Like the men, the women’s pros are back in action one week after a pro stop. There was a huge draw in Arizona … but the second of two LPRT events back to back this close to the Worlds event in Guatemala in two weeks time has impacted the attendance in Chicago this weekend.
There’s 17 players entered into the singles draw, and 7 teams in the doubles draw. Here’s a preview.
Former top 10 player Vero Sotomayor is in the draw, but she is seeded dead last and plays into Paola if she advances past #16 Montserrat Pérez in the opener. In the 16s, here’s some fun matches to watch for:
#1 Paola Longoria takes on the Perez/Sotomayor winner, who I assume will be Vero. Its a good test for Sotomayor’s comeback.
#8/#9 features a rematch of last week’s 16 matchup between Rhonda Rajsich and Valeria Centellas. Rajsich upset the young Argentinian last week; can she make it two in a row?
#5 Angelica Barrios takes on USA’s #12 Kelani Lawrence in an interesting matchup. Lawrence pressed Herrera last week; can she press Barrios this week?
#4 Natalia Mendez Erlwein takes on the red-hot #13 Erika Manilla; upset watch here.
In a rare battle of lefties, #3 Alexandra Herrera takes on #14 Ana Laura Flores
#11 Carla Muñoz Montesinos has upset #6 Samantha Salas Solis in the past; she gets another shot at Samantha this week.
#7 Jessica Parrilla meets another hot player in #10 Brenda Laime Jalil. Parrilla can’t seem to catch a break with matchups in her struggle to get back to the top 5, and Laime has a great upset chance here.
#2 Maria Jose Vargas Parada takes on long-time LPRT touring vet Adrienne Fisher Haynes. Projecting the quarters:
Longoria over Centellas
Barrios over Manilla
Herrera over Munoz
Vargas over Parrilla Semis:
Longoria over Barrios
Vargas over Herrera.
Finals: another Longoria over Vargas.
Doubles preview: Just 7 teams, but a slew of tough players here. Should be a fun little draw.
#4 Perez/Parrilla, who have started to form a more frequent partnership, take on the lefty/righty duo of Lawrence/Flores.
#3 Argentinian national team of Mendez/Centellas takes on Manilla/Laime. Manilla played really well in the mixed pro in Arizona, and Laime is a dangerous up and coming player.
#2 Herrera teams with Munoz, to form an experienced doubles team; they start off against a really fun team of Vargas/Sotomayor. Upset watch here. Projected semis:
Moscoso is back; can he get a win?
Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory
A quick back to back from last week’s Arizona open is this coming weekend, as the tour moves from west coast to east coast and picks up a bunch of Florida players for the 2021 IRT Sarasota Open. This is the last event of the 2021 season … and with the IRT going to a calendar year season, this is the last chance for anyone to catch DLR for the year end title (spoiler alert: it isn’t happening; he’s got nearly a 600 point lead on Landa and his expiring 2019 points are miniscule). Anyway, 42 IRT players are entered into the singles draw, and there’s a full doubles draw here as well, so lets preview the matches to watch for. Furthermore, with Sarasota’s proximity to Worlds (just a couple weeks away), this tourney has a ton of international players getting in last minute practice ahead of Guatemala. The full Guatemalan team is here (the Martinez brothers, Mendoza, Salvatierra, Wer, Galicia and Julian Cruz), the Chilean representatives are here (Castro, Gatica and Salgado), and the full Bolivian team is here (Moscoso, both Kellers, Carrasco and Reque). So we should see some great international matchups this weekend. The seeds did not appreciably change from last weekend, so we’re set to see a lot of the same potential matchups that we saw last week. In the 128s:
18U up and comer Josh Shea comes down from NY and gets a shot at a long-time Canadian international vet Pedro Castro, recently repatrioted to represent Chile.
Marylander Dylan Pruitt gets a challenge against another Chilean, Rafa Gatica.
An intriguing matchup between two youngsters in Colombian Juan Pablo Rodriguez Castrillon and Bolivian Esteban Reque Zambrana.
The two Martinez’ from Guatemala have to play first round.
Floridian Matt Fontana takes on Guatemalan Geovani Mendoza for a shot at Costa Rican veteran IRT player Felipe Camacho. In the 64s:
Sam Bredenbeck v Josh Shea could be a fun match of Americans who might be evenly matched.
Bolivian vet Kadim Carrasco could face off against top Florida player Alex zamudio.
Mexican 18U champ Erick Trujillo returns to action and faces the winner of the Martinez clash, likely top Guatemalan Javier Martinez.
Reigning Florida state champ @Nolsen Jimenez, if he can take out Guatemalan veteran Edwin Galicia in the first round, projects to face another Guatemalan vet in Christian Wer. Projecting 32s:
Sebastian Fernandez is set to face the Bredenbeck/Shea winner
Eduardo Garay Rodriguez projects to face Carrasco yet again; they’ve met a couple times recently and always play a hard-hitting match.
The loser of the “who has to face Trujillo” lottery ticket is none other than Bolivian Carlos Keller Vargas. Really tough match-up for both players at this juncture; everyone is looking at Trujillo right now as the “next big thing” to come from Mexico, but in the meantime Keller is pushing to be “the next guy to win a tourney.”
The champion from last weekend Mario Mercado projects to face top Floridian Jimenez.
Fly all the way to Florida to play your doubles partner: Andres Acuña projects to face Camacho in the 32s. Looking ahead at the 16s:
#1 Daniel De La Rosa has to face #16 Fernandez again; he was pushed but advanced 11,13 last week.
#8 Jake Bredenbeck projects to face #9 Alvaro Beltran, who bowed out of last week’s singles event with an injury and more and more seems to want to transition to be mostly a doubles player.
#5 Lalo Portillo99 gets a winnable match against #12 Sebastian Franco, though Sebastian took out #3 Murray last week.
#4 Andree Parrilla gets the red-hot #13 Adam Manilla in the 16s; they met in the quarters last week and Andre needed a tiebreaker to mvoe on. Can Adam get a win?
#3 Samuel Murray will look to avoid another one-and-done, this time against Garay.
#6 Rocky Carson will not like his chances here; he is set to face the winner of Keller/Trujillo. Keller should move on from the 32s, and should represent a difficult challenge for Rocky here. Upset watch.
#7 Conrrado Moscoso, who bowed out of Arizona last minute, is back in action here and is set to face none other than last week’s winner in Mercado. Tough break for Mercado, who has not had success against Conrrado lately.
#2 Alex Landa , once again, faces Acuna in the 16s. These guys must be tired of playing each other. Landa needed a breaker last week to advance and may need another one here. Projecting the quarters:
#1 DLR blasted #8 Jake last weekend; can Jake make more of a match here?
#4/5 Parrilla/Portillo has been close lately; can Lalo push through and get a signature win?
The #3 v #6 quarter could just as easily be #10 v #11, but if its Murray/Carson I like the veteran over the Canadian. In reality i’m thinking it will be Murray vs Keller, and I like Keller.
#2 Landa vs #7 Moscoso; Landa has been struggling lately, while Moscoso is looking for a win. I see Moscoso dominating and moving on here. Semis:
#1 DLR over #4 Parrilla; like I said last week, these two play basically the same game… but Daniel is much better at it.
#7 Moscoso over #11 Keller; yes I know Keller shocked Moscoso in Minneapolis; he won’t get shocked again. Final:
– #7 Moscoso finishes the season win a win over DLR, who might not entirely care about this title once he figures out he’s sewn up the year end #1.
A great doubles draw is set for Sarasota: 15 teams and a ton of talent. The #1 seeds DLR/Beltran have their hands full; they project to face a tough all-mexican team of Parrilla/Fernandez in the quarters, then a top Bolivian team in the semis (whoever survives teh rematch of the Bolivian national doubles final from earlier this year). From the bottom half, some new teams are set to compete with top veteran doubles players Carson and Mercado playing with Portillo and Manilla respectively. But they’ll be facing against a very good #2 team of Landa/Murray.
In the end, i’m predicting a 1 v 2 final, with the top seeds winning.
Longoria wins again. Photo 2020 3WB by Steve Fitzsimons
Congrats to your winners on the weekend:
Women’s pro Singles: Paola Longoria
Mixed Doubles; Longoria and Alex Landa
Women’s Open: Angelica Barrios
Women’s Open/Elite Doubles: Diaz/Ros
R2 Sports App home page for event:https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37835
Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/FBCB63
In the 32s: some fun matches and some upsets
#16/#17 went tie-breaker, because of course it did. #17 Erika Manilla took out her country-woman Sheryl Lotts in a breaker to setup an anticipated rematch with Longoria.
#8 Valeria Centellas took out #25 Naomi Ros, notable because Ros is playing in her age 15 season (!). Ros recently moved to San Antonio after winning a couple of junior titles for Mexico in the late 2010s.
#12 Carla Muñoz Montesinos was pushed by the young Mexican Daniela Rico but advanced. Rico is another young player to watch for going forward.
#6 Angelica Barrios was pushed in game one by Michelle De La Rosa but then cruised to a two game win 13,3
Ireland #1 Aisling Hickey continues to impress, taking a game off of #7 Jessica Parrilla before falling in a breaker. If I’m reading the r2sports profile correctly, Hickey is now living in California, so we should be seeing a lot more of her on the tour.
The #15/18 match was as close as the 16/17, with #15 Maria Renee Rodríguez advancing past Erin Slutzky in a breaker.
In the 16s:
Well, if you thought you’d see another close one between #1 Paola Longoria and Manilla … Paola had other plans. She put a statement out there with an utter domination, beating Erika 0,1. Manilla did not score until it was 0-9 in the second game. Between singles and her doubles performances so far, Longoria looks as locked in as I’ve seen her in a while.
#9 Rhonda Rajsich got an excellent win over #8 Centellas in the breaker to move on to the quarters.
#4 and #5 Natalia Mendez Erlwein and Gaby Martinez each cruised past LPRT regulars Carla Muñoz Montesinos and Amaya Cris to get to their expected quarter final matchup.
#3 Alexandra Herrera faced a common foe in Kelani Lawrence, and each time they play it seems to get closer. This time around, Kelani took a game from the top Mexican lefty before Alexandra fought back for the 11-9 breaker win.
#6 and #7 Angelica Barrios and Parrilla each cruised past LPRT veterans in Brenda Laime Jalil and Nancy Enriquez. Laime was not able to build on her US Open momentum … but also ran into a player in Barrios who has made multiple pro finals.
#2 Maria Jose Vargas Parada was pressed in game one by LPRT vet MRR, but advanced 10,2
In the Quarters
#1 Longoria downed her longest rival Rajsich, but was pressed to do so like no other player in this draw.
#4 Martinez took out #5 Mendez with a well played 10,12 win.
#3 Herrera held serve against the young Bolivian Barrios, who had topped her the last time they met.
#2 Vargas fought off a match point against against #7 Parrilla to move on. A tough break for Leoni, who has STILL yet to advance to a pro semi since her knee injury 3 years ago.
In the Semis
#1 Longoria blew out #4 Gaby 6,5 to move to the final. She continues to play lights out ball this weekend.
#2 Vargas held serve against #3 Herrera 10,6 to setup a 1-2 final
In the Finals, Longoria continued her complete dominance over the tour at present, topping the #2 player Vargas 7,3 to take her 103rd career LPRT Tier1 title. She now has more than a 1,000 point lead atop the LPRT rankings, a gulf that could take quite a while for even the #2 to overcome.
Mixed Pro Doubles review Match report in the PRS database: none. I have the data captured locally but there’s so few mixed pro doubles matches that we have not build out a section off of www.proracquetballstats.com. Here’s a recap of some of the fun Mixed pro matches:
#1 Longoria/Landa came out configured interestingly against #16 Patrick Allin/Katie Neils, with Longoria on her backhand side. It seemed to flummox Allin and Neils, who switched back and forth to try to stem the flow of points against. In the end, the two top pro players advanced with ease 4,2.
#8 Jake Bredenbeck/Lawrence went tiebreaker to advance past the husband/wife pair of Alan Natera Chavez and Munoz.
#12 Andres Acuña/Vargas, with Acuna stepping in for original partner Moscoso, helped power the team to an “upset” over Lalo Portillo and MRR in a breaker.
The #4 bro/sis Parrilla team destroyed team Formulaflow ( MoMo Zelada and Laime) 5,9.
The biggest upset and shock of the round was the utter domination by the Manilla brother/sister team over #1 Samuel Murray/Gaby Martinez. The Manillas completely outplayed both sides of the top doubles pair and cruised to an 11,5 win.
the underseeded #11 De La Rosa team upset #6 Carlos Keller Vargas and Centellas 10,11 to move into the quarters.
The also-underseeded #10 team of Sebastian Fernandez and Herrera (who made the mixed pro doubles final in Denver), cruised past the #7 seeded team of Mario Mercado and Amaya.
#2 Alvaro Beltran fought off an injury sustained earlier in the evening to move into the quarters with Mendez with a close win over Jake Bredenbeck and Lexi York.
Quarter final review:
#1 Landa/Longoria continued to dominate, winning 1,10 over Bredenbeck/Lawrence. They’re going to be tough to beat.
#12 Acuna/Vargas upset the Parrilla bro/sis team in two straight to move on.
The #11 DLRs cooled the red-hot Manilla team to move on.
#10 Fernandez/Herrera upset #2 Beltran/Mendez. So your quarters are #!, #10, #11, and #12. Which goes to show you why its so hard to predict Mixed pro doubles, or to seed it based on player rankings. In the semis:
#1 Longoria/Landa dominated the Acuna/Vargas team to move into the final. They’re going to be tough to beat.
The DLRs got a solid comeback win, topping the Denver Finalists Fernandez/Herrera to return to the final of a mixed pro doubles major.
In the final, Longoria/Landa blew out the DLRs in game one, then hung on to take the title 3,13.
Women’s Open Singles: The top 4 seeds advanced to the semis as expected; all four are regular LPRT touring pros. In the semis, #1 Barrios edged #4 Munoz 11-10, while Enriquez took out #2 Centellas in a breaker. In the final, Barrios took a tight two game win over the veteran Mexican. Women’s Open/Elite Doubles:
The San Antonio based junior pair of Shane Diaz and Naomi Ros cruised through the 5-team RR to take the title.
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr.., and Tj Baumbaugh.
Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on FB. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but FB stripped it.
Next up? Per our handy master racquetball calendar … https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/
IRT is in Sarasota, LPRT is in Chicago next Weekend!
Mercado with his first ever IRT title! Photo from 3WB in 2020 courtesy of Steve Fitzsimmons
(see other re-cap for LPRT and Mixed Doubles review coming tomorrow). Congrats to your Men’s winners on the weekend:
IRT Singles: Mario Mercado
Open Singles: Alan Natera
Open Doubles; Sebastian Fernandez/Rodrigo Rodriguez Mario Mercado earns his first ever IRT win, and becomes the 42nd player ever to win a tier 1 IRT event. He becomes the second player representing Colombia (after Sebastian Franco), and the second native Bolivian (Conrrado Moscoso) to take a title on tour. Bravo!
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37835
Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: http://rball.pro/EE9595
In the 128s and 64s:
Gerhardt and Brennen Jennings had the expected close match in the 128s, with the Arizonian advancing 11,13 before getting dominated in the 64s by regular touring pro Alan Natera Chavez.
Rodrigo Rodriguez got a great win over former IRT touring pro Jose Diaz 11-8 in the breaker.
Arizonian intercollegiate player Ben Baron got a solid win over Californian Majeed Shahin.
Roland Keller took out “the Ref” Scott McClellan in a breaker in one of his rare singles appearances.
Guatemalan Javier Martinez had to go breaker to top SoCal’s Joel Adler. In the 64s:
Edwin Galicia topped his fellow Guatemalan Juan Salvatierra to advance into the 32s.
Rodriguez got his second solid win in a row over veteran IRT competition, topping Costa Rican’ #2 Felipe Camacho in a tiebreaker. Excellent showing so far by the lefty Mexican.
Utah’s Anthony Martin squeaked by Bolivian Roland Keller in an 11-10 tiebreaker
#18 seed Sam Bredenbeck went the distance to get by Guatemala’s Martinez 11-8 in the breaker.
In the 32s, two upsets by seeds and some other interesting results:
#16/#17 featured two Mexican players who last met in 2020 in Sebastian Fernandez and Alan Natera. Fernandez played his typical athletic and smooth game and controlled the match throughout,
#20 Kadim Carrasco pulled off one of his better career wins, upsetting #13 Eduardo Garay Rodriguez in a breaker. Solid win to put Carrasco into the main draw for just the second time in his career.
#14 Sebastian Franco was played tough by #19 Rodriguez, but was able to move on 7,12.
Maryland’s MoMo Zelada got the upset by seed over #11 Thomas Carter, going breaker to move on.
In the 16s, several upsets and several strong performances.
#1 Daniel De La Rosa was really pressed by #16 Fernandez, who was hitting the ball with significant pace but didn’t quite make all the right decisions on the court, which DLR took advantage of to win a tight 13,11 match. Fernandez was in control in game one but DLR ran off 10 straight points to win it, then stuck ahead most of game 2 to move on.
In a battle between the two losing finalists in the last two IRT events, Minnesotan Jake Bredenbeck came to play and moved past #9 Carlos Keller Vargas 12,7 to get a repeat shot at DLR.
#12 Adam Manilla is on absolute fire this weekend, and hot on the heels of his upset win in mixed doubles he took an 11-9 win over #5 Lalo Portillo. Manilla is showing the same kind of form he had when he raced to the semis at the 2020 Longhorn Open as a #19 seed.
#4 Andree Parrilla handled #20 Carrasco to move on.
The round’s biggest upset was the #3 seed Samuel Murray falling at this juncture to long-time IRT vet Franco. An all-around disappointing event for Big Canada, losing in the 1st round as a top seed with high expectations.
#6 Rocky Carson blitzed the upset-minded Zelada 0,6 to have his easiest opener in some time on tour.
#10 Mario Mercado was the benefactor of a hobbled #7 Alvaro Beltran, who retired in the second set to save himself for doubles.
In the latest version of the leading IRT grudge match, #2 Alex Landa and #15 Andres Acuña faced off at this juncture yet again. Acuna cruised to a game one win, but Landa turned the tide to take the breaker. Acuna seems like he’s ready to make a big move, but just needs to get out of that #15-18 range where he constantly plays into one of the two top guys. If that happens, look out because he’s playing solid ball.
In the Quarters
#1 DLR dominated #8 Bredenbeck 9,2 to move into the semis. This is a stark contrast in performance from the last time the tour was in DLR’s home state, when he suffered a shock round of 16 loss in Oct 2019.
#4 Parrilla held off the upset-minded Manilla, but needed a breaker to do it. After getting dominated in the first game, Parrilla made adjustments and cruised to win the next two games.
#6 Carson stayed unbeaten for his career against Franco, moving past the Colombian with relative ease after a close game one 13,6.
In the shock of the singles tourney so far, #2 Landa was destroyed by #10 Mercado 5,9. Mercado has beaten Landa in the past; in fact the last time they played professionally was a Mercado win, and Mario has been playing really solid ball lately, but 5,9 loss by the #2 player in the world is a shock. Landa has not made the finals of an IRT event now in more than 2 years.
In the Semis
DLR continues to look like a man on a mission, blasting #4 Parrilla 7,2 to move into the final. DLR is playing with such amazing confidence that it seems hard to fathom him taking a loss right now.
Mercado made his third career pro final, and got his first ever win over Rocky, with an 11-10 thriller Saturday night.
In the Finals, It looked like DLR was going to take his 4th successive tourney and really put a dominant stamp on this season … but then after cruising to a first game win, Mercado figured something out. He took a tight game two then ran away with the tiebreaker, giving DLR a 11-0 donut to take the title.
Points Implications of results It remains to be seen; if the IRT decides to “catch up” on points expiration, then three tourneys from Oct/Nov 2019 will come off the books. If that happens, then DLR will take an absolutely commanding lead atop the IRT rankings table. Murray and Landa would flip spots, giving Sam his highest ever ranking at #3. Jake and Mario would rise to #7 and 8 respectively, while Moscoso would tumble out of the top 10. But, this is all speculation until we see the updated rankings.
Men’s Open Singles review
As generally happens with big IRT draws … the open singles was also huge and well competed. 34 players entered. On the top, Sam Bredenbeck took advantage of Acuna’s withdrawal (he’s won the last few Open singles draws at IRT events) to cruise to the final with wins over Anthony Martin, Julius Ellis, and Felipe Camacho. On the bottom, Alan Natera took a walkover against Mercado (who forfeited the Open semis to focus on the IRT final), then beat Sam in the final 12,13 to win the Open title.
Men’s Open Doubles review It wasn’t a sanctioned/ official IRT pro doubles draw, but 19 teams competed in it anyway, including a ton of pro players, Here’s a quick recap:
From the top-side of the draw, up and coming Mexican doubles pair Fernandez/Rodriguez advanced to the final by topping two top Arizona pairs of players (including Genhardt and @charlie stadler in the quarters) and the top Guatemalan pair of Salvatierra/Martinez in the semis.
From the bottom-side of the draw, top doubles player Diaz playing with NorCal’s Will Reynolds cruised to the final with little trouble.
In the final…Fernandez/Rodriguez took the title and took the next step in perhaps being the next big Mexican doubles team to watch out for.
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew Thanks to the Tourney Director Jim Winterton 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? Per our handy master racquetball calendar … https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/
IRT is in Sarasota next weekend for a back to back. Meanwhile the LPRT heads to Chicago. So both tours in action; it will be a great weekend.
Carson has a chance to get back to the finals this weekend. Photo Portland 2019 via Kevin Savory
Here’s part 2 of the previews for this weekend: the IRT draw. We have a a full Men’s pro draw (with 45 players), so get ready for some great racquetball this weekend. Instead of a men’s pro doubles draw, we have big money in mixed doubles but still a huge Men’s Open doubles draw (38 teams), so we’ll run through that as well.
top-20 players missing on the men’s side: A last minute withdrawal from #6 Moscoso caused some last minute draw adjustments. He misses the event along with 3 other top 20 players: #2 Waselenchuk, #17 Montoya and #18 Mar.
Here’s a preview of qualifying, with matches to watch for:
In the round of 128:
#32/#33: A very interesting first rounder between Texan Brennen Jennings and Arizonian Thomas Gerhardt. Gerhardt plays a ton of outdoor, but he’s also got a ton of indoor experience. This should be an intriguing match to follow.
#44 @Julius Ellis, son of IRT legend John Ellis, makes his pro debut on the heels of making the US junior national 18U final earlier this year. He faces Colombian veteran Set Cubillos Ruiz in an fun first rounder.
Former touring pro and 209-veteran Jose Diaz returns to the IRT for the first time since Nov 2019. He faces off against a dangerous up-and-coming lefty from Mexico Rodrigo Rodríguez.
18U player Cody Elkins makes his pro debut here as well, and he gets long-time IRT player from Maryland MoMo Zelada for his troubles.
#23 Scott McClellan faces off against an interesting competitor in Bolivian Roland Keller, who is a doubles specialist and normally doesn’t play singles
Projecting the round of 64: if my predictions go as I think they will, here’s some interesting possible round of 64:
we might see an all-Guatemala grudge match between @Juan Salvatierra and Edwin Galicia for a shot at the main draw.
#19 @Felipe Camacho faces the winner of Diaz/Rodriguez in what could be a fun match.
An all-south American possibility between Kadim Carrasco and team Zurek’s Juan Pablo Rodriguez Castrillon is in the offing.
#18 Sam Bredenbeck will be pushed by Guatemalan Javier Martinez.
Projecting the 32s: here’s some possible matchups for a shot at the main draw.
#16/#17; thanks to two top10 players missing, we finally get a different 16/17 match from the past couple of events. This time Sebastian Fernandez is back to being “stuck” at #16, and he projects to play #17 Alan Natera Chavez in a battle of Mexicans.
Adam Manilla has gotten bumped up to #12 and likely faces Colombian veteran Cubillos for a shot at the main draw.
Eduardo Garay Rodriguez projects to face off against Bolivian veteran Carrasco, if he can get by the young Rodriguez.
An old-school IRT veteran matchup between Sebastian Franco and Jose Diaz projects in the #14/#19 spot.
#11 Thomas Carter will have his hands full to hold off an upset by #22 Zelada.
Lastly, #15 Andres Acuña gets a new match up in the round of 32 and projects to face the younger Bredenbeck brother.
round of 16: The first round will have some fun ones
#1 Daniel De La Rosa gets just his second ever #1 overall seed in an IRT event (first one was in march of 2018) having ascended to the #1 spot on tour after the US Open. He projects to face the winner of Patata and Natera, not the easiest opener he could have hoped for.
#8/#9 features two guys who have both been trending up this year in Carlos Keller Vargas and Jake Bredenbeck. Both players made pro finals in the past two events, and now they face off in the 16s. They’ve played twice, with Jake topping Carlos at the 2015 PARC and Keller topping Jake at the 2019 Iris open. I’m favoring Keller here.
#5 Lalo Portillo should cruise by Manilla here.
#4 Andree Parrilla will handle Garay’s pace and advance.
#3 Samuel Murray projects to face Sebastian Franco in the 16s again; these two met at the US Open at this juncture and Murray dominated.
#6 Rocky Carson will be favored to move on against the winner of Zelada/Carter.
#7 Alvaro Beltran, who I know hates it when i pick against him in these writings, has his hands full with #10 Mario Mercado. These two met in Denver and Mercado blitzed Alvaro 12,6 to move on. I’m predicting the upset here as well.
#2 Alex Landa is set to face none other than Acuna. Again. They played at this juncture in both Denver and Chicago earlier this year and there’s famously history here. These two have set to play a money match later this year and promotional videos have laid out all the past conflicts. Will this match prove to add another chapter to their story?
Projected Qtrs:
#1 DLR over #8 Keller. A rematch of the final of the US open happens two rounds earlier in Arizona, with Keller getting another shot at Daniel. DLR knows the game plan and will stick to it at his “home” tournament.
#4 Parrilla over his doubles partner #5 Lalo. The last time they played was at Mexican Nationals, a tie-breaker win for Andree. The gap between these two is closing though; and the last time they played professionally was a Lalo win. I expect a close breaker here, but like the way Andree has been playing and favor him to move on.
#6 Carson over #3 Murray. Carson is 11-0 lifetime over Murray, is not playing any doubles this weekend, and should have a somewhat easier time of it to get to the quarters. I like his chances here.
#2 Landa over #10 Mercado. Mercado can beat Landa; in fact the last time they played was a Mercado tight 2-game win over Landa. So this is no gimme for Alejandro. The question will be; is Alex healthy? He’s struggled with some physical issues lately, and has struggled to live up to his seeding for more than a year now.
Semis:
DLR over Parrilla. I think Daniel still has Andree’s number. They both play a similar style … Daniel just does it better right now.
Carson over Landa. Landa has not made a pro final since March 2020, the last event before Covid19 shut down. And even though Landa has a number of wins over Rocky in his career, he’s lost the last two times they played (both times for a USA national title). Landa is doing double duty this weekend as the #1 seed in Mixed, and I suspect it might just be enough of a toll on him physically to cost him in singles.
Finals;
DLR over Carson. An old-school meeting: these two have played no less than 31 times (29 on the IRT). Carson leads professionally 17-12 (19-12 including two IRF wins). But DLR has won 5 out of the last 7 times, dating to january 2018, sometimes impressively so. This could be a statement win for DLR, vanquishing a long-time rival when the stakes are highest.
Open Doubles review Not an official “IRT pro doubles” draw, but there’s a massive Open doubles draw with a number of top team. here’s a quick preview: From the top half, I like #1 Franco/Garay to top the young mexican lefty-righty team of Fernandez/Rodriguez in one semi. From the bottom half I’ll go chalk, with the #2 brother/brother Keller team topping #3 Diaz and Will reynolds.In the final, its Colombia over Bolivia, as Garay/Franco overpower the Kellers.
Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for Dean DeAngelo Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots! Thanks to the Tourney Director Jim Winterton and to Arizona State for putting this event on! Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on FB. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but FB stripped it. Tags Sponsor links @International Racquetball Tour @Reaching Your Dream Foundation Formulaflow Beastmade Apparel Zurek Construction, LLC/Francisco Fajardo Hashtags #racquetball #proracquetball #outdoorracquetball #irt #lprt #wor
Welcome to the big Arizona Open, hosted by the one and only Jim Winterton on the grounds of Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. This weekend is a rarity in pro racquetball; a combined tour event with both Men and Women that features a major Mixed Pro doubles draw! Today we’ll preview the women and mixed doubles, tomorrow the IRT. We don’t get to see mixed pro doubles much; the only tourneys i have tracked are from 2018 in Denver (won by the De La Rosas), 2019 in San Antonio (won by Natera/Mejia), 2019 in Syosset (won by DLR and Salas), and 2021 in Denver earlier this year (won by Montoya/Salas). But it is back, and we have a fantastic draw for the weekend. We also have a full Women’s pro singles draw (31 players) and a full Men’s pro draw (with 46 players), so get ready for some great racquetball this weekend. R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37835 top20 players missing on the women’s side: just 3 of the top 20.
Women’s top 20 players missing: #5 Mejia, #19 Riveros, and #20 Scott.
Women’s LPRT Singles. We have nearly a full 32 here; only #1 Paola Longoria gets a bye into the 16s. Here’s some round of 32s to watch for:
#16/#17 should be great: two top Americans in Erika Manilla and Sheryl Lotts battle it out for a shot at #1. Look for Manilla to move on; she’ll build on her US Open finish.
#9/#24 features two more Americans duking it out with Rhonda Rajsich facing Lexi York.
Amaya Cris and María Paz Riquelme have an intra-household battle, as they have to face off on the court for the first time.
Kelani Lawrence takes on veteran Susy Acosta, competing in her 24th pro season.
#6 Angelica Barrios has a tough 1st rounder against part time tour player Michelle De La Rosa.
#7 Jessica Parrilla has her hands full against Ireland’s Aisling Hickey, who turned some heads with her play in Minneapolis.
Like with the 16/17 match, the 15/18 between Maria Renee Rodríguez and Erin Slutzky could be tight. projecting the 16s:
As if karma was making the draw, we seem set to get a rematch between #1 Longoria and #16 Manilla. Lest anyone forget, these two met in a contentious semi in Minneapolis, marred by Longoria taking a reckless shot that hit Manilla in the side of the head. All eyes will be on this match to gauge the temperature early.
I like the possibility of a tiebreaker between #5 Natalia Mendez Erlwein and #12 Carla Muñoz Montesinos.
#3 Alexandra Herrera and #14 Kelani Lawrence always play tight matches, and this should not be any different.
#6 Angelica Barrios and #11 Brenda Laime Jalil will have a battle; they met in the quarters in Minnesota, with Barrios ending Laime’s run, but the Colombian will be looking for revenge.
#7 v #10 is a classic battle of Mexican veterans in Jessica Parrilla and Nancy Enriquez. They have traded off wins back and forth, but Jessica is in better form right now. Projecting the Quarters:
#1 Longoria over #8 Centellas; The Argentine took a game off the champ in 2019 PARC, but otherwise it has been smooth sailing for the #1.
#4 Martinez over #5 Mendez: Mendez has toppled Gaby the last two times they have played … but Martinez seems on a mission to live up to her seeding here.
#6 Barrios over #3 Herrera: Barrios is too tough to beat here, and beat the lefty the only other time they played.
#2 Vargas over #7 Parrilla: Parrilla can’t hang with Vargas game, which is all the way back to her pre-pregnancy state. Semis:
#1 Longoria outclasses #4 Martinez. Gaby still trying to get her second win over the top player in the world (she topped Paola for the 2018 world title).
#2 Vargas over #6 Barrios: This is a rematch of the US Open semi, where Barrios cruised to the first game then collapsed under the weight of Vargas’ power. Expect a similar result here.
Final: Longoria over Vargas
Mixed Pro doubles. There are 17 teams here this weekend, and the seeding may leave some people grumbling. But the seeding exactly matches the pro doubles rankings for the teams, so there is a methodology. Unfortunately, this method underseeded several really strong teams, which could lead to a very wide-open draw. I feel there’s at least 5 or 6 teams here that can win it. It seems like it will come down to match-ups. In the play in, I like the outdoor specialists Patrick Allin and Katie Neils to remember how to play with a back wall and advance to face the #1 seeds. Projecting the 16s:
#1 Landa/Longoria present a formidable team and should move on initially.
#9 Moscoso/Vargas seem under-seeded, especially since she’s the #2 player in the world and Moscoso has major doubles titles to his credit (2019 PARC, 2019 Bolvian Grand slam). They move on.
Another underseeded team is the De La Rosa husband/wife pair, seeded 12th. They get the upset over #5 Portillo/MRR to move on.
The #4 Brother/Sister Parrilla team should topple team Formulaflow Zelada/Laime.
#3 Murray/Martinez are my team to beat here; they start out by handling the lefty-righty brother-sister Manillas.
#11 features the finalists from Denver in Sebastian Fernandez and Herrera; they should “upset” #6 Keller/Centellas, though it will be very close. Centellas has long been a doubles pro, winning the 2018 worlds as a 16yr old.
Husband/Wife pair #10 Natera/Munoz should handle Mercado & Amaya, even though Mercado has proven how good a doubles player he can be.
#2 Beltran/Mendez get their tourney started by topping the younger Bredenbeck brother playing with York. Quarters:
The #1 vs #9 could be the final; it features the top two Women’s singles players and two of the top six men’s players in the world. I like the upset here; I think Moscoso will play with some passion, and I think Vargas can hang with Longoria on the forehand side. Landa regularly plays the forehand side when he plays Nationals with Sudsy Monchik or pros with Murray, and Moscoso can out shoot him on the backhand side.
I like the Parrillas to take out the De La Rosas in an upset. While DLR can take over a match (as we saw in Vegas), Jessica can outhit Michelle on the forehand side. It will be a close one, but look for the bro/sis to move on.
Murray/Martinez lost to Fernandez/Herrera in the semis in Denver 14,10. They get a rematch here, but I like the same result. If they both play forehands, the Patata/Alexandra team creates a serious strategic issue for opponents. Do they drive serve to her forehand and attempt to steal points with Gaby serving the powerful Patata on his forehand? Do they mix it up and force Gaby to play her backhand against Alexandra’s forehand?
#2 Beltran/Mendez are too experienced to lose to the newlyweds Natera/Munoz at this juncture; both the #2 seeds are incrementally better than their opponents and the result will show through in the score. Semis:
Moscoso/Vargas will over power the Parrillas on both sides of the ball.
Patata/Herrera’s matchup problems will take out Beltran/Mendez.
Final Herrera can’t hang with Vargas’ power, and Moscoso the shooter puts away pinch after pinch to win it for the South Americans.
Look for Men’s Streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for Dean DeAngelo Baer, @Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots! Look for Women’s Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live. Look for @ [554433128:2048:Timothy Baghurst], Jerry J Josey Jr., JP Edwards and @ [1254655965:2048:Tj Baumbaugh] on the mike, calling the shots! Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on FB. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but FB stripped it. Tags Sponsor links @International Racquetball Tour LPRT Hashtags #racquetball #proracquetball #outdoorracquetball #irt #lprt #wor
Roy Hernandez (pictured here on the L with tournament host Marcos Gravier) was the double winner this weekend. Photo Tropical Park 2021
Hot on the heels of the 3WallBall Outdoor World Championships event in Vegas, some of the state (and country’s) best long-wall outdoor players gathered at the famous long-wall courts at Waterford Park in Davie, Florida for one of the biggest long-wall only outdoor events each year; the Florida State Long-Wall championships. Waterford Park houses 8 long-wall courts, four of which are lit, and its tucked into a residential neighborhood in the suburbs north of Miami.
86 players entered and competed in both singles and doubles. Here’s some highlights from the top divisions.
In the Men’s Pro Doubles division, 7 teams entered, highlighted by the #1 seeded team of Roy Hernandez and @Marcos Gravier. They advanced to the final by topping the upset-minded team of @Tony Gonzalez and @Nicola Chafloque, who took out the #4 seeded team of @Yelandi Rivero and Robert Sostre in the quarters. On the bottom half, #2 seeds and long-time top Florida indoor players Jonathan Burns and Mike Harmon showed they have some outdoor chops too, taking a 11-10 nail biter in the semis over the tough outdoor team of Joe Young and @Carlos Bravo to make the final.
In the final…The #1 seeds held serve and Hernandez/Gravier topped Burns/Harmon 10,12 to take the title.
In the Men’s CPRT 40+ pro division, 11 teams entered, highlighted by the #1 seeded team of Aaron Metcalf and Ross Greenberg. Metcalf is among the best long wall players in the country, a long-time indoor star and former IRT touring pro who turned to outdoor when the last of the indoor racquetball clubs closed in his native Jacksonville, and he’s been a force at long-wall ever since. However, the #1 seeds were toppled in the semis by Burns and Gravier, who advanced 12,7 to make the final from the top half. In the bottom half, Rivera and Young took a tie-breaker win over #2 seeds @Thomas Gerhardt and Sostre to make the final.
In the final….Young used his pace to help drive his team to the title, with Young/Rivero topping Burns/Gravier 14,4.
In the Women’s Doubles Pro, the #1 seed was the traveling team from Virginia of @aime Brewer and Carrie Handfinger Hoeft, who earned their long-wall chops on the long-wall courts at Stratton Woods Outdoor Racquetball in Herndon VA. They were challenged by 3 all-florida teams in a RR for the title.
The Virginia team swept its three round robin games without dropping a game to take the title Saturday morning. The #2 seeds Teri Delgado and @claudia Andrade finished 2nd.
In the Mixed Pro Doubles, 6 teams challenged for the title.
The all-Florida team of Harmon and Luanne Pazos Bryant defeated the #2 and #1 teams en route to the title. In the semis they toppled Gerhardt and @Aime Brewer, and in the final toppled Roy Hernandez playing with Carrie Handfinger Hoeft.
Four brave souls entered the Men’s Pro singles division. Singles in long-wall is a test of racquetball shot-making and endurance, with players not only having to cover pinch shots up front but long bounding shots to the deep of the court. In the semis, #1 Iceman Sostre took out long-time Florida outdoor player Mike Blackney, who grew up playing at the famous “Spanish Monestary” courts in North Miami. On the bottom side, Hernandez got a solid win over multi-state champion Harmon. In the final…Hernandez dominated the New York Hall of Famer and took the title 8,7.
Thanks to tournament organizers Rob Mijares (who does so much for Florida outdoor racquetball) and Gravier. tags WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball Splathead Sportsgear USA Racquetball
Carter wins the battle of the pro lefties in Louisiana. Photo 2018 US Open Kevin Savory
There was an IRT tier 4 event held this past weekend at the University of Louisiana – Monroe (school mascot: the Warhawks) with a couple of touring pros popping in. Here’s a quick recap of the two Pro draws.
The pro singles had a 12-man bracket, headlined by the top 2 seeds Thomas Carter and Robert Collins. The rest of the draw was players featuring from the southwest states of Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida.
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In the 16s:
Cole Sendry, Richard Eisemann, Paul Julbes, and Matthew Healey, advanced into the quarters.
In the Quarters
#1 and #2 seeds Carter and Collins cruised, but score one for the old guys as top age group players Eisemann and Julbes upset seeded competition to move into the semis. Eisemann topped #4 seed Patrick Quinlan 10,10 while Julbes beat #3 seed Kip Atwell in a breaker. In the Semis, the two top pros each cruised; Carter topped Texan Eisemann 5 and -1, while Collins cruised past Julbes 5,2. They setup the expected final Saturday morning.
In the Finals, the two lefties treated the Louisiana crowd to a great first game, taken by Collins 15-14, From there, Carter turned on the heat and blew the game wide open, giving up just 3 points the rest of the way. Final score: (14),3,0.
Doubles review The #1 seeded team was comprised of the same two non-pro semi-finalists Eisemann/Julbes: they got a walkover in the semis to advance to the final. On the bottom side, #2 seeded team of Carter and Raymond Flowers took two games to make the final.
In the final…Carter/Flowers won a close game one, then raced to the two game title.
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from those at the tournament. Thanks to the Tourney Director Mark Thompson putting this event on!
Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on FB. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but FB stripped it.
Next up? Per our handy master racquetball calendar … https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/
Next up is the Long-Wall WOR championships in Davie Florida and the 2021 Long Island Open in NY.
Both Michelle and Daniel won all three events entered this weekend. Photo Mike Augustin Vegas 2019
Congrats to your winners on the weekend:
Men’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa/Alvaro Beltran
Women’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: Michelle De La Rosa/Carla Munoz
Mixed Pro 3-wall Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa/Michelle De La Rosa
Men’s pro 1-wall Doubles: Adam Manilla/Nick Riffel
Women’s Pro 1-wall Doubles: Victoria Rodriguez/Katie Neils
Mixed pro 1-wall Doubles: Rick “Soda Man” Koll/Michelle De La Rosa
Men’s 3-wall Singles: Mario Mercado
Women’s 3-wall Singles: Carla Munoz
CPRT Pro Doubles: Robert Sostre/Greg Solis
Paddleball Men’s Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa/Alvaro Beltran
Paddleball Mixed Doubles: Brenda Laime/Emmett Coe
Quite the amazing weekend for the De La Rosas in particular; Daniel entered and won three divisions (3-wall pro doubles, 3-wall mixed doubles, and Paddleball), while Michelle entered and won three divisions herself (3-wall pro doubles, 3-wall mixed and 1-wall pro mixed). 6 divisions, 6 titles. Bravo.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37761
Special thanks to the major sponsors for 2021’s 3WB event KWM Gutterman, AGE Solutions, and Pro Kennex. Thanks as always to tournament host and sponsor Mike Coulter MC Vegas and to Tournament director Peggine Tellez, (and all the volunteer staff for 3WB) who worked so tirelessly all weekend to coordinate on-site.
ProRacquetballStats.com links to match reports for all the pro divisions:
Men’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: http://rball.pro/D204CC
Women’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: http://rball.pro/48852E
Mixed Pro 3-wall Doubles: http://rball.pro/D90DBF
Men’s pro 1-wall Doubles: http://rball.pro/693F45
Women’s Pro 1-wall Doubles: http://rball.pro/FE0189
Mixed pro 1-wall Doubles: http://rball.pro/CDB793
Men’s 3-wall Singles: http://rball.pro/43291F
Women’s 3-wall Singles: http://rball.pro/6FF3B2
Men’s 3-wall Pro doubles recap;
17 teams competing in this draw, and the big storyline was the seeding. 2021 outdoor champs Gies/Rich were seeded just 11th, outdoor legend and two-time outdoor national champs Carson/Ustarroz were seeded 10th, and some really tough top indoor pros were stuck in the 16/17 play-in. You have to beat them all to win, as they say, and the seeding made for some really compelling early matches. In the 16/17 play in, Alex Landa and Sebastian Fernandez were not able to overcome the outdoor experience of Brian Pineda (playing with Eduardo Portillo Rendon) and lost 5,13.
In the 16s, some notable matches:
#1 seeds Daniel De La Rosa and Alvaro Beltran, for the 2nd year running, faced a significant challenge in the first round, having to take on the experienced Pineda playing with the quickly learning Lalo. The defending champs were down early, but rallied to run to a first game win 15-11 and then held on in game two to move on.
Solid win by the #8 seeded NorCal team of Walter Ramos and Israel Torres.
#5 dark horses Emmett Coe and Rick Koll advanced past two IRT touring pros in Adam Manilla and Nick Riffel with ease 7,6
The #4 seeds from Florida were upset by a drastically under-seeded #13 team of Brandon Davis and Alejandro Barcelo.
#3 Robert Sostre and Daniel Lavely held serve against two tough veterans of outdoor Greg Solis and Charlie Pratt Racquetball to move on.
The most ridiculous under-seed of the event, #11 Jason Newberg Geis and Micah Rich, upset the #6 seeded team of tough Formulaflow partners Mario Mercado and MoMo Zelada in a breaker.
Nor Cal tough doubles players David ” Bobby” Horn and Jose Diaz took out the legendary Rocky Carson/Jesus Ustarroz team in a breaker.
And the biggest upset of the day was the #2 seeds Tommy Medina and Thomas Gerhardt losing to the upstart team of Patrick Allin and Alan Natera Chavez 2,13. The #2 seeds looked completely lost in game one, then rebounded to push the envelope in game two but ultimately couldn’t push it to a breaker.
In the qtrs, some solid matches:
#1 seeds DLR and Beltran cruised to wins in games ones and three, but seemingly took off game two against NorCal specialists Ramos and Torres. Final score: 2,(6),0. I might be wrong, but i’m not sure Ramos/Torres even served in the breaker. The lefty power of Ramos and lanky getting ability of Izzy powered them to a game two win, but the champs hunkered down for the breaker win to move on.
The #13 seeded team of Davis/Barcelo kept cruising, dominating against the #5 seeded team of Coe/Koll to move into the semis 12,2 The first game was close, but in game two Davis/Barcelo got into a nice rhythm of forcing awkward shots out of both competitors from the backhand side, with Barcelo hitting bomb after bomb from the deep forehand side to move on.
Four outdoor specialists, including one Hall of Famer, played a really entertaining match in the #3/#11 quarter, with your defending Outdoor National champs Geis/Rich moving on. They squeaked by in game one 15-14 over Sostre/Lavely, then dropped game two in fast fashion. But they refocused in the breaker, overcoming Lavely’s amazing getting ability and Iceman’s smart one-wall-inspired shot making to move into the semis.
The #7 seeded Area-code 209 team of Horn/Diaz squeaked past a shocked Natera/Allin team in game one 15-14, mounting a furious come back to steal the game after Natera/Allin served for it four times. Then, in game two a back and forth affair came down to just a few mistakes from the losing side; NorCal represented in the semis.
The semis featured two dominating performances from the two pre-tournament favorites:
#1 DLR/Beltran controlled the match from the get go, forcing the issue primarily to Barcelo on the right hand side and advanced with relative ease 9,7. Their game plan was to isolate and avoid the dangerous Davis and be opportunistic with their attacking shots, and they were successful.
#11 Geis/Rich dominated the Stockton duo of Horn/Diaz 3,10 to move to the final. Game one was a blur of excellent technical outdoor racquetball, and though Diaz/Horn were able to make game two closer, the Southern California duo won out. Horn has been nursing a shoulder injury, which was not unknown to his opponents, and they forced him to hit lots of uncomfortable shots and took advantage.
In the final…we got the rematch of the July outdoor nationals pro final, and the fans were treated to a pretty special performance from Daniel De La Rosa. Geis/Rich came out firing, worked Alvaro on the left side and limited their mistakes and surprised the #1 seeds 15-11. But game two and three was another story; DLR brought the pressure to Geis on the serve and was a man on a mission in the front court, hitting every shot he was presented. The second game was a blur 15-5, and the domination continued into the breaker. The top pair ran out to a fast 5-0 lead before Geis/Rich even got in the box, and despite their best efforts the top players ran away with the game 11-6.
Great win for the top Mexican duo, who defend their 2020 3WB title and pad their ever-growing list of indoor and outdoor titles together.
Men’s 3-wall CPRT Doubles re-cap We didn’t preview the CPRT, but it turned into a really solid pro-quality draw with some streaming on the weekend, so here’s a recap:
The #1 seeds Koll/Beltran were taken out by the Florida outdoor specialists Joe Young and Marcos Gravier in the quarters in what some would view as an upset, but Young/Gravier are highly experienced veteran outdoor players and ground out the win.
The #9 seeds were joined in the semis along with the other top 3 seeded teams, which include a slew of the top outdoor pros in the land. In the semis:
The #4 seeded team of Allin & Gerhardt controlled the power shots of Young & Gravier to move into the final.
The #3 team of dual hall of famers Greg Solis and Sostre took out the two-time outdoor nationals pro doubles champs Carson/Ustarroz in a spirited tiebreaker.
In the final, the Sostre/Solis team came back from a quick game one defeat to blow out Allin & Gerhardt 11-0 in the breaker to take the title.
Women’s 3-wall Pro Doubles re-cap Last minute withdrawals of several top players thinned the women’s pro doubles draw to just a 3-team round robin. In the RR final though we got an excellent match between the defending champion team of Michelle De La Rosa and Carla Muñoz Montesinos taking on the decorated Janel Tisinger-Ledkins teamed with Arizona’s Katie Neils.
In the title match, Neils (the least experienced player on the court) made her presence known and handled the right hand side, matching Munoz shot for shot, but the defending champs squeaked by with a 15-14 game one win. That opened the flood gates, and Tisinger-Ledkins/Neils couldn’t stop the train in game two. mDLR and Munoz defend their title 14,4.
Mixed 3-wall Pro Doubles re-cap A star-studded draw was featured in the Mixed doubles draw, including several Hall of Famers and several top touring indoor pros. In the quarters:
NorCal duo of Williams/Ramos played solid ball to squeak past Alejandro Landa and Aimee Brewer.
Team Formula Flow (Zelada and Brenda Laime Jalil) upset the #3 seeded team of Riffel/Neils.
A tough opener featured Hall of famer vs Hall of Famer, with the team of Greg Solis and Tisinger-Ledkins taking out the #2 seeded team of Sostre/Munoz. Solis/Tisinger-Ledkins is quite a decorated team; they’re a 5-time winner in Huntington Beach and won the pro mixed in Vegas in both 2010 and 2011. In the semis:
Defending champs DLR and mDLR cruised past the NorCal duo of Ramos/Williams 5,1
Solis/Tisinger-Ledkins thwarted efforts by the indoor specialists Zelada and Laime to move to the final 12,6. In the final, Daniel continued his sharp-shooter ways and drove the conversation, and the husband-wife pair won going away 8,8 to capture their 13th major mixed pro title together.
Side note: kudos to Tisinger-ledkins for playing and competing this weekend at … 8 months pregnant. Fantastic showing for someone with obvious mobility limitations to still compete at such a high level.
Men’s 3-wall Singles Recap:
Forfeits and injuries plagued the Men’s pro singles draw, with just one match managing to get played before the final. In the final, two IRT touring pros in Alan Natera and Mario Mercado faced off for the title. Mercado has a bit more outdoor experience than Natera and it showed, as he took the crown 13,7.
Women’s 3-wall Singles Recap: Two California outdoor specialists in Erica Williams and Victoria Rodriguez attempted to dethrone the reigning Outdoor Nationals singles champion Carla Muñoz Montesinos. Munoz and Williams held serve against Rodriguez and competed for the title. Williams shocked the LPRT touring pro in game one with a 15-13 win, but Munoz turned the tides and raced away with the next two games to win the title. Final score: (13),6,4.
Men’s 1-wall Pro Doubles recap Natera & Pratt upset the #1 seeded team of Daniel Lavely and Jeremy Mcglothin to move into the final. There they met the college buddy duo of Adam Manilla & Nick Riffel for a one-wall power racquetball shootout final.
In that final, the four IRT pros battled it out with a display less about one-wall tactics and more about brute force, with the lefty/righty Coloradans coming out on top 10,9.
Women’s 1-wall Pro Doubles recap
The top seeded team of Rodriguez/Neils took out team Virginia (TJ Baumbaugh & Aimee Brewer) to win the 4-team round robin and the title.
Mixed 1-wall Pro Doubles recap The top two seeds advanced to the title game, with Rick “Soda Man” Koll teamed up with Michelle De La Rosa at the top. The bottom of the draw was packed, but team Virginia Gerhardt/Brewer advanced to make the final.
In the final… Koll/mDLR outlasted Gerhardt/Brewer 15-13 in the first game, then ran away with it to take the title 13,1. This is Koll’s 4th mixed pro one-wall title out of the last 5 years.
Paddleball Pro Doubles We don’t normally cover much besides racquetball here, but 3WB features paddleball events that get tons of crossover between regular racquetball players and top paddleball pros from Southern California. In the Men’s pro paddleball doubles, DLR/Beltran took out the athletic team of Emmitt Coe and Sebastian Fernandez to take the title.
In the Mixed pro paddleball doubles, Brenda Laime teamed up with perhaps the best paddleball player in the nation in Emmett Coe to top the legendary Aaron Embry and his San Diego partner Roxanne Rehling to take the title.
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., JP Edwards and @Tj Baumbaugh]
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?
No rest for the weary; Alvaro and De La Rosa head straight to San Luis Potosi for the 2021 Mexican National doubles event next weekend. Then a couple weeks after that we have a combo IRT/LPRT event in Arizona that will feature pro mixed doubles, a rare treat for fans.
tags KWM Gutterman Inc. ProKennex Racquetball AGE solutions inc
Ulliman with the win. Photo courtesy of Kyle via r2sports home page
While some of us were in Vegas, others in Atlanta … the Kelley brothers had 20 of their closest east coast (and beyond) friends up in Jersey for a quick two-day shootout. Here’s the results.
In the play ins:
PA’s Simon Totive took out fellow PA native Glenn Sincovich
CT’s Tony Prater took out Jersey’s Matt Mertz Plumbing, Inc.
Jamie Ferrera took out NY’s Abraham Mercado
Jersey’s Julio Infante upset NY’s Aaron Dardani.
In the 16s:
#1 Kyle Ulliman took out Totive.
#9 Josh Shea with the upset over #8 Jersey native David Austin (who in the preview I mistakenly thought was Austin Cunningham: apologies to both).
#12 host Sam Kelley with the upset win over #5 Brennen Jennings, showing that home court advantage does exist.
#4 Dylan Pruitt cruised past qualifier Prater 4,0
#3 Victor Migliore advanced past qualifier Ferrera
#6 Alex zamudio got a solid win over NY veteran #11 Jason Silvester
#7 Ben Bleyer held serve against CT veteran #10 Jose Flores Jr.
#2 co-host Joe Kelley cruised past qualifier Infante. So, two upsets in the opening round, and some top level talent moving on.
In the quarters:
#1 Ulliman took out the junior from NY Shea
#4 Pruitt held serve against his host Sam to move on
#3 Migliore took out the Floridian Zamudio
#7 Bleyer had the big upset of the round, taking out his host and defending champ Joe Kelley.
In the semis, it was Ohio versus Maryland in both matches:
#1 Ulliman defeated Pruitt
#3 Migliore over Bleyer.
In the final, #1 Kyle lived up to his seeding and defeated Migliore in an all-Ohio final. Congrats to the Kelley brothers once again for putting on a fun event.
