs #2, but not before #1 Carla Munoz escaped the semis by the skin of her teeth, edging Virginia’s Kelani Lawrence 11-10 in the breaker.
Fittingly, Munoz faced @Janel Tisinger-Ledkins in the final. Tisinger owns no less than 12 outdoor major singles titles, while Munoz has won three of the last four competed. It was the current belt holder versus the former belt holder … and Munoz came out on top in a 11-8 bruiser on the show court Sunday Morning.
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A quick run through some of the other main divisions played here, which included some Squash57, Paddleball, and some combined men’s divisions that feature nearly as strong of draws as the pros:
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CPRT Pro Doubles:
Beltran and Soda Man ran to the finals in CPRT as the #3 seed, but then had to default after Alvi’s arm injury. #1 seeds and dual Hall of Famers Sostre & Solis win the title by injury walkover.
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Combined 75+ Men’s Doubles: The last show court/broadcast final of the weekend featured one of the best 75+ teams from Florida versus one of the best from SoCal. The McDonald brothers Chris and Greg teamed up to face Patrick Allin and “Sweet” Lou Orosco in the 75+ final. The McDonalds are famous for their short-court positioning, standing just a few feet behind the service line, while Allin /Orosco feature strong forehands and sharp shooting. A back and forth affair went almost to the full distance, with the Huntington Beach lefty/righty pair topping the McDonalds 11-9 in the breaker.
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Men’s Open Doubles: Paddleball specialist Emmett Coe teamed with SoCal car enthusiast Cesar Chavez to win the Open doubles. They topped strong Florida pairing of @Yasmani Perez and Javier Trujillo.
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Squash57 Doubles:
A new sport for Vegas 2022: Squash 57. For those not familiar, its basically racquetball on a racquetball court with a squash tin and a deadened racquetball (I believe they took a Gearbox black racquetball and punched a hole in it). The result is a fun variant of our sport, featuring long, tactical rallies and lots of endurance requirements. The sport plays rally scoring due to its long rallies (just as squash does) and its players relied less on power and more on control to win.
The “upper” division was won by Manilla/Riffel, who outlasted Sostre and Vegas legend Brian Pineda in the final 5,4,4.
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Paddleball Men’s Doubles: The San Diego paddleball experts @Sebastian Fernandez and @Jeremy McGlothin won the title in a walkover as Beltran had to drop after injuring his arm.
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Paddleball Mixed Doubles: Paddleball hall of famer @Aaron Embry teamed with his regular partner @Roxanne Rehling to win the 3-team mixed paddleball open round robin.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, with both the IRT and LPRT crews in place. @Pablo Fajre and wife @Angelia Grisar worked tirelessly all weekend, as did @Alexis Iwaasa on the IRT side. I’d like to thank all my co-announcers on the weekend, which included the likes of Brian Pineda, Marcos Gravier, Joe Young, William Rolon, Mikey D, and Carla Munoz for the final match.
On the LPRT side, @JTRball was front and center all week, aided by @Leo Vazquez, Sudsy Monchik, Mikey-D, TJ Baumbaugh, and others on the LPRT feed from court 1.
Thanks to the Tourney Directors Mike Coulter, Peggine Tellez, and all the @3wallball staff for putting this event on!
The IRT is back in action starting this Thursday, coming to you live from Sarasota in the Dovetail Open.
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tags
Thanks to all the sponsors who make this event possible. A full list is here on the R2 tournament page, but here’s a list of them.
– @KWM Gutterman Inc. and its owner Keith Minor , the title sponsor of this event. Keith is a great benefactor to multiple orgs in our sport, is an avid player and was here all weekend playing and watching.
– @AGE Solutions and proprietor Andy Gomer ; a frequent sponsor of DC-area and East coast programming.
– Ahern Rentals , who provided lots of the “stuff” that makes this tournament possible.
– Pro Kennex as the presenting sponsor, with Mike Martinez on the grounds all weekend supporting his many PK players.
– @Soda man and @Coffee Girl vending services, with proprietor @Rick Koll active in multiple pro draws in addition to his constant support of outdoor events on the west coast.
– @LPL Financial and proprietor @Rosco Halsey , who I got to meet at dinner one night and who loves the sport.
Also thanks to the many silver sponsors on the weekend, which include @Team dovetail ad Mike Kinkin , @Melissa’s Produce for providing fruit and snacks, The Root Team and @RaRandy R , who supports so much for our sport, APcom /@MZ cCompita Mz and their venerable owner @Abel Perez , a great guy from San Antonio who loves one wall. Sean Love racquetball, Philip’s Plastics and @Progressive Cabinet Corporation fill out hte rest of the silver sponsors.
Can Micah Rich lead his team to a two-fer of pro national outdoor titles? Photo Mar22 by Steve Fitzsimons
Hello racquetball fans. Welcome to the 2022 3Wall Ball Outdoor Championships, held in fabulous Las Vegas on the grounds of the The STRAT Hotel and Casino.
There’s hundreds of players, four events, and a ton of fun. We’ve already written a pretty comprehensive preview for the @USA Racquetball newsletter, so we won’t step on that too much.
The pro draws are stacked on both sides this year, which will make the tournament a neutral viewer’s paradise. #1 Men’s pro double seeds Daniel de la Rosa and @Alvaro Beltran face a tall road ahead, with the top of their men’s pro doubles draw completely stacked with talent. The Women’s Pro doubles draw features at least 5 teams with reasonable expectations to win it all; one of these favorites is not even going to make the semis.
So, tune in all weekend. Follow both the @IntInternational Racquetball Tour and the LPRT to get live broadcast announcements: both teams are here and broadcasting both show courts.
One last thing: see this link for the 2022 event Media Guide, a huge program with a ton of biographical and WOR historical data.
Moscoso makes it two in a row. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory
Congrats to your winners on the weekend:
– Singles: Conrrado Moscoso
– Doubles: Samuel Murray & Andree Parrilla
Moscoso wins his 4th pro IRT singles title, tying him with Alejandro Landa , Steve Keeley , @Steve Serot, and @Gregg Peck for 20th all time. Murray and Parrilla each break long title-less streaks: Sam wins his first pro doubles title since 2018, and Andree his first since 2019.
– Solid win by Nick Riffel to advance over Colombian @AndAndres G
– Bravo to Colombian junior Jhonathan Flores to push solid Mexican veteran Jaime Martell to a breaker before falling.
– @Anthony Martin with a solid win over budding star @EzeEzequiel Subi to move on.
– NorCal’s @Walter Ramos pushed Sam Bredenbeck a little in the second game but fell 2,10.
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In the 32s, a few blow-outs but five tie-breakers with some upsets.
– Natera pushed to a breaker to down Collins in the 16/17 match.
– Riffel pushed Keller to an 11-7 breaker before losing.
– Sam Bredenbeck got the first game but cou ldn’t close out against Bolivian @Kadim Carrasco.
The two notable upsets:
– Argentina’s Diego García took out @Javier Mar 11-10 in perhaps his best professional win. Match point was amazing, with multiple dives from Mar to extend the rally and then a backhand overhead splat winner from Diego to take it. He gets a crack at Rocky next, and is clearly building on his main-draw appearance last week at the US Open.
– In an all-Mexico affair, Martel took out Fernandez to move on. This is an upset by seed, and probably a slight upset by true talent levels, but its still a great win for Martel, who always seems to make noise when he plays IRT events.
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In the 16s, a couple more massive wins for infrequent tour players
– Martell took out #3 @Samuel Murray 8,14 to make his first ever IRT pro singles quarterfinal.
– Garcia achieved the same feat, topping Carson in a breaker to get to his first ever pro quarter as well.
Other notable 16s results:
– #8 Manilla held serve and topped the always-tough #9 Keller in a breaker
– The mercurial Mercado (hey, that almost rhymes!) dispatched the US Open finalist Montoya with relative ease. Its all about the matchups: despite recent runs of form, Mercado has now beaten Montoya in 3 of their 4 meetings, and in all 3 pro meetings.
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In the Quarters, some more shocks
– Moscoso ground out a win against Manilla, who made it closer than some may have thought it’d be.
– The Garcia train came to a crashing halt at the hands of fellow youngster Portillo, who blew past him 2,5.
– For about 15 minutes it looked like another major upset for Martell, who took down his former frequent WRT rival Bredenbeck 15-2 in the first. Then, Jake woke up and crushed Jaime 15-3, 11-2 the rest of the way to improve to 7-1 lifetime against him to move into the semis.
– Mercado continued providing surprises, edging #2 @Andree Parrilla 13,14 to move into the semis.
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In the Semis
– Moscoso pulled a rabbit out of his hat to win an 11-10 breaker over Portillo, in a match he really should not have won. Portillo had a setup at 10-7 and missed it, and Conrrado never gave the serve back. Lost opportunity for Lalo, but credit to Conrrado for making it to the final.
– Jake repeated the results from last week at the US Open, topping Mercado in two straightforward games to make his second ever IRT pro final.
In the Finals, Moscoso cruised to his 4th title, winning 11,7.
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Points Implications of results:
This tournament expires the Jan 2021 Atlanta Grand slam, which was won by Sam, so he had a ton of points to defend. Fittingly, he’ll fall from #4 to #6 after this weekend. Despite winning this weekend with Daniel missing the event, Conrrado only picks up a few points on DLR in the race for #1. Despite not playing, Kane actually improved one spot since he did not play the 2021 event that dropped off.
Due credit to Portillo/Acuna, who have teamed up anew this year and are getting results. they made the MD pro doubles final, and now they’ve topped the #1 seeds Montoya/Mar to make this final from the top half.
On the bottom half, #2 Parrilla/Murray had to fend off mat-point against from home town favorites Manilla/Fernandez before advancing 11-10 into the final.
In the final, the veteran doubles team of Murray/Parrilla finally got a win together, topping team Dovetail 10,13 for the title.
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Men’s Open, other draws
– Sebastian Fernandez won the Men’s Open title as the #1 seed, beating surprise finalist Colombian junior @Jhonatan Flores in the final.
– Garcia teamed with NorCal top player @Will Reynolds to take the Men’s Open doubles title.
– @Carla Munoz topped @Annie Roberts in the Women’s Open final.
– Mercado teamed with @Kimberly Randolph to beat Munoz/@Tyrone Snipes in the Mixed Open final.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters @Favio Soto and his collection of guest broadcasters, which included Erika Manilla and other local voices who did a great job.
Manilla is pulling double duty this weekend, playing and hosting.
Photo 2019 Us National singles, Photographer Kevin Savory
Hot on the heels of the Us open, the IRT moves westward to Northern California for a new event, the Golden State Open. Held in Pleasanton, CA, it represents the first time the Men’s pros have played in NorCal since 2015, and the first time since 1984 that the tour has played in Pleasanton. Back then it was called the “Schoeber’s Christmas Classic” but now its the brainchild of IRT players Bobby Horn and Adam Manilla, who piggy backed off of the US Open purposely to get a number of the international players another tournament while on US Soil. R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=39852
33 men’s pros are in the draw this weekend, and a couple of notable top 8 absences will make for some interesting matchups. US Open champ @Conrrado Moscoso has ascended to #2 on tour, and gets the #1 seed here with DLR missing the event. Also skipping out this weekend is #6 ranked Landa and #8 ranked Kane, who will be sidelined for sometime with his ankle issue.
Lets preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to: In the round of 64:
@Jaime Martell will have a good match with Colombian junior @Jhonatan Flores
Bolivian junior @Ezequiel Subieta will have a solid match against some-time tour player AAnthony Martin
– Powerful lefty NorCal outdoor specialist (and new dad) Walter Ramos will have his hands full against the improving @Sam Bredenbeck . Lots of broken balls in this one.
Projecting the 32s: here’s a few possible upsets to watch for in the 32s.
#17 Alan Natera could upset #16 Robbie Collins to get into the main draw, though Collins plays quite frequently on these courts and could have the advantage.
#12 @Javier Mar will have his hands full with Argentine U21 phenom @DDiego García , who just won the U21 event in Minneapolis over a ton of really quality players.
Martel will certainly vex #14 Sebastian Fernandez to move on.
– Sam Bredenbeck has one of his better chances to advance into the main draw in recent memory with a projected matchup against Bolivian @Kadim Carrasco
round of 16 to watch for:
#8 Adam Manilla versus #9 @Carlos Keller Vargas . Tough one, as 8/9 seed matches always are. Manilla has been playing solid, but Keller has finals capability on the right day.
#12 Mar over #5 Rocky Carson : not the first round that Carson wants to see, a player who can regularly get to the semis of pro draws if he was seeded properly.
#3 @Sam Murray versus #14 Fernandez; these two have met three times; Patata got a win in 2017, Murray crushed him in South Dakota in 2019, then a tiebreaker win for Big Canada in May of 2019. Can Fernandez even the score?
#6 @Jake Bredenbeck versus #11 @Andrés Acuña : they haven’t met since 2017, and both players have come a long way since. Which Acuna shows up? The one who makes the finals of int’l events or the one who loses to local open players in the round of 32?
– #7 Mario Mercado versus #10 Rodrigo Montoya : Mercado has beaten him both times they’ve played professionally. But Montoya is coming off a US Open final. Will he have a letdown or will he build on his success?
Projected Qtrs:
Moscoso over Manilla
Portillo over Mar; if Mar can get past Rocky he may be too winded to handle the kid.
Murray over Jake
Montoya over Parrilla; they’ve played so many times in the past, it’s less about talent and more about mental. Semis and Final:
Moscoso over Portillo
Montoya over Murray
final; rematch of US OPen; Moscoso over Montoya.
Doubles review A really fun doubles draw in store for California, with 6 or 7 teams who could win it. The Bredenbecks will try to build on their US Open finals appearance but will have to beat both Portillo/Acuna and Montoya/Mar to do so. Moscoso and Keller are the #3 seed but may be the favorites.
I’ll go with Moscoso/Keller over Montoya/Mar in the final.
Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots! Thanks to the Tourney Directors Bobby Horn and @Adam Manilla for putting this event on! International Racquetball Tour
Moscoso takes the US Open crown, writing his name into the record books Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory
Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:
Men’s Singles: Conrrado Moscoso
Women’s Singles: Paola Longoria
Men’s Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa & Alvaro Beltran
Women’s Doubles: Natalia Mendez & Erika Manilla All results now uploaded to the PRS datbase. Here’s the Match Report links:
Men’s Singles: https://rball.pro/lsu
Women’s Singles: https://rball.pro/pb5
Men’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/sq4
Women’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/t72 On the Men’s singles side, a brand new US Open winner in Moscoso, who blew through the draw to capture his 3rd career title and really make a statement on the tour. Paola wins her 12th career US Open title but had to work to do so. DLR/Beltran win their 3rd US Open doubles title together and defend their title, maybe the last time doing so if Beltran retires. And we have a brand new team and brand new faces on the US Open women’s pro podium.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=39683
Lets review the notable matches in the Men’s Singles draw.
In the qualifying, only a couple of surprises for me (from my preview) making the main draw:
Christian Wer gets a walk-over against Alejandro Cardona , a bummer b/c I thought he’d really press Portillo in the 32s.
Tough win for the up-and-coming Bolivian Miguel Angel Arteaga over tough NJ player @Joe Kelley to advance.
– U21 up and coming Mexican @Guillermo Ortega Jr. took out top American player @Maurice Miller in two.
In the 32s, just three upsets by seed (and we predicted two of them)
#19 Mar topped #14 Beltran 1,0, a score line that indicates that Beltran probably was going through the motions or protecting against injury to focus on doubles.
#18 Garay took out #15 Carter in a tie-breaker.
– The biggest upset though, was #54 Garcia taking out #11 Sebastian Franco 11-8 in the breaker. Franco has been on a rough stretch on tour lately, and Garcia is a sneaky good player who’s gotten wins in the past.
In the 16s, 7 of the 8 matches went chalk, but one massive upset and a couple of surprising results to this observer:
#16 Rodrigo Montoya upset the #1 seed and Defending champion @DaDaniel de la Rosa in a tiebreaker (10),14,9. DLR had match point on his racquet in game two, then missed a slew of shots in the breaker to really squander this match. No offense to Rodrigo, but for me this was more DLR losing than it was Rodrigo winning. Montoya utilized a high lob Z to DLR’s backhand throughout the breaker that DLR uncharacteristically did not attack, leading to setups and setbacks. After bailing out of the Virginia event with little notice and little information, one has to wonder what DLR’s level of commitment to the sport is at this point, given his rising Pickleball stature (he is on a @Major League Pickleball team and competes often on the PPA tour).
#5 Landa gave #12 @Andres Acuna no room for drama with a straightforward win.
My big upset pick was a repeat of #19 Mar over #3 Samuel Murray , but after a first game loss Murray found the solution and ground out an 11-8 tiebreaker win. All credit to Murray for a huge comeback in the breaker, going down 0-7 before coming back to win; that’d never happen in rally scoring folks!
I thought #10 @Adam Manilla had a shot against #7 @Rocky Carson, and took game one. But Carson bounced back to win the breaker.
Its the second straight IRT event with a #16/#17 seed upsetting the #1 in this round, and unless Carson makes a huge run it guarantees a new US Open champion for 2022 (here’s a summary of the first 25 US Open finishers: http://rb.gy/cifvcf )
In the Quarters, my predictions went out the window.
Montoya improved to 6-3 h2h against Bredenbeck in top-level events by winning two close, sometimes controversial games 13,14.
Landa reversed the result from two weeks ago in Maryland, beating Lalo 14,10 to move on and continue to fulfil @Sudsy Monchik ‘s bold predictions.
In a stunning result, #6 Moscoso destroyed #3 Murray 7,2 to move on. Clearly the Bolivian has tired of losing to Big Canada and found a game-plan to counter Murray’s in a big way.
– #2 Parrilla quietly moved into the semis by moving past Rocky.
In the Semis:
Montoya crushed Landa 6,5 to advance to his first pro final.
Moscoso similarly crushed Parrilla 5,6 to move into the final.
In the Finals, Montoya really had no answers for Moscoso on the day. The second game was a complete blow out, and Conrrado really made a statement here winning the title 8,4.
Points Implications of Men’s Singles results This event will expire the March 2020 Chicago event, the last event before Covid shut the sport down, and the points ramifications are large:
Moscoso should move up to #2 on tour, though still 700 points or so behind DLR.
Kane drops to #8; he won Chicago in 2020 and loses all those points.
Montoya should move up to #12, finally getting out of that 16/17 range and making it easier on himself to continue to get to back ends of tournaments.
Franco and Beltran now project to #15 and #16 on tour, putting significant questions on their continued participation on tour.
– We should also see significant rises from the two long-shots who advanced into the main draw, Garcia and Barth.
LPRT Pro Singles Review Here’s a recap of notable matches in the Ladies singles draw. In the 32s, almost no surprises but a couple of good matches.
Cristina Amaya got a solid win over Nancy Enriquez 4,12
Jenny Daza won a very tight match over @Maria Renee Rodriguez (14),13,7.
#15 Sheryl Lotts overcame a first game loss to blank #18 @Micaela Meneses in game 2 and survive the tiebreaker. Nearly half the round of 32 matches were complete blow outs: 8 of the matches played featured score-lines where the losing player scored 6 or fewer points TOTAL in the match. There’s definitely a line of delineation on tour right now. In the 16s: 100% chalk. All top 8 seeds advanced, though there were a couple of surprising results for me, and several close matches
In the 8/9, Brenda Laime setup a rematch with Longoria by taking out #9 @KelaLawal Kelani in a breaker.
#5 Jessica Parrilla went breaker to down #12 Valeria Centellas
The shocker of the round for me was #4 @Natalia Mendez holding serve and downing #13 Ana Gabriela Martinez in two close games. Based on form and talent, I thought for sure Gaby was making the semis here.
Great win for #7 Carla Munoz , downing #10 and frequent rival Samantha Salas Solis to earn her first ever US Open quarter final. In the quarters:
#1 @Paola Longoria pasted the player who defeated her in Virginia two weeks ago in Laime 1,8 to make a statement and move on.
#5 Parrilla got another solid win, this time over #4 Mendez, to move back into the US Open semis for the first time since 2016.
#3 Erika Manilla turned the tables against @AANgelica Barrios (who defeated her at Worlds a few months ago) and moved into the semis by edging the Bolivian 13,14.
#2 @Alexandra Herrera made fast work of the #7 Chilean @Carla Munoz 5,2. So, nearly chalk into the semis, with 1,2,3 and 5 seeds. Semis:
Longoria was not troubled by her long-time Mexican rival Parrilla, winning 4,5 to get back to the US Open final for the 14th straight time
Manilla got her best ever professional win, crushing Herrera 6,6 to get to her first pro final.
In the Final, Manilla took a scintillating first game, then Longoria made some adjustments and cruised to the title, her 12th. Final score (13),5,3. Manilla has definitely put her name into the ring among the sport’s elite players as someone who absolutely could take the crown from Paola, but has her work cut out for her to vanquish the GOAT.
Points Implications of this event:
At the top of the LPRT, these results won’t change much. Vargas still held a sizeable lead on Manilla for #3 and it will take a couple more results for that lead to evaporate.
Longoria and Herrera still hold a huge lead at the top of the tour.
– Mejia will drop a couple of slots, especially once the 2021 US Open expires off.
Men’s Pro Doubles review Chalk in the 16s, with all 8 top seeds advancing without any even being pressed to a breaker. The big story of the Men’s Doubles was the amazing play by the Bredenbeck brothers, who beat the presumptive favorites Mar/Montoya and then handled the excellent #3 seeds Murray/Parrilla to get to the final. From the top, all credit due to DLR/Beltran, who beat the excellent Bolivian pair of Moscoso/Keller to get to the final themselves.
From there, DLR/Beltran overcame a 15-14 first game loss to win t heir 3rd title.
Women’s Pro Doubles review: No real surprises in qualifying; the only qualifier upset was the solid Bolivian doubles team of Barrios/Daza taking out the relatively new partnership of Lotts/Enriquez to get into the main draw. In the quarters, the Guatemalan national team of Gaby/MRR took out the reigning US National champs and the winners of the last pro stop Scott/Lawrence in the 4/5 seed matchup. Otherwise the top 3 seeds moved on with ease.
The big story was the play of Mendez/Manilla, who took out the top two seeds en route to the title.
U21, Open, other notable draw results:
The IRT U21 was won by Diego Garcia, who took out presumptive favorite Trujillo in the semis and then held serve against hte improving Ortega in the final. Great win.
The LPRT U21 was taken by Centellas, who ground out a win against 18U Bolivian champ Meneses.
Men’s Open was taken by #1 seed Jordan Barth, who took out former IRT touring pro Costa Rican Felipe Camacho in the final.
Women’s Open was taken by Chilean Carla Munoz, who took out precocious Costa Rican MariCruz Ortiz in the final.
Men’s Open Doubles was taken by Mexicans Romano/Trujillo over Californians Torres/Reynolds.
– Women’s Open Doubles was won by Kaiser/Ros.
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew , as well as the LPRT crew led by @Tim Baghurst and Sandy Rios. Thanks to the Tourney Director @Connor Shane for all the work 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 Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.
Next up? Per our handy master racquetball calendar … https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/ We have a super fast turnaround for the IRT pros, who immediately head to the Bay Area to play in Manilla/Horn’s Golden State Open.
After that, a break until 3WallBall in Vegas, which i’ll be at all weekend! If you’re there definitely come say high.
can DLR defend his U S Open title? Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory
We’re at the US Open, the biggest event of the year.
I wrote up a huge preview for @USA Racquetball with “odds” of winning for each of the two pro singles draws, so I don’t want to write a ton here. Instead, go to the below link, open the Event Program, and read it there. The program has a TON of useful information on top of what i’ve written.
In this post, i’ll talk about some of the matchups I’m looking forward to in the opening rounds of the draws (i.e., Wednesday and Thursday), then i’ll cruise through some players to watch with some light predict ions.
IRT Singles:
I think your 128 and 64 round qualifiers will be:
– #17 Sebastian Fernandez , who continues to be “stuck” right in that 16/17 seed range, making it tough on him to move forward in main draws.
– @Sam Sam Brede , who looked so good at Worlds playing doubles.
– Veteran Bolivian power player @Kadim Carrasco
– Guatemalan regular Edwin Galicia
– Atlanta’s own and USAR board member Maurice Miller
– #18 Team Zurek member Eduardo Garay .
From there, here’s some of the round of 32 matches i’m looking forward to:
– 16/17 @Rodrigo Montoya vs Fernandez: two of the most athletic guys on tour battling it out. Could go either way.
– #9 Jake Bredenbeck versus former 9-time national junior champ Jordan Barth could be an interesting matchup of fellow Minnesota natives who have met plenty in local events in the past.
– #12 Andres Acuña versus Zelada; these two just met in Maryland, and Zelada upset the Costa Rican with relative ease. Could he do it again?
– #13 @Carlos Keller Vargas vs Trujillo; this could be a real interesting meeting, and an upset watch.
– #4 Eduardo Portillo versus Cardona: Cardona can and will score points against his young Mexican rival.
– #14 @AlvAlvaro Beltran cannot be happy about seeing Mar feeding into his round of 32 match.
– #11 Sebastian Franco projects to face a very tough former Junior world champion in Garcia.
– #15 @TThomas Carter versus Garay is an upset to look for.
In the 16s, a couple of possible upsets to look for:
– #1 Daniel de la Rosa versus Montoya; not the round of 16 that DLR would want; Montoya can win this.
– #5 @Alex Landa vs Acuna; if this comes to pass, these two have quite a bit of history.
– #19 Mar vs #3 @SSamuel Murray , a rematch of the semis from the Maryland IRT event, won by Mar.
– #7 Rocky Carson vs #10 @Adam Manilla , who I wonder if he could get an upset win.
My semis: DLR, Portillo, Parrilla, Moscoso. I think Lalo can beat Landa again, I think Moscoso takes care of Mar (though if Murray advances, Moscoso could be in trouble).
My final: Moscoso over Portillo.
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Men’s Doubles:
15 teams are here, but the top 4 seeded teams have really separated themselves in both pro and international competitions oer the past year.
I like #4 Moscoso/@Roland Keller to upset the #1 DLR/Beltran team, #2 Montoya/Mar over Parrilla/Murray, and to eventually win the title.
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Ladies Singles
31 Ladies entered into the singles draw.
In the 32s … look for some tough openers:
– #16 Cristina Amaya draws #17 @Nancy Enriquez in a super tough opener for both these long-time LPRT vets.
– #5 @Jessica Parrill gets USA national @Lexi York , who has been training with the Bredenbecks and will be a tough out.
– #14 @Maria RMaria Renee Rodriguez gets the tough Bolivian veteran @Jenny Daza in an upset watch.
– #15 @Sheryl Lotts takes on Bolivian junior national champ @MMicaela Meneses in a fun one for both players.
In the 16s:
– 8/9 @Brenda Laime vs US national team member Kelani Lawrence could be a barn burner. Laime famously took out Longoria in Virginia, while Lawrence only exited at the hands of eventual winner Herrera 14,14.
– #5 Parrilla vs #12 @Valeria Centella could be closer than Leoni prefers.
– #4 @NNatalia Mendes draws Gaby in an upset watch by seed.
– #3 US National champ @EErika Manilla will have her hands full with Daza.
– US National Hollie Scott has to come up with a game plan to beat the consistent Bolivian @AngelAngelica b .
– Salas-Munoz is a frequently seen matchup lately, with the two players splitting wins
My semis: Longoria, Martinez, Barrios, Herrera. I don’t think Laime can win twice in a row, I think Gaby takes out Leoni, I think Barrios upsets Erika, and I think Herrera beats either Salas/Munoz.
My final: 1 vs 2, with Longoria securing the biggest title in the sport.
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Ladies Doubles Preview:
The absence of Mejia robs the draw of the Herrera/Mejia team that would normally press for the title. In their absence, I think #1 Longoria/Salas cruise to the title. They’ll likely face the most recent LPRT pro double champions from Virginia Lawrence/Scott in the semis, a fun match. On the bottom, Herrera replaces Mejia with excellent doubles player Parrilla and will make the final.
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Follow USA Racquetball, IRT, LPRT on FB to get live streaming updates.
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.
Coincidentally, if you’re interested in playing Fantasy Racquetball for this event, the links to the brackets are advertised on LPRT’s main page. Both the IRT and LPRT are running fantasy competitions this year. The winner each week gets free swag!
Parrilla is the #1 seed for the first time in his career. Photo 2019 US Open via Kevin Savory
Welcome back to Men’s Pro Racquetball! It seems like it has been ages since the last IRT event, in May, in New York. We’ve had two international events, multiple nationals, outdoors, and ladies pro events in the interim … but now we’ve got the Men’s tour back in action. And the tour returns to the Washington DC/Baltimore area for a Tier-1 for the first time since 2019, when the old Valentine Open was held at the former Laurel SportFit club (since closed, a Covid casualty unfortunately). This weekend we’re at the legendary Severna Park Health and Racquet, roughly halfway between Washington and Baltimore, a club that has run tournaments for decades and still has a old-school stadium seating behind its show court.. The IRT did run a lower tier event at this club in May of 2021, so some of the pros are familiar with the setting. R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=39163 There’s 40 IRT men’s pros entered into the singles draw this weekend, and we have a couple of curious missing players which will make for interesting seeding. #1 Daniel de la Rosa is not here, meaning that Andree Parrilla is the #1 seed, a career first for him. Also missing for one of the rare non-injury times in his life is #8 @Rocky Carson , perhaps “travelled out” after multiple IRF trips this summer and looking to avoid a cross-country trip so close to the US Open. This puts both @ Mario Mercado and @Jake Bredenbeck into top 8 seed placement, giving them guaranteed byes into the round of 16.
Other top 20 players missing include Fernandez and Trujillo (who is at Mexican Junior Nationals this weekend along with a few others who normally would be here). Interestingly, @Alvaro Beltran is here, and will be playing Pro Doubles with someone not named De La Rosa for the first time in recent memory (he’s playing with Landa as the #1 seeds).
Lets preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that I’m looking forward to: In the round of 128:
A rare singles appearance by Bolivian doubles specialist Roland Keller , facing New Jersey’s @ David Austin in the opening round.
Junior U16 Texan @Cole Sendry is here and starts his tourney against local open player @Troy Moore.
Top New England player John Behm has travelled down I-95 for the event and faces off against one of the Kelley Brothers in Sam.
– Two of the better Maryland-based open players (@Dylan Pruitt and @Ben Bleyer are entered and have their work cut out for them against @Abraham Mercado and former IRT touring pro @Kyle Ulliman respectively
In the round of 64:
#17 overall seed @Javier Mar gets a tough one in Roland Keller to get into the main draw.
Bolivian veteran @Kadim Carrasco returns to the tour and likely faces Texan youngster Sendrey to move on. This will be a great test for Sendrey if he makes it here in the opener.
Mexican dark-horse @Jaime Martel is here and kicks off his event against the Pruitt/Mercado winner.
– A tougher opener than #18 @Jordy Alonso deserved, likely facing Ulliman.
Projecting the 32s: here’s some possible matchups, which should be great.
#16 @Eduardo Garay projects to face Mar, a really nice matchup and contrast of styles. Mar is the better player, but has been out of singles action for a while. Can Garay grind out a win against the veteran control player?
#12 @Carlos Keller versus #21 @Alan Natera; Keller should advance here, but Natera can surprise.
#11 @Andres Acuna , who has now put himself squarely in the conversation of “man I’d least like to see in the qualifying draw,” faces local pro MoMo Zelada in the 32s. Zelada will get home-town bounces and fan support, but Acuna should advance.
#10 @Adam Manilla gets perhaps the toughest qualifier draw in #23 @Jaime Martel. I’ve got Manilla higher on the pecking order, but Martel can get wins. This will be an upset watch for sure.
#15
Thomas Carter has his work cut out for him against #18 Alonso. Another upset watch: Alonso has been on a hot streak lately, with 2022 wins over Horn, SFranco, and Jake.
Round of 16: Here’s some interesting projected matches for me in the 16s, which start Friday afternoon.
#1 Parrilla vs #17 Mar: wow, not the easy opener the #1 seed would normally expect. Up until quite recently I rated Mar as the better overall player than Parrilla, and these two go back a long ways. I don’t see an upset, but I do see a close match.
In the always-close 8/9, we get @Sebastian Franco on his (sometimes) home courts versus @Jake Bredenbeck . These two have split their last few meetings, dating to 2018, but Jake topped Sebastian easily the last time they met. Edge to Jake.
#5 @Conrrado Moscoso projects to face his country-man Keller, the mane he’d least like to see here. With DLR out of the top of this draw, Moscoso has to like his chances to get to the final (especially on the back of his great run at Worlds). But first he has to get past a player he’s played dozens of times in the past, and who knows how to beat him. Carlos beat Conrrado handily at last year’s US Open on the way to the final; Conrrado needs to find a way to mentally win this.
#3 @Alex Landa versus #14 @Rodrigo Montoya. Tough one for the #3 seed, as Montoya just beat Alex at the World Games rather handily. Montoya’s only losses this entire year have come against Kane, Moscoso, De La Rosa, and Acuna (in the World Games final). I think Montoya moves on here, and is starting to really take his place at the top of the pro food chain.
– #6 Lalo Portillo versus #11 Acuna: first time they’ve ever met in a top level setting, and I’ve got them neck and neck in my pure talent rankings. Tough one to predict, but I’m leaning towards Acuna, who has been hot lately. Lalo won the 2021 event on these courts so he’s a fan favorite, but Acuna has really turned it up a notch lately.
Projected Qtrs:
Parrilla over Jake: they just met in Birmingham and Andree handled the American easily.
Moscoso over @Samuel Murray. Yes I know Murray had a couple of recent wins over the Bolivian; to me Moscoso is the 2nd best talent in the world and blew out the Worlds draw, and seems like he’s on fire right now. That being said … sometimes its about the match-up and not about the talent; if Murray can control Conrrado’s power and force him to play impatiently … this could be a loss for the Bolivian at the hands of Big Canada once again.
Montoya over Acuna: even though Acuna topped Montoya at World Games final .. it was rally scoring. I think longer non-rally scoring games will favor Montoya, who can grind out points and wait for opportunities.
Waselenchuk over Mercado: Mario’s goal will be to not get donuted in either game at the hands of the GOAT. Semis:
Moscoso over Parrilla. Parrilla is a grinder, but Moscoso is a phenom.
Kane over Montoya. Montoya has the power and talent to get some points … and has had some impressive showings against Kane before, but he cannot keep up flawless shot-making for the entirety of a match, which is what it takes to beat Kane right now. Finals: Kane over Moscoso, in what hopefully is a more enjoyable match than the last time they met, where the Bolivian didn’t seem to have any semblance of a game-plan and got wiped out attempting to lob serve one of the best shooters in history.
(Note: I really hope t his turns out to be the progression of matches, because my semis features 3 of my 4 favorite players to watch in terms of athleticism, power, and shot-making.)
Doubles review As noted at the top, DLR is not here, so the usual #1 seeds are now different. Beltran has teamed up with Landa and they’re #1. But they’re going to face some serious challenge; the #4 team is Moscoso/Keller, who have three IRF titles to their name and are coming off a finals appearance at Worlds. From the bottom, #2 Montoya/Mar are the 2021 Worlds champions and are also a tough team to beat, but they’ve got to contend with a relatively new team of Acuna/Portillo as the #3 seed, both of whom are excellentdoubles players.
In the end, I like Montoya/Mar to top Moscoso/Keller in the final.
Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots! Also look for @Gary Mazaroff on the mike this weekend, as well as yours truly Todd Boss, coming in for Saturday’s action. Thanks to the Tourney Director Slemo Warigon and regular helpers Grisz and Milbach et al for putting this event on! Associations International Racquetball Tour Hashtags #racquetball #proracquetball #outdoorracquetball #irt #lprt #wor Topics
