A double on the weekend for DLR, which couldn’t come at a better time as the 2023 season nears its close and he tries to go for a 3rd straight pro title.
In the 32s, the only real notable match was the strong return to the singles court of @Alvaro Beltran , who took out #13 Robert collins with ease 2,11. While we’ve seen Alvi play some doubles since his shock elbow injury last October, this is the first time he’s taken the singles court on the IRT since last October.
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In the 16s:
– In the always close 8/9 match, @Samuel Murray took out Alex Landa in a battle of former top 4 players who have both slipped down the rankings as of late.
– #5 Eduardo Portillo had to dig deep to top the red-hot #12 @Alan Natera in a breaker.
– #3 DLR was surprisingly taken to a breaker by his young Mexican rival Erick Cuevas before moving on.
– #7 Adam Manilla got a tie-breaker win over #10 Andres Acuña to move on and solidify his ranking on tour.
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In the Quarters
– #9 Murray continued his years-long mastery of #1 Conrrado Moscoso ‘s game, topping him 12,13 to move on and put a serious dent in Moscoso’s chance of winning the year end title. Murray is now 5-4 lifetime against Moscoso across competitions dating to 2018.
– #4 Rodrigo Montoya and Portillo played a close one, with Montoya taking the breaker 11-9 to move on.
– #3 DLR advanced past Parrilla by the closest of margins, winning 13,14.
– #2 Jake Bredenbeck avenged a US National team qualifying loss to Manilla, winning in a tie-breaker.
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In the Semis
– Montoya improved to 4-2 lifetime over Murray with a straightforward 12,9 win.
– DLR made it two in a row over Jake, winning in a tie-breaker to move into the final.
In the Finals, DLR made relatively fast work of Montoya, improving to 9-4 lifetime across competitions with the 2,11 win.
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Points Implications of results
During the tournament, I confirmed that the IRT remains on an 11-tournament rolling schedule for its rankings, having flirted with the idea of pivoting to a 365-day calendar earlier this year but ultimately staying with the same system that was put in place in mid 2020 during Covid. By the end of 2023, it won’t matter, because there will be exactly 11 events in the calendar year (assuming no more cancellations of the 3 remaining events on the books).
What i’m not sure about is the mechanism for counting these last 11 events; is it cumulative last 11 or is it “last 11, dropping the lowest.” Because in the short term, that’ll make a huge difference as to what happens at the very top of the tour rankings as soon as this event is put in. By my records, if all 11 tournaments are counted w/o dropping the lowest score, Jake Bredenbeck will ascend to #1 by the slimmest of margins over #2 DLR, with Conrrado falling to #3. However, if its “top 11 drop the lowest” then DLR will drop a zero-point score and ascend back to #1, with Moscoso #2 and Jake #3.
Either way, The Tracktown dropped the 2022 US Open, which costs Moscoso 600 points, but two of the next three events to drop were events towards the end of 2022 that DLR missed, meaning everyone else likely is playing for 2nd place unless DLR takes some shock early losses in the last couple of events.
Does DLR’s Pickleball commitments play a role here? Maybe. The 3 remaining events on the IRT schedule are:
– 11/12 in Boston
– 12/3 in Portland
– 12/10 in Pleasanton.
Pickleball events on the schedule for those weekends?
– 11/12: USAP Nationals, a huge event underwritten by the PPA
– 12/3: San Clemente PPA season finals.
– 12/10: MLP Season 3, event 3; the last event of the 2023 MLP season.
Wow. So DLR has a MLP event the same weekend as the IRT event in Pleasanton that could decide the tour. Phew. Something’s gotta give there.
Former #1 Kane Waselenchuk was in Eugene this weekend, but only playing doubles. He and fellow 40-something Beltran teamed up and won a round, but fell in the quarters to the #1 seeds Manilla/Parrilla.
In a testament to how close these doubles teams are, every match in the quarters and semis went to tie-breaker as the top two seeds advanced to the final.
#2 DLR/Landa, the US National team for Chile’s Pan Am games, topped the likely Bolivian doubles team Moscoso/Kadim Carrasco in one semi, then took out Manilla/Parrilla for the title.
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Open Singles, other notable draws
– Victor Camacho took out Texas junior @Cole Sendrey for the Men’s Open title.
– SoCal players @Iain Dunn and Paul Saraceno took out @Israel Torres and @Steve Lewis in the Men’s Open Doubles final.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew
Thanks to the Tourney Director Wayne Antone for putting this event on with such short notice. It was great to see a new event on the schedule and I hope you can make it an annual one.
Unless we get another event on the books last minute, the next big thing is 3WallBall in Las Vegas the first week of October! I’ll be there, on the mike and covering the event. Maybe even playing (hah, probably not).
Can Moscoso make it 2 in a row and keep the pressure on for the 2023 title? Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory
Welcome to the business end of the 2023 IRT season. After a fun event in Denver (thanks again Jim Hiser !) the IRT is back in action at an event just recently added to the schedule. The IRT has this event, a Boston stop in November, a satellite event in Portland, and then Bobby Horn/Adam Manilla’s Pleasanton stop in early December and that’s it for the season. Every points counts.
Thanks to the hard work of Oregonian Wayne Antone , US National doubles finalist earlier this year, along with Portland native and resident Charlie Pratt , longtime US National team member, touring pro, USA Racquetball board member and former US Junior National team coach, we have the IRT visiting Eugene for the very first time.
Eugene, of course, is the home-town of Nike, hence the name of the event “Track town.” Racquetball has an interesting tie-in to Nike and the running world; Linda Prefontaine, sister of the famous runner Steve, was a top racquetball player in the late 70s/early 80s and competed in multiple pro events. See https://rball.pro/yku for her career record.
I’m a little late to the preview, so the draw has already started. So i’ll do a quicker summary than normal.
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Lets preview the singles Draw
– Murray-Landa in the 8/9 spot used to be in the 4/5 spot; both players are slipping down the rankings tourney by tourney. Landa was sick and missed Colorado, and has had one thing or another bug him for a while.
– Natera looked great in Denver; can he turn that into performance in Eugene?
– Manilla-Acuna in the 16s is tough.
– Beltran is back and topped Collins in the 32s with ease. Great to see.
– DLR-Parrilla quarter will be a test, as will Jake-Manilla. Adam took out jake at US National singles, basically eliminating Jake from the team for Pan Am games, so we know he can win, but Jake’s #2 for a reason.
– Its hard to see anything other than a repeat of the semis from Denver, as we now have a real separation between the top 4 guys (Moscoso, Jake, DLR, Montoya) and the rest of the tour.
– I think we see another DLR-Moscoso final, and this time a non-injured DLR may very well take it.
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Doubles review
– Waselenchuk is here, but only playing doubles. He and Alvi won their opener and have a good shot at #1 Manilla/Parrilla based on Beltran’s form and the fact that neither 40-something pro has to cover the whole court
– The 2/3 semi on the bottom could be great: Jake/Murray vs DLR/Landa. Two power hitters versus two control players who also happen to be your US National doubles team at the Pan Am Games.
– I like Montoya and Natera to get to the final, but to then lose to DLR/Landa.
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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. Look for Favio Soto, Samuel Schulze, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots!
Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.
– All the hype about former #1 Kane Waselenchuk returning to the court turned out to be worthless, as he withdrew before even playing his first qualifier against Texan DJ Mendoza . As he did after withdrawing from the 2021 US Open, he went on Sudsy Monchik ‘s podcast and went on a 25 minute diatribe about the IRT without really giving a reason why he withdrew. For neutrals who really just want to see him play, to see if he’s still “got it” it was definitely a let-down, as i’m sure it was for those on site.
– @Elias Nieto had two solid wins to get into the round of 32, topping Canada/Chile’s @Pedro Castro and then USA’s @Sam Bredenbeck .
– Hometown favorite @Jacob Kingsford had a nice win over @Rodrigo Mendoza to get into the main draw.
– @Erick Cuevas Fernandez got a nice win over east coaster @Dylan Pruitt to move on.
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In the 32s:
– #21 Diego García topped #12 Thomas Carter in game one 15-5, then got an injury forfeit to move into the 16s as a 20+ seed.
– Career pro win for Neito Elias , taking out #13 Alan Natera in a breaker. Nieto is really coming into his own; he got a win over Murray at PARC earlier this year and now reverses the result with Natera since their last meeting.
– #19 Erick Trujillo made fast work of #14 Jaime Martell 5,9, a solid win for Trujillo, who had had some sputtering results lately.
– #7 Alejandro Landa no shows, giving @juan Francisco Cueva a walk-over into the 16s. We now know that the IRT preemptively put a slew of players into the draw, then when it was released well ahead of the event those who had no intentions of coming were given forfeits. I think we all appreciate the attempt to get the draws out early to build buzz (especially since the amateur entries were capped), but there’s a reason draws for pro events are not released until the day before; players drop out last minute all the time. Int’l players can’t get visas, or flights get cancelled, or players get injuries and withdraw. The LPRT changed its draws last minute, since that’s what the players want, and it made our prediction piece useless … but the IRT stuck with its release and ended up giving multiple walk-overs in the event.
– #23 Carlos Keller Vargas came from a game down to topple #10 @Andres Acuña. A tough break for Acuna, to draw Keller here.
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In the 16s
– #1 @Conrrado Moscoso made fast work of former #1 Rocky Carson 4,5.
– #8 Adam Manilla got a very solid win over #9 Samuel Murray 7,7. These kinds of 8/9 wins are crucial for players at the edge of the top 10 to stay there.
– Garcia with a very good win over Eduardo Portillo, coming from behind after dropping game one. Garcia has now beaten Lalo twice this year, to go along wins over Mar and Carson last October, a U21 junior worlds win last December, and a semi-finals showing at PARC in April where he lost 21-19 in the 5th game to Keller. Is Garcia legitimately a top 5 player in the world?
– Nieto extended #4 @Rodrigo Montoya to a third game before falling, really making a statement this weekend.
– #6 @Andree Parrilla got a solid win over @Javier Mar, a regular troublespot, to advance to the quarters.
– Little known Diego Gastelum really hung with #2 @Jake Bredenbeck , losing game one 15-14 before getting ran off the court in game two.
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In the Quarters, the top four seeds advanced as expected.
– Moscoso trounced Manilla 11,3
– Montoya lost game one to Garcia before advancing.
– @Daniel De La Rosa finally got pressed, losing game one to Andree 8 before moving on.
– Bredenbeck ground out a very close 13,12 win over the always-tough Keller.
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In the Semis
– Moscoso took care of business 11,6 over Montoya; the last few times these guys played its been super close, a bunch of 15-14 games. Not today: Conrrado really played Rodrigo off the court.
– In a rematch of the US nationals final, DLR worked through some sort of ankle or calf injury to top Jake and move into the final. It was a pretty impressive performance from someone who was clearly hurt.
In the final, DLR blasted Moscoso 15-3 in game one, then seemed to basically give up in game two to preserve his game cycles for a tiebreaker. In the breaker, DLR went for glory shots again and again as it was clear his movement was hampered, and towards the end of the breaker Moscoso got to just a few more shots than DLR anticipated, leading to an 11-7 loss and the title for Conrrado.
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Points Implications of results
This event didn’t expire anything from 2022, so there won’t be a single change until you get to about the #18-20 range. The next event will feature the same top 4 seeds in the same order. I’m not sure if the IRT flips seeds 5-8 anymore (I don’t believe so). We’re not going to see appreciable movement in the rankings until about the middle of October, by which time DLR should be in a pretty good position. The next three events to expire are:
– 2022’s Capital Classic (DLR: did not play)
– 2022’s US Open (DLR lost in 16s)
– 2022’s Golden State Open (DLR: did not play)
So, DLR is defending just 135 points from these next three events. By way of comparison, Moscoso will be defending 1150 points and Jake will be defending 675 points from those same three events. If DLR shows up and makes the semis or finals of the next handful of events, he’ll rocket back to #1 and will be hard to catch.
A last minute pair of withdrawals of mid-20s international players resulted in a shifting of the draw last minute, which drastically changed a couple of key first round matchups that really could have re-shaped the way this draw went. As discussed by LPRT Deputy commissioner Timothy Baghurst on social media, this is what they players want; they want withdrawals that result in no-show walkovers into the money rounds eliminated, no matter what the impact on the draws.
Lets review the notable matches resultant of the re-shaped draw:
In the 32s:
– Rarely seen @Nancy Enrique took a solid TB win over #17 Sheryl Lotts.
– #13 Criss Amaya got a solid win over #20 @Lexi York .
– #11 @Gaby Martínez got a bummer of a walk-over win against Costa Rican junior Maricruz Ortiz . I would have liked to see this one. Not knowing the answer, it seems like Ortiz got hurt in Mixed, because she forfeited out of both Pros and Open.
– #6 @maMaria Jose Vargas made fast work of her practice partner and dark-horse candidate Veronica Sotomayor 3,2 to extinguish any deep runs by 20+ seeds.
In the 16s:
– #9 Natalia Mendez reversed the course of her last couple of matchups with #8 Carla Munoz , winning a tight one 9,14 to move on.
– #5 Brenda Laime Jalil made fast work of #12 Kelani Lawrence 10,5 to move on.
– Gaby shocked this observer and cruised past Vargas 9,12 to move on. Vargas has been on such a roll lately, i’m surprised she got upset early despite her seed. I feel like there’s a set of 5 women in a class of their selves in the ladies game right now (Mejia, Longoria, Herrera, Gaby, Vargas), and when two of them meet in the 16s, its always a high-stakes match.
– #10 @Samantha Salas Solis took out Jessica Parrilla in a slight upset in the 7-10 matchup.
Quarters:
– #1 Montse Mejia lost the first game against Mendez before buckling down and cruising to a win.
– Laime took out #4 @EErika Manila 7,10 to move into the semis.
– #3 Alexandra Herrera got back on top, defeating Gaby 13,7 to return to the semis. What a quartile; The #3 quartile in this event had Herrera, Vargas, Gaby, Sotomayor, and Ortiz. Phew.
– #2 Paola Longoria made fast work of Salas to move on. In three matches to this point in the tournament, Longoria had given up just 10 combined points in 6 games … a sign of things to come?
Semis:
– Mejia topped Laime by the more dominant score line than I was expecting 6,12.
– Longoria ground out a tough win over Herrera 10,14.
Finals: we got the match we wanted: 1 v 2. Last year’s champ versus this year’s champ. And we got a back and forth affair, Longoria grinding out a game one win 15-13 before Mejia caught fire in game two and blasted Paola 15-3. In the tiebreaker, Longoria found a weakness: a cut lob serve to Mejia’s forehand that she just couldn’t help but attack … and with a lively ball and concrete and altitude, cross court overheads come off the back wall for setups over and over, and before Mejia could alter her strategy Longoria ran away with the tiebreaker 11-5 for the title.
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Points Impact of the event.
If you see the rankings today … 8/14, they look weird, because the Paola Longoria Experience from 8/14/22 is still in there. However, tomorrow on 8/15/23, the impact of those points expiration will be more clear.
The top 3 will not change despite Paola’s win. Laime will switch places with Manilla and move to #4. Vargas and Munuz will move up one spot each, to #6 and #7 respectively as Barrios drops down by virtue of missing the Denver event and its grand slam points. Gaby moves into the top 10, while Leoni drops out of it.
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Mixed Pro Doubles recap
The 28-team Mixed Pro doubles draw gave us some crazy results in the early rounds, Here’s a couple of the crazy upsets by seed from the 32s and 16s:
– #1 seeds Montoya & Salas, who won this event in 2021, were shocked by #16 Gaby & Edwin Galicia in a tie-breaker.
– #24 Waselenchuk & Michelle Key advanced past two very good doubles players in @Kadim Carrasco and Laime in the opener 10,10. Carrasco just couldn’t put balls away in the altitude, but Kane could and that made the difference.
– #13 Martell & Amaya went 11-10 against Adriana Riveros and Diego Garcia to move on.
– #19 Ecuadorians Jose Daniel Ugalde and Sotomayor took out Costa Ricans #14 Acuna & Ortiz.
– #10 Lawrence & Carter took out Canada’s top pairing of Samuel Murray and Frederique Lambert in two, not an upset by seed by definitely by reputation.
– The run of Kane/Key was ended by the husband-wife team of Natera/Munoz in controversial fashion. After destroying the #24 seeds 15-2 in the first, Kane and Key took game two and forced a breaker. A back and forth tie-breaker was ended on a no-call at match point when Natera hit a jam serve at Kane, who held up but was not given a hinder. An unsatisfying end to the match, but one which was vindicated as Natera/Munoz raced to the final together.
7 of the top 8 seeds moved on to the quarters. #8 Natera/Munoz crushed #16 Gaby/Galicia, and then topped Mar/Mejia in the semis with relative ease 8,9 to gain the final together. From the bottom half, Moscoso and Longoria earned their finals appearance, topping the veteran Beltran/Mendez team, then advancing past the troublesome DLR/Scott team, before crushing Portillo/Herrera to get to the final.
In the final, Natera’s excellent play finally met its match in Moscoso, and the dominant pair cruised to the pro title.
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Open Singles and Doubles, other notable draws
There was no “Pro” Gender Doubles in Denver, with TD Hiser opting to put money into the Pro Mixed instead, but the doubles draws were still solid.
– In Men’s Open Doubles, Beltran/Carson turned back the clock and took the title over the hard-hitting pair of @Sam Bredenbeck and Sam Murray 11-9.
– In Women’s Open Doubles, Salas teamed with Mendez to take out the all_USA doubles pair of Lawrence & Scott
– In Men’s Open singles, Trujillo topped Gastelum in an all Mexico U21 final.
– In Women’s Open Singles: @Martina Katz took the final against @Shane Diaz.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from both pro tour’s teams. That means Favio Soto , Samuel Schulze ,Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew, plus Timothy Baghurst , Sandy Rios , Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh , plus all the guest commentators.
Thanks to the Tourney Director Jim Hiser for putting on this event. It was 2 years in the making, and I hope you do it again.
Thanks to title sponsor Keith Minor and Kwm Gutterman ; without your continued support we wouldn’t have a pro sport.
Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.
Kane is Back. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory
NOTE: just after publishing this, the LPRT changed the pro draw, changing someof the matchups. Unfortunately the Ladies pro section of this now is out of date.
Hello Racquetball Fans! Welcome to 2023 World Singles and Doubles, being held in and around Highland Ranch, Colorado. It will be the biggest indoor tournament of the year, an event two years in the making which boasts a huge prize purse and one of the most rare events in the sport: Pro Mixed Doubles. This event is the first event of the new LPRT 2023-24 season, and it marks the beginning of the second half of the IRT’s 2023 season, and holds intrigue across the board for both tours.
Both pro tours have healthy attendance. There’s 56 men and 35 women in Denver, numbers not approached on either side since the last US Open. Most of the top 20 on both sides is present, and the Men’s side features the triumphant return to the court of 14-time #1 Kane Waselenchuk after a 10 month absence due to an injury sustained last September.
The big question mark, of course, is Kane’s fitness and match prep. He played in Outdoor Nationals a few weeks ago, but outdoor doubles is a vastly different experience than indoor pro singles. He’s now nearing 42 years of age, coming off a full-blown Achilles heel injury, and nobody (besides him) really knows how he’ll be prepared for a pro singles event. Especially one at altitude. It isn’t as if he forgot how to play the sport, and if he makes a deep run in Denver I’ll simultaneously be surprised and not surprised. I honestly don’t know what to predict; an early exit or a title, or something in-between. I do know this: Kane generally has played with a chip on his shoulder after long absences, looking to make a statement, so opponents beware.
We’re previewing the IRT, LPRT, and Mixed Pro draws here. There are also “Open” Doubles on both sides with strong draws, but which won’t “count” as pro events since they’re not full pro purses, as well as the regular Open singles draws for the non-top 10 players.
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IRT Men’s Singles preview
There’s two rounds of qualifiers into the main draw of 32; the top 16 players got byes into the 32s, and everyone else had to play at least one qualifier.
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Qualifiers that look interesting:
– Nick Riffel vs @Juan Jose Salvatierra could be a tough match, assuming former touring pro Riffel gets past his round of 128 match.
– Cole Sendry vs @Edwin Galicia is a nice test for the USA U18 up and coming player.
– Erick Trujillo should have the advantage over Bolivian doubles specialist Roland Keller , but this is no cakewalk for either player.
– Former IRT top 10 player @Carlos Keller Vargas projects to face former Intercollegiates champ @Erik Garcia for a spot in the main draw.
– Maryland’s own @Dylan Pruitt , if he can get past Canadian national team member @Naman Gaur , projects into @Erick Cuevas Fernandez in a match that could go either way.
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Round of 32 matches to watch for:
– #9 @Adam Manilla vs Waselenchuk; Manilla is the unlucky top 10 player who gets Kane in the first round. These two played in the tournament where Kane got injured last fall, with Manilla losing 11,7. Since then, Adam has played well and is on home courts. But I’ll pick Kane to advance here.
– #12 Thomas Carter projects to get qualifier @Diego García in the round of 32, another non-full time playing pro who can do some damage. These two played at PARC in April in Guatemala and Garcia came out on top, one of several impressive wins for the young Bolivian-turned-Argentine in that event. I’ll go with Garcia with the upset here.
– #13 Alan Natera versus #20 Sam Bredenbeck could be tight; how far has Sam’s singles game come in the past few months? Natera is climbing up the ranks quietly, and will be favored to advance.
– #14 Jaime Martell projects to play countryman Trujillo, if Erick can advance past Roland. I think Martell can handle him, but this is potentially a tight match.
– #10 newlywed Andres Acuña is the unlucky player to get the last of the big names coming out of qualifying; Keller. These two also played in Guatemala at PARC, a 4-game win for Keller, and I think Carlos will upset the Costa Rican again here.
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Projecting the 16s; here’s some possible great matches:
– #8 Samuel Murray plays the winner of Manilla/Waselenchuk. If Kane gets by Adam, he runs into fellow Canadian Murray, who he has utterly dominated during their careers. Kane won their last meeting in NY in 2022 1,1. A bad potential matchup for Sam, and I’ll favor Kane to continue his mental and physical dominance here.
– If Garcia gets by Carter, he runs into #5 @Eduardo Portillo , another player he beat at PARC. Look for Garcia to make a deep run in Denver.
– #6 Andree Parrilla projects to face always-the-dark horse #11 @Javier Mar . Mar owns the career h2h 5-3 and has won the last two meetings, and I always like Mar to get the upset win.
– The winner of Keller/Acuna he plays into #7 @Alejandro Landa , and both opponents offer intrigue here. Landa-Acuna bad blood history is well documented, while Keller-Landa have met just three times in 10 years. The question for Landa is always health; he’s been bedeviled by injuries for a while. Upset watch here.
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Quarters prediction:
– #1 Conrrado Moscoso over Waselenchuk. Here’s where I think the Kane train derails in Denver. Moscoso is #1, he’s battle tested, he’s used to playing at altitude, and he’s game ready. If Kane wins this … he wins the event and gives us all pause as to the current state of the game.
– #4 @Rodrigo Montoya over Garcia: the upset-laden run ends at the hands of the top Mexican.
– #3 Daniel De La Rosa over Mar. We havn’t mentioned DLR yet; he has a pretty straightforward draw to the quarters, then projects to meet one of two top Mexican players (Mar or Parrilla) that he knows well and should move on.
– #2 @Jake Bredenbeck over Keller (or Acuna, or Landa). We also havn’t mentioned Jake yet; his two openers look very straightforward, and he’ll get his first test here. whoever moves on from the #7/#10 section should be the underdog against Jake.
Semis and Final:
– Moscoso over Montoya: they always play tight, but Moscoso has figured out early-career troubles playing Rodrigo and now has won 6 of their last 8 meetings (and one of those losses was his head-banging forfeit in Florida in 2022).
– DLR over Jake: unpopular opinion, since Jake won their last meeting … but DLR is still 13-3 lifetime over Jake. That being said, Jake’s 2023 has been spectacular, and his ascension to #2 is well earned. But DLR should be on a mission here; he is behind on points, and needs to start winning events to give himself a shot at a third pro title at year’s end. I think he starts here.
Final: A rematch of the 2021 World Singles & Doubles final; Moscoso vs DLR. In 2021, DLR won 7,13 for the title, but things are a bit different since then. They’ve only met twice since, in two successive finals earlier this year. DLR topped Conrrado in Austin in January, then the result flipped at the Lewis Drug two weeks later. Who has the advantage with fast concrete courts and altitude negating the effects of the slower ball? I sense Moscoso wins here.
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Ladies Singles Preview
NOTE: just after publishing this, the LPRT changed the pro draw, changing someof the matchups. Unfortunately the Ladies pro section of this now is out of date.
Just as Kane is returning to the men’s tour after a long absence, so does the Ladies tour have a former top player returning after some time away. Veronica Sotomayor is in the draw for the first time since Feb 2022 and will be looking to shake things up. She’s the player everyone wants to avoid in the draw.
Round of 32 matches of intrigue:
– @Sheryl Lotts vs Nancy Enriquez in the 16/17 matchup should be solid. Former top 10 player Nancy gets surprise wins often, and Lotts returns to the tour after months away, but with a ton of playing under her belt in her new Florida digs.
– Lexi York takes on Cris Amaya in a tough opener for both. York gets a ton of playing time with the Bredenbeck brothers and could surprise the tour regular Amaya.
– #4 Erika Manila vs Sotomayor: a semis-quality matchup in the round of 32 isn’t fair to either player, but Sotomayor had to play someone to start. Manilla’s last match on tour was a 3,7 loss in the round of 16 in the season’s final event, one which didn’t affect her season ending ranking but which had to leave a bad taste. Meanwhile, Vero basically trains all week with the likes of Ortiz, Vargas, Lotts, and Sudsy Monchik and is game ready. Upset watch here; I would not be surprised if Sotomayor handles Manilla’s power and sends her packing early.
– #11 Gaby Martinez faces Maricruz Ortiz in a match she should win, but which gives Ortiz another chance to show how far she’s progressed.
– Two top US juniors in @Naomi ros and @Shane Diaz take on top 10 pros in Natalia Mendez and Carla Munoz respectively, but I don’t expect them to get upsets on tour just yet.
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Round of 16 matches to watch for
– In the 8/9, Mendez and Munoz are set to battle. Mendez is trending down while Carla is trending up, and I favor the Chilean here.
– Brenda Laime takes on east-coast rival @Kelani Lawrence in a new budding rivalry. They’ve played 4 times in 10 months, splitting them 2 and 2. Laime has gotten wins at the majors, and has very quietly ascended to her current #5 ranking, and could continue making noise on tour. Laime to advance.
– #6 Maria Jose Vargas takes on #11 Gaby in a semis-quality meeting between two of the top four ladies in the world right now. Vargas has just been on fire since her return to the tour, and I favor her for another deep run.
– 7/10 is Jessica Parrilla vs Samantha Salas Solis , who have played each other for years. Salas holds the upper hand though, and should move on here.
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Quarters prediction:
– #1 @Montse Mejia over Munoz. This is no walkover; Carla played Montse tough in Virginia at this juncture, the match going 12,12, and has some career wins. But Montse is #1 now for a reason, and moves on.
– #5 Laime over Sotomayor: I think Vero’s run ends at the hands of the classical power/pinch game of Laime.
– #6 Vargas over #3 Alexandra Herrera ; amazing how tides shift; Herrera was 0-for-career against Vargas until early 2022, when she put it all together and couldn’t lose to anyone. But now, Herrera is slipping, with several round of 16 losses and is in jeopardy of getting pushed out of the top 3 for the first time in years.
– #2 Paola Longoria over Salas: Longoria has looked vulnerable of course, but not against her long-time doubles partner, over whom she holds a commanding h2h career lead (68-3). She’ll move on, then the real tournament starts.
Semis and Finals picks:
– #1 Mejia over #5 Laime. It wouldn’t shock me if Laime gets a win here, but I expect Mejia to hold serve and return to the finals. These two play similarly, but Mejia’s got a better overall pinch/pass game plus can handle Laime’s power.
– #6 Vargas over #2 Longoria. I think Vargas has the confidence to win, and will build on the last few meetings against her long-time antagonist.
Finals: Mejia over Vargas. I think Montse is relishing the chance to get a title as #1 for the first time.
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Mixed Pro Doubles Preview.
No fewer than 28 mixed pro doubles teams are set to compete, and racquetball fans are looking forward to this rarity. The defending champions from the 2021 event are back together and are the #1 seeds: Salas & Montoya. The similarities to prior Mixed Pro events pretty much ends there, as teams are jumbled and seedings done using a combination of USAR ranking points and past experiences.
Here’s the opening round matches I’m liking:
– #16 Sam Bredenbeck & Lexi York vs #17 Galicia and Gaby: an interesting contrast in styles here; Gaby should win the right sided battle with Lexi, but Sam can overpower Galicia. Look for this one to be close.
– #24 Kane & Michelle Key versus #9 @Kadim Carrasco and Laime: Carrasco and Laime are both solid doubles players, but so is Key as the reigning US National doubles champ. Kane is Kane, and in doubles can be pretty brutal to line up against on the backhand as a right-handed player. Don’t let #24 fool you (Kane has literally never played mixed before, knocking down their seeding): this is a tourney favorite.
– #14 Acuna/Ortiz versus #19 Sotomayor & @Jose Daniel Ugalde . Ugalde has some solid doubles experience (he made the finals of 2022 PARC men’s doubles) and can hang with Acuna. Sotomayor should win the right-side battle with the younger Ortiz. That kind of split usually means close tiebreaker.
– #23 Samuel Murray & @Frederique Lambert versus #10 Carter & Lawrence: a tough matchup for both teams, as the under-seeded Canadians feed into the all-USA Carter/Lawrence team. The big question here is how game-ready is Lambert right now? She’s now down to seemingly only playing a couple times a year during her medical residency. The former #2 LPRT player still is tough to beat, so expect a tiebreaker here.
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Round of 16 matches I like:
– #24 Kane/Key over #8 Natera/Munoz: I like the Kane & Key matchup over the husband-wife team of Natera and Munoz, even though Munoz is every bit as good a doubles player as Key.
– #12 Garcia/Vargas over #5 Manilla/Manilla. This will be an unpopular opinion, but I think the matchup for the reigning US Mixed doubles titlists and home-town favorites here is a tough one. Garcia is every bit as good as Adam on one side, and Vargas is better than Erika on the other. Power matches power here, so the match will come down to shot making and mental fortitude.
– #3 Portillo/Herrera over #19 Ugalde/Sotomayor. The inclusion of the lefty Herrera, who will match up against Ugalde, counter balances Portillo blasting away against Sotomayor on both players’ forehand. Herrera is tough to beat in doubles, as is Lalo, and they have the edge.
– #7 DLR/Scott over Murray/Lambert. DLR and Scott are probably under-seeded here given their combined exploits on the court. DLR is inarguably the best doubles player in the world indoor or out, and will take over this match. Murray’s no slouch though, so it’ll come down again to how match-ready Lambert is.
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Quarters Prediction:
– #1 Montoya/Salas over Waselenchuk/Key. A great quarter final that I look forward to watching. Salas is probably the 2nd best right-sided ladies doubles player out there (behind Mejia), and she’ll trump Key in that battle. Montoya has just as much power as Kane on the left side, so this match should be close.
– #4 Mar/Mejia over #12 Garcia/Vargas. This is a great match, but I can’t get over two of the best individual doubles players in Mar/Mejia getting beat here.
– #3 Portillo/Herrera over the #6 Parrilla brother/sister combo: I think this all Mexican battle goes according to seeds.
– #2 Moscoso/Longoria over #7 DLR/Scott. Longoria makes the difference here, winning the right-sided battle with Scott as DLR does all he can to counter the shot-making of Conrrado
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Semis and Finals:
– #4 Mar/Mejia over #1 Montoya/Salas. Just a hunch, but the two doubles partners Mar & Montoya cancel themselves out, leaving the newly crowned #1 player to take over against her veteran Mexican rival.
– #2 Moscoso/Longoria over Portillo/Herrera; Longoria is just too tough to lose at this juncture, as is Moscoso.
Final: Moscoso/Longoria over Mar/Mejia. I think Paola and Montse cancel themselves out, but Moscoso has the edge over Mar and that makes the difference.
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Look for Streaming in the regular places for both pro tours. Follow IRT and LPRT on Facebook and sign up for live notifications.
Thanks to the Tourney Director Jim Hiser for putting this event on! Also for attendees there’s a great History of Racquetball/Museum exhibit done with the help of Jim Easterling and @Randy Stafford’s efforts.
Thanks to the main sponsors Keith Minor and Kwm Gutterman . It goes without saying that without you and your support, we don’t have a sport.
Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.
Coincidentally, if you’re interested in playing Fantasy Racquetball for this event, the links to the brackets are advertised on LPRT’s main page. The winner each week gets free swag!
Tucker & Davis take the title back, having won it together in 2018. They played lights-out ball to upset the #1 seeds and 2-time defending champs Micah rich and @Jason Newberg in the semis to advance to the final. Rich & Gies might have been a bit fatigued from their epic comeback in their quarter final, where they scored 11 straight after going 0-8 down in the breaker against @Alvaro Beltran and Kane Waselenchuk . Alvi & Kane were fortunate to even get to the quarter, facing a match point against in their opener against SoCal veterans and long-time doubles partners @Michael Myers and Tim Herman before moving on 11-10.
From the bottom half, @Chris McDonald and Brian pineda shocked the #3 seeds and 2-time champs Rocky Carson and Jay Ustarroz by taking a “perfect” match 14,(14),10to advance to the semis. They couldn’t take out #2 Daniel de la Rosa and Alejandro Landa though, who advanced to the final.
The final couldn’t be closer; 14,(14),9 to Davis & Tucker, showing how little there was between these teams on the day.
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Women’s Pro Doubles:
Both the top seeded teams cruised into the finals without really even being pressed in a game, and then faced off on Sunday. #2 Munoz and Tisinger got white-washed in game one, taking a 15-0 donut against the #1 seeds Kelani Lawrence and Hollie Rae Scott . Both the top seeded teams cruised into the finals without really even being pressed in a game, and then faced off on Sunday. #2 Munoz and Tisinger got white-washed in game one, taking a 15-0 donut against the #1 seeds Kelani Lawrence and Hollie Rae Scott . It didn’t look great for them in game 2 either, as they fell behind 14-8 and faced match point against. But a questionable hinder call gave a replay, then they saved a couple more match points against (with another questionable hinder that could have been called an avoidable), then suddenly they went on a run … and took game two 15-14. In one of the more incredible turnarounds i’ve seen, Munoz & Tisinger took the breaker 11-7 and pulled a win out of the jaws of defeat for the title.
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Mixed Pro Doubles
#1 @Daniel De La Rosa showed why he’s the best outdoor player in the land, especially in mixed, by winning his 19th outdoor major mixed pro title. He hasn’t been beaten in pro mixed outdoor since 2018, and he’s picked right up with his new partner Hollie Scott where he left off with his old one. In the final they topped Rich playing with @Danielle Maddux , in a rare Outdoor Nationals appearance for the Arizona native.
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Men’s Singles
@Danny Lavely put his name on an illustrious list of players who have won the Singles title at Outdoor Nationals by winning the final against Arizonian Alonzo Tavares 6,1.
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Women’s Singles
Never played outdoor before? No big deal, said newly crowned LPRT #1 Montse Mejia , who took out multi-time champ Rhonda Rajsich in the quarters, 3-time beach bash singles champ Scott in the semis, and then in the final #1 @Carla Munoz , who had won the last four major 3-wall singles titles in a row. A fantastic showing for Mejia.
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Other Major Draws in California:
– CPRT was won for the 2nd year in a row by Solis and Tucker, giving Tucker a nice “double” on the weekend. They topped 3-wall specialists Scott St Clair and @Tony Burg in the final.
– Men’s 75s was taken in a walk-over by tourney director Osberg and Luis Avila when the Arizona pair of Medina and Gerheart couldn’t show.
– Men’s 100 featured some controversy as detailed in social media, but was taken by the CPRT finalists St. Clair & Burg over the father-sun NoCal duo of @Jim Durham and Tom Durham
– Men’s Open was taken by the duo of Davis & Pineda; pro winners and semi-finalists. They topped the McDonald brothers Jack and Greg in the final.
– Beltran and Emmett Coe took the Men’s Paddleball “Upper” title
– James sales and @KKatie Neil took the Mixed Paddleball upper title.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from the LPRT crew, with JT R Ball ‘s technical setup and primarily Craig Lane “Clubber” and Mike Peters on the mike, two WOR Hall of Famer’s really providing awesome and nuanced commentary .
Thanks to the Tourney Directors Geoff Osberg and Jesus Ustarroz for putting this event on! They’ve been running this event now since 2012 and they’re part of a core group of SoCal players who keep the heartbeat of Marina Park alive.
Thanks once again to all the sponsors, especially 3Wall Ball , @kwKwm Gutterman , Keith Minor , Pro Kennex , @Melissa’s, Joe Splathead and GearBox .
We’ve entered the official, real “off-season” of racquetball, and don’t have a major event for a month. But the next event coming is massive: its World Singles & Doubles in Denver, featuring both pro tours and the rarely seen Mixed Pro Doubles.
We’ll do all the accounting for the Outdoor Cup series and publish a status of updated standings post Outdoor Nats later this week.
Can Micah Rich make it 3 in a row in Huntington? Photo Mar 2022 by Steve Fitzsimons
Welcome to the Outdoor Nationals, being held at the Marina Park outdoor courts in Huntington Beach, where it has been since 2006. This year’s event is presented by PROKENNEX , one of the sport’s biggest outdoor sponsors, as well as 3Wall Ball . Additionally we have Keith Minor ‘s continual support via KWM Gutterman Inc. , frequent Vegas sponsor Melissa’s, Gearbox , Splathead Sportsgear , and my old friend Mark Bloom and his law firm Bloom Injury Law , taking a break from padel to support his first love; racquetball.
It has been a tumultuous year for Marina Park and its players, as a redevelopment effort threatened the courts altogether. Thanks to the nationwide community for its support, and for the players who represented our sport at the July 12th hearing (not the least of which being junior Victoria Rodriguez , who by all accounts gave a fantastic presentation that may have prevented even reconstruction).
Also, go to 3WB’s Outdoor Nationals page here https://3wallball.org/…/huntington-beach-outdoor…/ for links, including a link to the 2023 Outdoor Nationals Broadcast Binder, put together by yours truly. It has 120 player profiles, all the WOR rules, past tournament winner history, WOR HOF, etc. https://3wallball.org/…/Outdoor-Nationals-2023… for a direct link. If you want a MS Word copy or if you see any information needing updating DM me.
By the time you read this, the matches have already begun. My apologies for the tardiness. The draws were still being worked on up until the beginning of the event and I had some pressing time issues this week both personally and professionally.
The overall draw for this event is down from last year, and down from past years, a continuing trend in our sport.
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We’ll do quick observations on the major pro draws:
– Men’s Pro Doubles: 13 teams are signed up, including some fascinating names. 14-time indoor pro tour champ @Kane Waselenchuk is making his return to competitive racquetball nearly 10 months to the day after tearing his achiles heel in a pro stop in Maryland. He’s teamed with Alvaro Beltran , owner of 12 major outdoor pro doubles titles, but are seeded 8th and play into the #1 seeds and 2-time defending champions Micah rich and Jason Newberg . It will definitely be a must-watch stream saturday at 12:20pm PST, but I expect the #1 seeds to advance; Rich will dominate Alvaro on the left, and I’m not sure Kane can impose his will enough from the right to make a difference on the massive Marina courts. Rich/Geis project to face 2018 champs Brandon Davis and Josh Tucker in the semis.
From the bottom half, @Daniel de la Rosa has parted ways with Beltran obviously, breaking up a partnership that lasted 10 years and earned them six major outdoor titles together, on top of numerous indoor pro, national, and international titles. He’s teamed here with his now-USA racquetball doubles partner @Alejandro Landa , who is new-er to outdoor but is still a capable doubles player. I can see them out-lasting #3 Rocky Carson and Ustarroz in the semis by just wearing down Jay to force a 1v2 final.
Look for Rich/Geis to 3-peat.
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Women’s Pro Doubles: Eight teams are here competing, but we’ll have a new champ for 2023 as the 4-time defending champion team of @Carla Munoz and Key Michelle have split up (at least for this event). Key is not present, so Munoz has picked up WOR legend and future Hall of Famer Janel Tisinger. They’re the #2 seeds, but they’ll be tough to beat. Speaking of future Hall of Famers, Rhonda Rajsich is back in action, having missed the last couple of outdoor majors. She’s teamed with @Danielle Maddux as the #3 seeds.
Look for Munoz/Tisinger to top #1 seeds and last year’s runner’s up @Kelani Lawrence and @Hollie Scott in the final.
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Mixed Pro Doubles: The #2 team of Greg Solis and Tisinger has won this title 5 times together, the first being in 2011. But they’re #2 here behind the Mixed pro juggernaut that is De La Rosa. DLR has won 5 out of the last 6 mixed pro titles here, all with his former partner Key. Now he’s partnered with Scott, they’re the #1 seeds, and they’re the prohibitive favorites here. They won both Vegas 1-wall and Beach Bash together, and DLR is really tough to beat in mixed.
DLR/Scott will get an early test, as Landa is paired with first-time-playing-outdoor and newly crowned LPRT #1 Montse Mejia , and their semi possibly against #4 Munoz/Tucker will be awesome. From the bottom, Solis/Tisinger will have to deal with Rich early; he’s paired with Maddux for a juicy quarter, feeding into the multi-title holding pair of Rick “Soda Man” Koll and Rajsich. Lots of good matches here.
Look for DLR/Scott to win out.
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Men’s Singles: 3wall singles in Marina Park is not for the faint of heart; only 3 signed up to try this year. Danny Lavely (last year’s finalist), Mike Orr , and Alonzo Tavares . Look for Lavely to make it 7 winners out of 7 years in this division that was once dominated for the better part of 4 decades by just two men: Carson and Brian Hawkes .
Women’s Singles: The women’s pros weren’t scared off by the big courts in HB: eight pros are in Women’s singles to try to knock off two-time defending champ and #1 seed Munoz. Included in that group is Mejia, former 5-time champ Tisinger, former 4-time champ Rajsich, and multiple outdoor singles champ Scott. It’s going to be a dog fight, but i’d expect Munoz over Scott in a rematch of last year’s final.
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CPRT:
The CPRT draw is stacked, with Tucker/Solis as the #1 seed but who might have to fend off Tom Durham/Jason Geis to get back to the final. That is, if Durham/Geis can hold off Koll/Beltran. From the bottom, multi-pro titlists Carson/Ustarroz are always a threat here, but @Scott St Clair and Tony Berg are double tough as a team.
Lets go off-chalk; i’m going with Durham/Geis over St. Clair/Berg in the final.
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Other Draws:
The Men’s Open is basically a pro-lite draw, with a slew of top teams. Combined 75+ looks tough, 50+ has pros playing, Centurion too. Lots of solid ball this weekend.
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Look for Streaming being provided by home-town JT R Ball . Follow the World Outdoor Racquetball page for live streaming updates, which are pretty well shared for this event in WOR and in KRG.
Thanks to the long-time Outdoor nationals Tourney Directors Geoff Osberg and Jesus Ustarroz for putting this event on!
The 49th iteration of @USA Racquetball Junior Nationals was held this past weekend in Pleasanton, CA, crowning a slew of top juniors US champions and qualifying them to represent the USA at Junior Worlds in November in (I believe) Bolivia. Every year since 1974 (save for the 2020 covid year) the USAR (or its predecessor) held Junior Nationals and named national champs.
A reminder on our data entry policies for juniors: we put in full brackets for 14+ and older divisions, just the finalists for younger divisions, and just the finalists for doubles.
The finalists of each Singles division and the Champions of each Doubles division qualify for the US Junior National team, and have first right of refusal to compete at Worlds in November.
Congratulations to all your triple crown winners on the weekend: Eshan Ali, Nathan Rhykus, Naomi Ros, Sonya Shetty, Andrea Perez-Picon, Lexie Sikorski, Anna Sikorski, and Marivada Sloka. Singles, Doubles, and Mixed. That’s a great weekend.
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The best ways to see all the Junior singles winners in one place are via the Junior Matrix Reports at the website.
Click here: https://rball.pro/mey for the Boys Junior winner’s matrix for all USA junior titles, dating back to 1974.
However, for each of the singles draws you can see all the match results by pulling down the event at the main Junior home page. Go here, then hit the event pulldown: http://rb.gy/rnps1f
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Thanks to the streaming teams who helped out all weekend. Thanks to the local tournament directors, the Junior Committee, and all the USAR staff who made tournament happen.
The Central American & Caribbean games started up while Junior Nationals were finishing; we’ll recap that event upon its completion. After that, we’ll write our annual LPRT season recap with a deep dive into each player’s finish.
the LPRT has a new champion. Photo via LPRT feed, via @CoachMaripa
Congrats to your winners on the weekend:
– Singles: Montse Mejia
– Doubles: Montse Mejia & Alexandra Herrera
For the first time since June of 2011, the LPRT has a new #1 as the LPRT wraps up its 2022-23 season. More on that later. Here’s the list of all LPRT #1s heading into this season, to which Mejia has now added her name:
– Jessica Parrilla got a nice win over Natalia Mendez in the 8/9 game. Mendez sinks to her lowest ranking since her debut season in 2016-17.
– In one of the matches of the round, #12 Maria Jose Vargas comes back from a game down to topple Brenda Laime , who had made the finals of the two previous pro events. From finals to one-and done, that’s what the depth on tour is starting to look like.
– #13 Kelani Lawrence dominated #4 Erika Manilla 3,7 on her home courts to move on. Manilla has to be wondering what happened; the cement courts in Chesapeake should have worked to her favor, even if she was playing someone who grew up on those courts.
– #6 Angelica Barrios continues to show why she’s a player nobody wants to face, taking out the previous event’s champion Ana Gabriela Martínez in the 16s in a tie-breaker.
– #7 Carla Munoz ground out a solid win over #10 Samantha Salas Solis 11-9 in the breaker to put a cap on her best ever pro season.
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In the Quarters
– #1 @Paola Longoria , who knowingly went into this event knowing only a better showing than Mejia would retain her crown, dominated #8 Parrilla to move on.
– #12 Vargas made fast work of home-town favorite Kelani 7,1 to setup a crucial semi-final showdown with Paola.
– #6 Barrios shut down any chance of a deep run from Centellas, defeating her fellow Bolivian native 13,8 to move into the semis.
– #2 Montse Mejia , who is also perfectly aware of the stakes in Virginia, held serve 12,12 against a very solid Munoz to move into the semis and keep the possibility of a winner-take-all final alive.
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In the Semis, a heartbreak and a new champion is crowned:
– Vargas took out Longoria for the 2nd time this season in a close 14,12 match. Heartbreak for Longoria, as the loss costs her the title.
– Mejia dominated games one and three, losing focus in game two, and advances over Barrios 3,(13),1.
Mejia played her semi final before Longoria, so upon hearing of Paola’s loss, Mejia knew she had guaranteed herself the year end title. The LPRT has a new #1 player.
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In the Finals, Mejia handled Vargas in game one, capitulated in game two, then dominated her in game three. Final score: 7,(3),3
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Points Implications of results
As noted, Mejia moves to #1 for the end of the season. Vargas’ result moves her well up from #12 for the year end results. There’s not a ton of movement in the last event among the rest of the tour regulars. We’ll save the analysis for our season-ending recap post.
Mejia & Herrera finished the season the same place they started it; with a doubles title. They saved match point against in the final against team Argentina Vargas & Mendez, then blew them away in the breaker to give Mejia a double for the weekend.
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Open Singles, other notable draws
– Amaya got a nice win over Centellas to claim the women’s Open singles title.
– There was a 10-team Mixed pro exhibition that featured a ton of the ladies pros playing with local Men; Gaby Martinez and Natalia Mendez made the final with partners James Stone & Doug Innanen respectively, then shared the title.
– @Dylan Pruitt took out Rich Benderoth in the men’s open singles final.
– Abraham Pena & @Dj Mendoz took a solid Men’s open doubles draw.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst , Jerry J Josey Jr. ., and Tj Baumbaugh
Thanks to the Tourney Director Malia Bailey 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 is USA Junior Nationals, being held this year in Pleasanton, CA. Then, July features the Central America & Caribbean Games, WOR Outdoor Nationals, and the National Senior Games in Pittsburgh.
We will print up a recap of the 2022-23 LPRT season once the final season standings are published, as we do every year.
All she has to do is win, and the title is hers.
Photo Kevin Savory US Open 2019
(apologies for the late preview; i know that the matches have already started by the time you read this)
Welcome to the 2022-23 season-ending LPRT tournament, the 2023 LPRT Battle at the Beach in Chesapeake VA. This is Hall of Famer Malia Bailey ‘s long-time home club and where current US national team member Kelani Lawrence grew up playing, and has long been a great tournament host for Virginia and regional events.
The 2023 pro stop brings on significant additional weight: for the first time in more than a decade, the title race comes down to the final event of the season. Current #1 Paola Longoria still sits at the top spot, but she’s behind #2 Montse Mejia in “season to date” points, and thus the pressure is on for this event. There’s just a 26 point difference between the players heading into the event, which implies that Longoria must basically finish one round better than Mejia to take the title. In other words, if Mejia loses in the quarters, Longoria must make the semis at least to take the title. If both players lose in the same round, Mejia will take the crown.
The last time the LPRT title race was this close was 2010-11, when Rhonda edged Paola by 27 points … but the kicker was that Paola missed one event that season to receive the Athlete of the Year in Mexico. The last time the IRT was this close was in 2006, when the entire season came down to the last match of the last tournament (when Kane Waselenchuk topped Jack Huczek to claim the title).
Racquetball fans are hoping for a similar situation this weekend; 1 v 2 for the season title.
There’s 22 players in the event, a bit small for a grand slam draw but in line with the 20-25% reduction in pro draws we’ve seen this year as our sport continues to transition to a new phase..
Of the top 20 in the world currently, the entire top 10 is here as expected. Several players in the 15-20 range are missing, including Hollie Scott (w/D with late injury), Lotts (who has not played in a pro or top amateur event since Dec 2022), MRR, and Enriquez.
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Lets preview the singles draw. ther’es 5 round of 32 matches, only one of which looks like it could be competitive (Lawrence vs @Maricruz Ortiz). We’ll pick up in the 16s.
We’re now to a point in the tour where there’s at least 5 players who I feel can win week in/week out (Longoria, Mejia, Herrera, Gaby, and Vargas). And then there’s 3 other women who have made finals this season (Laime, Manilla, Barrios). That’s a great depth on tour we havn’t really seen in a while.
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round of 16:
– In the 8/9 match we get Natalia Mendez versus Jessica Parrilla ; both players were top 4-5 players but have been pushed down this year thanks in part to unlucky matchups with players like Vargas returning to the fold, but also just getting pushed down slightly by the rise of players like Laime this year. Leoni has owned their h2h recently so I’ll go with the Mexican to advance.
– The match of the round will be #5 Brenda Laime vs #12 @Maria José Vargas . Both are finals-quality opponents, only one can advance. I’ll go with Vargas, despite Laime having the hot hand and making the finals two events in a row.
– #4 Erika Manilla takes on #13 Lawrence on her home courts: Manilla should advance but Kelani at home is tough. Expect a breaker here.
– #6 Angelica Barrios vs #11 Ana Gabriela Martínez ; another solid round of 16, very IRF-style match between two players who have both won major international singles titles. I’ll go with Gaby here.
– #7 Carla Munoz vs #10 Samantha Salas ; Munoz has beaten her twice in a row, but both were close breakers and I feel like Salas has caught her breath and is holding steady after a couple seasons of decline. Look for another 11-8 breaker.
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Projected Qtrs:
– Longoria over Parrilla; Paola is 18-0 over Parrilla in all competitions lifetime.
– Vargas v Manilla; they’ve met at this juncture in the last two LPRT events, a Vargas blowout and then a scintillating 11-10 Manilla win. What happens now? Chesapeak is cement courts, which favors the power players, but both are power players. Vargas has great history here; she won in 2019 on these courts. I’ll go with Vargas.
– Herrera vs Gaby: I sense a lost season for Herrera, who went from the heir apparent to an also ran inside of 9 months. Not sure where she goes from here.
– Mejia over Munoz: in limited history, Mejia is 3-1 lifetime.
Semis:
– Longoria over Vargas: I think Paola rises to the pressure and puts the onus on Mejia to beat her for the title.
– Mejia over Herrera: these two long-time doubles partners know each other well, but Mejia has come to rule their h2h recently.
Finals;
we get 1 v 2 for all the marbles, and I think Montse takes it.
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Doubles review
10 teams playing doubles in Chesapeake, including the two top teams Longoria/Salas and Mejia/Herrera. We don’t track doubles rankings as closely, but it seems like a long shot that Paola/Sam will be caught for the 2022-23 doubles title irrespective of what happens here. Despite pipping the two veterans for the Mexican national title earlier this year, Montse/Alexandra have just one pro doubles title this season.
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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.
There were no real surprises to the Semis from the 10-man draw; we were robbed of the best quarter final match when 2-time defending USA national champ Rocky Carson announced he was skipping the event. I don’t blame him; flying halfway across the country on Memorial day weekend for a likely one-and-done against a top IRT player for someone who has played basically two tournaments all year wasn’t a strong strategy. Carson is off the national team for the first time since (I believe) 2002, an amazing stat.
In the semis, a shock upset by Adam Manilla , taking out the #1 seeded Jake Bredenbeck with relative ease in four games. A real surprise loss that has major US team ramifications for the Pan Am games (which we’ll summarize below). From the bottom, #2 Daniel De La Rosa cruised past his doubles partner Alejandro Landa to guarantee his singles qualification to the team and solidify his claim.
In the final, Manilla made a match of it, stretching the 2-time defending IRT champ to five games, but DLR persevered to claim his first ever USA singles title. Jake rebounded to take the 3rd place match over Landa, which I was initially shocked was even played given the circumstances (but read on for the likely real reason).
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US Men’s National Team/Pan Am games roster ramifications.
Your 2023-24 team qualifiers are now:
– Men’s Doubles: De La Rosa & Landa
– Mixed Doubles: Manilla
– Men’s Singles: De La Rosa & Manilla
Three players for three Pan Am Games Slots. So, absent any externalities that impact the availability/eligibility of these three players, this is your Pan Am Games Men’s team. I’d imagine that we’d line up these players exactly like this in Chile in the fall.
Now, why did they play the 3rd place match? Probably for positioning in case one of these three players cannot go to Chile. And the “order” of finishing matters when selecting the next players to go. If the USA men need a 3rd player, here’s the next in line:
– Men’s Doubles finalists from Feb: Manilla & Antone
– Mixed Doubles finalist from Feb: De La Rosa
– Men’s Singles semi finalists from May: Bredenbeck & Landa
So, next in line to be asked probably would be Jake and then Wayne, then the team would start to dig deeper. Given the import of the Pan Am Games, its not likely we’d have to; this is the crown jewel event of the sport.
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USA Women’s competition;
There were no real surprises in the 5-person Ladies draw. Lexi York did her best to upset @Rhonda Rajsich in the quarters but fell in five games. Kelani Lawrence broke her duck against Rhonda in the semis, winning in three to ensure her national team consideration. Erika Manilla had a battle against Hollie Scott that went 5 games, with Scott knowing only a win would put her into contention after early losses in doubles draws in February. In the final, Manilla took the title in an upset by seed but certainly not by LPRT current rankings. Manilla repeats as National singles champion.
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US Women’s National Team/Pan Am games roster ramifications.
Your team qualifiers are now:
– Women’s Doubles: Manilla & Michelle Key , who did not travel to Chicago this weekend to compete
– Mixed Doubles: Manilla
– Women’s Singles: Manilla & Lawrence.
So, as we thought might happen, three ladies for two spots in Chile. Someone is going to be disappointed. We can speculate now as to what the US Team committee/future US coach may decide w/r/t putting the best team forward, but that wouldn’t be fair to any of these women, who have earned their US team titles on the court.
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Canada Men’s Singles
For the 14th straight time. the final of a national Canadian tournament came down to its top two players, #1 @Samuel Murray and #2 Coby Iwaasa . There were a couple of notable down-bracket upsets, a rarity in Canadian racquetball; congrats to Kurtis Cullen for taking out #4 @Connell Lee and for #6 @Tanner Prentice to get the upset win over #3 @Trevor Webb to advance to the semis and eventually compete for 3rd place. Cullen took 3rd and capped a banner weekend for him (he also won the Doubles title; see below).
In the men’s final, Murray controlled Iwaasa to win in three 4,10,3 and claim his 4th straight National title.
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Canada Women’s Singles:
#1 Frederique Lambert won her 3rd straight Women’s singles title, and 5th overall, by downing @Juliette Parent in the final. Lambert did not cruise through this draw though, she was stretched to five games in the semis by last year’s finalist @Michele Morissette and then taken to four by the upstart Parent. Bravo to Parent for breaking through with a marquee win over Christine Keay , who had more or less solidified herself as the #2 Canadian woman over the past few years with three straight singles finals appearances at Nationals.
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Canadian Men’s Doubles:
A huge upset in the doubles final, as the Murray brothers were taken out by Iwaasa and Cullen in three. This was a rematch of last year’s final, and breaks the string of three straight Canadian doubles titles by the Murray brothers.
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Canadian Women’s Doubles:
#1 seeds Lambert & Morissette defended their Canadian national doubles title by taking the 5-team round robin group without losing a match. A 3-way tie for second resulted in Keay and Prentice being the 2nd place finishers.
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Canadian Mixed Doubles:
In a small round robin competition, @Christian Pocsai and @Ofelia Wilscam took the National mixed doubles draw title, a first for both. Unfortunately, this draw was purged of most of the top players by virtue of the workload it would have caused, something for the US to consider if/when we combine both singles and doubles qualifying into one event.
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Canadian Pan Am Games team selection discussion;
So, the Canadian team selection process may now be a bit complicated by the above results, and thanks to their poor showing at the 2023 PARC. Canada finished 6th in Men’s and 10th in Women’s in Guatemala, meaning they were no where close to the threshold for getting three players in either gender. So just two men and two women will be selected to represent Canada in Chile. But who? Here’s your player pool:
– Men’s Singles: Murray, Iwaasa
– Men’s Doubles: Iwaasa, Cullen
– Mixed Doubles: Pocsai
Technically four players for 2 spots, though there’s a clear gap between Murray & Iwaasa and the others, so one would have to think that will be the team. It normally is Murray & Iwaasa at the major IRF events and i’d have to think it’d be the same in Chile.
Canadian Women’s team selection consideration.
Here’s the qualified female players under consideration:
– Women’s Singles: Lambert, Parent
– Women’s Doubles: Lambert, Morissette
– Mixed Doubles: Wilscam
A tough decision here; both Parent and Morissette have represented Canada internationally in each of the last three years, but Lambert is the double qualifier. However, as we know Lambert is a practicing medical doctor and may very well not be able to get away for a trip as long as the Pan Am games requires. I could see a repeat of the 2023 PARC team of Parent & Morissette in Chile, but we hope to see Lambert (the former #2 LPRT player) show up at the sport’s biggest stage.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend. Pablo Fajre and his IRT crew in Chicago, and @JJT R Ball and Timothy Baghurst in Winnipeg.
We have a couple weeks off until the final LPRT stop of the season in Chesapeake, where the title is up for grabs for the first time since the late 2000s.
