Category: USA

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LPRT 2024 Arizona Open Recap

Vargas wins again. Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Maria Jose Vargas

– Doubles: Alexandra Herrera and Montse Mejia

Vargas wins the 3rd event of the four held so far in the 2023-24 season and takes a major step towards securing her first year end title. Herrera & Mejia cruise to another pro title together and solidify their place as the #1 ladies doubles team in the world.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=41159

System note: I upgraded my hosting this past week and weekend to buy more resources for proracquetballstats.com and other personal interests. As things often do, the migration didn’t go very well, so i’m still experiencing issues with connectivity and errors on the site. So, there’s no embedded PRS links here for the loaded data because … i’m not sure whether it loaded to the “old” or “new” platform. Hopefully we’ll get this resolved asap.

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: tbd

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In the 32s, there were no real “upsets” but we did see some decent games.

– Junior @Naomi Ros took Carla Munoz to 15-13 in game one before falling 13,4

– Jessica Parrilla came from a game down to top veteran Nancy Enriquez in a battle of doubles partners here at this event.

– MRR played @Kelani Lawrence tough before falling 10,7.

– One of the sport’s longest playing vets Susana Acosta made her first appearance of the 2023-24 season; its the 26th straight season she’s played a pro event. She took a game off of @Natalia Mendez before falling.

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In the 16s, 100% chalk. All top 8 seeds advanced, though a couple were pushed.

– #5 Erika Manilla dropped the first game against #12 Munoz before moving on. Despite the seeds here, this is a lot closer of a match and this tiebreaker isn’t unexpected.

– Lawrence pushed #6 Gaby Martinez to a breaker as well, taking the middle game before falling in three.

– Parrilla and Laime had an interesting match: after losing 15-0 in game one, Parrilla fought hard to push game two to 14-14 but fell short of a tiebreaker.

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In the Quarters, we got some upsets

– #8 Alexandra Herrera, who isn’t too far removed from winning tier 1s on tour herself, shocked her doubles partner and #1 Mejia in a tiebreaker. Sometimes, when you play a friend or someone you know well … seeds don’t matter. Mejia takes a quarter final loss and falls further behind in her quest to defend her title.

– #5 Manilla got a solid win over #4 Laime, playing just a few points short of the “perfect” game. Final score: 13,(14),8. Great win for the USA #1.

– #3 Longoria held off her 2018 World’s vanquisher Gaby Martinez 15-14 in game one, then crushed her 15-2 to move into the semis.

– #2 Vargas made very fast work of a player who’s given her fits in the past, #7 Barrios, winning 2,7 to move on. Whatever mental hiccups Vargas may have shown in the past, they seem to be past her.

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In the Semis:

– Herrera moved into her first final in more than a season by topping Manilla 14,5

– Vargas continued her run of success against Longoria, taking two close games 12,14 to move into the final. After starting her career 2-14 against Longoria, Vargas now has won 5 of their past 7 meetings.

In the Finals, Vargas topped Herrera 5,12 in a game that may not have been as close as the scores to win her 3rd event this season.

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Points Implications of results

There won’t be any changes in the current standings for the top 7 after this event, but we’ll see some shuffling in the 7-10 range. Salas will move up from 9 to 8, Barrios will move out of the top 8, and Munoz will get back in the top 10.

The more important points implications is in the Season to Date standings. With this win, Vargas takes a 125 point seasonal lead over Longoria, even more over Mejia. In fact, with three wins out of four so far, Vargas is easily in pole position right now to be crowned the third new LPRT champ in three seasons. Assuming there’s probably 4 or maybe 5 more events in the season (last year’s spring slate featured Boston, San Antonio, Sweet Caroline/Greenville, and a season-ending slam in Chesapeake), and considering that Vargas seems like a shoe-in to make the latter half of each event, it’ll be hard for her to be caught.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: tbd

Nothing could stop the #1 and #2 teams from getting to the final, despite the talent in the draw. There, Mejia and Herrera cruised to another pro title and extended their lead at the top with a comprehensive 9,4 win over Salas & Longoria.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– USA top junior Naomi Ros took the small LPRT U21 draw.

– Carla Munoz took the Women’s Open draw over Lucia Gonzalez in the final.

– @Ben Baron took out Thomas Gerhardt in an all AZ men’s open final.

– The singles finalists paired up to take Men’s Open doubles.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Sandy Rios Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

Next up is the IRT in Sioux Falls for the annual Lewis Drug event on the 1/28 weekend. Then 2 weeks after that its Us Nationals in Arizona (Canada has a national selection event the same weekend). Next known LPRT event is Boston first week of March.

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tags @LPR

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LPRT Arizona Open

Will Laime bo unce back? Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory

(a quick systems note: you may have seen some errors on the Pro Racquetball Website, where the code doesn’t work or you get “Resource busy” errors. I upgraded WordPress recently and it’s maxing out my memory/cpu at the host, so I’m upgrading this week. Once i validate the code works as advertised, we should have more stability. Apologies if you’re trying to run reports and getting errors).

It’s been almost exactly a month since the ladies were on the court, and now they’re back in action at a familiar site: Arizona State University in Tempe. Welcome to the first pro tour event in 2024; the 2024 Arizona Open, presented by The Madison Trust.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=41159

There’s 26 ladies in Arizona, including 19 of the top 20 (only Centellas is missing), so get ready for some great racquetball.

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Lets preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:

Projecting the 32s: here’s some possible matchups, though the depth of this draw could make for some upsets and make these predictions moot:

– the 16/17 could be interesting: Lexi York and @Maria Paz Riquelme should be a nice lefty/righty matchup of solid tour players.

– Lucia Gonzalez makes a rare appearance on tour, and faces off against LPRT veteran Samantha Salas . The 7-time junior world champion has never had the success she had as a junior in the adult world, but does periodically show up and get shocking wins at major events (in 2020 she went to Mexican Nationals and took out two top 8 LPRT pros at the time Enriquez and Herrera before falling in National semis). It’s been several years though since she got a solid win on tour, and now faces a somewhat resurgent Salas in the opener.

– @Alexandra Herrera comes in seeded 8th, the lowest she’s been since the 2015-16 season. For her troubles she gets local Arizona resident and US National team member Michelle Key , playing singles in a Pro indoor tournament for the first time since the 2021 Arizona Open.

– Carla Munoz has dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in a while, and as the #12 seed faces off against up and coming US Junior @Naomi Ros.

– Two Mexican former top 10 veterans Nancy Enriquez and Jessica Parrilla renew their rivalry in the #13/#20 seed match

– Reigning Mexican 16U junior champ Mariafernanda Trujillo makes her pro tour debut against Angelica Barrios

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round of 16, here’s some matches to watch:

– 8/9 Herrera-Salas would have been a 2/3 semi final just a couple years ago. These two are quite familiar with each other and this should be close.

– #4 Brenda Laime took an early upset loss last event; is she susceptible to another upset at the hands of the Parrilla/Enriquez winner?

– If they survive play-ins, Barrios v Natalia Mendez is a nice Bolivian native battle of two of the more unique playing stiles on tour.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 Montse Mejia over Herrera. Ironic the #1 seed gets arguably the hardest quarter final by virtue of Herrera’s seed slipping so quickly over the past few events.

– #5 @Erika Manilla over Laime, if Laime gets here. She’s too jekyll and hyde for me; she’s in the final, then she’s losing first round. Manilla needs wins like this to maintain the pressure to get into the upper echelons of the tour.

– #3 Paola Longoria vs #6 @Ana Gabriele Martinelli : love this matchup. Gaby famously beat Paola to claim 2018 Worlds, but generally Longoria owns this matchup.

– #2 Maria Jose Vargas over #7 Barrios. Vargas is the hottest player on tour right now, but Barrios’ game style has given her fits in the past. I believe Vargas has passed a mental hurdle recently (as evidenced by 3 straight wins over Longoria) and wont’ be stopped here.

Semis:

– Mejia over Manilla; Erika can’t just play her power game, trying to blast nothing but passing shots and expect to beat Mejia, who may not have Erika’s mph but has a complete array of offensive shots.

– Vargas over Longoria: Paola has Vargas in her head right now and, even though Longoria has the lead in Season to Date points, its Vargas who has the upper hand over the next few events in terms of expiring points.

Finals: I like Vargas over Mejia again.

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Doubles review

A changing of the guard is seen here, as (finally) the #1 pro doubles team is Mejia & Herrera, having finally taken over that spot from long-time #1 Longoria & Salas. Likewise, Lawrence & Scott have taken over the #3 spot. Lurking though are some very good international teams: #5 is Gaby/MRR, just the reigning Pan Am Games champs. #4 is Laime/Vargas, an incredibly powerful team. #7 is the reigning US National champions Key/Manilla, another super tough team.

this is going to be a great doubles draw. Look for Gaby/MRR to upset #1 in the upper semi, and for Longoria/Salas to take advantage and win to regain #1 on the doubles tour.

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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. Look for the likes of Timothy Baghurst, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Associations

LPRT

LPRT Arizona Open

(a quick systems note: you may have seen some errors on the Pro Racquetball Website, where the code doesn’t work or you get “Resource busy” errors. I upgraded WordPress recently and it’s maxing out my memory/cpu at the host, so I’m upgrading this week. Once i validate the code works as advertised, we should have more stability. Apologies if you’re trying to run reports and getting errors).

It’s been almost exactly a month since the ladies were on the court, and now they’re back in action at a familiar site: Arizona State University in Tempe. Welcome to the first pro tour event in 2024; the 2024 Arizona Open, presented by The Madison Trust.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=41159

There’s 26 ladies in Arizona, including 19 of the top 20 (only Centellas is missing), so get ready for some great racquetball.

——————————

Lets preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:

Projecting the 32s: here’s some possible matchups, though the depth of this draw could make for some upsets and make these predictions moot:

– the 16/17 could be interesting: Lexi York and @Maria Paz Riquelme should be a nice lefty/righty matchup of solid tour players.

– Lucia Gonzalez makes a rare appearance on tour, and faces off against LPRT veteran Samantha Salas . The 7-time junior world champion has never had the success she had as a junior in the adult world, but does periodically show up and get shocking wins at major events (in 2020 she went to Mexican Nationals and took out two top 8 LPRT pros at the time Enriquez and Herrera before falling in National semis). It’s been several years though since she got a solid win on tour, and now faces a somewhat resurgent Salas in the opener.

– @Alexandra Herrera comes in seeded 8th, the lowest she’s been since the 2015-16 season. For her troubles she gets local Arizona resident and US National team member Michelle Key , playing singles in a Pro indoor tournament for the first time since the 2021 Arizona Open.

– Carla Munoz has dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in a while, and as the #12 seed faces off against up and coming US Junior @Naomi Ros.

– Two Mexican former top 10 veterans Nancy Enriquez and Jessica Parrilla renew their rivalry in the #13/#20 seed match

– Reigning Mexican 16U junior champ Mariafernanda Trujillo makes her pro tour debut against Angelica Barrios

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round of 16, here’s some matches to watch:

– 8/9 Herrera-Salas would have been a 2/3 semi final just a couple years ago. These two are quite familiar with each other and this should be close.

– #4 Brenda Laime took an early upset loss last event; is she susceptible to another upset at the hands of the Parrilla/Enriquez winner?

– If they survive play-ins, Barrios v Natalia Mendez is a nice Bolivian native battle of two of the more unique playing stiles on tour.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 Montse Mejia over Herrera. Ironic the #1 seed gets arguably the hardest quarter final by virtue of Herrera’s seed slipping so quickly over the past few events.

– #5 @Erika Manilla over Laime, if Laime gets here. She’s too jekyll and hyde for me; she’s in the final, then she’s losing first round. Manilla needs wins like this to maintain the pressure to get into the upper echelons of the tour.

– #3 Paola Longoria vs #6 @Ana Gabriele Martinelli : love this matchup. Gaby famously beat Paola to claim 2018 Worlds, but generally Longoria owns this matchup.

– #2 Maria Jose Vargas over #7 Barrios. Vargas is the hottest player on tour right now, but Barrios’ game style has given her fits in the past. I believe Vargas has passed a mental hurdle recently (as evidenced by 3 straight wins over Longoria) and wont’ be stopped here.

Semis:

– Mejia over Manilla; Erika can’t just play her power game, trying to blast nothing but passing shots and expect to beat Mejia, who may not have Erika’s mph but has a complete array of offensive shots.

– Vargas over Longoria: Paola has Vargas in her head right now and, even though Longoria has the lead in Season to Date points, its Vargas who has the upper hand over the next few events in terms of expiring points.

Finals: I like Vargas over Mejia again.

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Doubles review

A changing of the guard is seen here, as (finally) the #1 pro doubles team is Mejia & Herrera, having finally taken over that spot from long-time #1 Longoria & Salas. Likewise, Lawrence & Scott have taken over the #3 spot. Lurking though are some very good international teams: #5 is Gaby/MRR, just the reigning Pan Am Games champs. #4 is Laime/Vargas, an incredibly powerful team. #7 is the reigning US National champions Key/Manilla, another super tough team.

this is going to be a great doubles draw. Look for Gaby/MRR to upset #1 in the upper semi, and for Longoria/Salas to take advantage and win to regain #1 on the doubles tour.

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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. Look for the likes of Timothy Baghurst, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Associations

LPRT

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4th Annual “Average Joe’s” Tourney Preview

Ulliman is in Jersey looking to become a 2x champ of the Average Joe’s. Photo via r2sports

With the turn of the new year, we get the 4th annual Average Joe’s money tournament, held at the famous “Court 4” on the Kelley brother’s property in Montague, NJ.

More than 20 top amateurs have traveled to Jersey for this year’s event, which is part tourney and part weekend racquetball camp on the Kelley’s property.

Past champions:

– 1st Annual in 2021: Joe Kelley over Austin Cunningham

– 2nd Annual 2022: Kyle Ulliman over Victor Migliore

– 3rd Annual 2023: Sam Kelley over Victor Migliore

This year’s event features perhaps the widest geographic draw yet, with the regular Northeast crew present, plus players from up and down the east coast, top guys in from Ohio like last year, and even top USA junior @Cole Sendrey in from Texas.

Here’s a preview of the singles and (back for the 2nd year in a row) doubles draws:

In the singles draw, your top seeds are:

#1 @Dylan Pruit from Maryland

#2 your host and defending champ Sam Kelley

#3 two-time finalist and Ohio native Victor Migliore

#4 2022 champion Kyle Ulliman.

However, there’s talent up and down the draw; the inugural champ Joe Kelley is the #8 seed, the finalist in 2021 Cunningham is the #12 seed, and superstar Junior Sendrey is the #6 seed. How will this play out

In the quarters, look for Joe Kelley to give #1 Pruitt a run for his money but fall just short. I like Cunningham to upset lefty David Austin early but fall to Ulliman in the quarters. From the bottom half, Sendrey will struggle with Migliore’s power and quickness but may get a shocker upset, while its hard to see Sam Kelley falling before the semis.

Look for Sam over Migliore in one semi, and Ulliman over Pruitt in the other semi, then Ulliman in the final to be a 2-time champ.

In Doubles, look for the top seeded team of Pruitt & Cunningham to cruise into the finals, while the bottom half semi between team Ohio (Migliore and Ulliman) and team Kelley (brothers Sam and Joe) will be a battle royale. I like the Ohioans to take out the hosts, then top #1 seeds for the title.

Watch for streaming all weekend as the guys hang out on the Kelley residence. We’ll recap on Sunday or Monday.

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LPRT 31st Annual Christmas Classic Recap

Vargas dominates to win in DC. Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Maria Jose Vargas

– Doubles: Alexandra Herrera and Monserrat Mejia

Vargas wins her 7th career LPRT singles title, putting her ahead of Mejia and tying her for 11th place all time with a couple of hall of fame calibre players in Marci Drexler and Caryn McKinney.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=41727

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/9pb

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In the 32s, the tour welcomed back @Maria Renee Rodriguez , who we hadn’t seen on tour since May. She topped @Stephanie Synhorst to move on to face #1 Mejia. Texas junior @Naomi Ros got a nice win over fellow USA player Lexi York to move on, and Colombian @Maria Paz Riquelme took out Floridian Chanis Leon in a rematch of their opener from Boston.

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In the 16s

– #9 @Samantha Salas Solis got the better of Carla Muñoz this time around, winning in a breaker of the always-close 8/9 matchup.

– #13 Cris Amaya advanced to the quarters of a pro event for the first time since January 2020 with a close 2-game win over Brenda Laime 13,14.

– #6 Alexandra Herrera made fast work of country-woman Jessica Parrilla for the 2nd straight event, moving on 6,5

– An injury to Argentine @Natalia Mendez gave team USA Kelani Lawrence a walk-over into the quarters.

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In the Quarters

– #1 Mejia moved past Salas 2,11

– #13 Amaya turned back the clock once again and moved into her first pro semi since March of 2017 by topping Guatemalan @Ana Gabriele Martinelli in a breaker. Amaya lost game one easily and saved match points against in game two before topping Gaby in the breaker.

– #3 Vargas cruised past Herrera 3,10, another statement win defining the gulf that has opened between Herrera and the top 3 ladies on tour

– #2 @Paola Longoria was not very troubled by Lawrence, moving on 4,2.

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In the Semis

– Mejia ended Amaya’s luck, advancing to the final 8,3

– Vargas topped Longoria for the 3rd time in their last 4 meetings, but it couldn’t have been any closer. (13),10,10. Vargas controlled most of the breaker and got to 10-6, but then Longoria saved match point against (plus two more) as she clawed her way to 10-10. Vargas buried a side-out winner, then aced Longoria on her fourth match point attempt to take the win.

In the Finals, Vargas improved to 6-4 lifetime (including wins in their last two meetings) to take the title.

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Points Implications of results

When last year’s Xmas classic expires, Vargas will leapfrog Longoria for #2 on tour, relegating Paola to #3 on tour. It has been so long since Longoria was ranked below #2 on tour that our records don’t even reliably have seeding data; we know Paola was the #5 seed at the 2008 US Open, which she won, and by that season’s end she was firmly ensconced at #1 on tour. So, a seminal event on tour.

Other top 10-15 moves: Salas moves one notch ahead of Mendez in the rankings, while Munoz drops from #10 to #12.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/mrf

Mejia and Herrera won their third straight LPRT pro doubles title, and their 8th as a pair, with a comprehensive 10,8 win over the #1 seeds Longoria & Salas. The reigning Mexican champs (who won 2023 PARC but who got upset in the semis at the Pan Am Games) continues to be the best doubles team in the world, even if they’re still ranked #2 behind Longoria & Salas.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Ros beat York again and then Synhorst to take Women’s Open singles.

– Dylan Pruitt took out Mauricio Zelada in an all-Maryland Men’s Open final.

– Pruitt teamed with Jessica Parrilla to win the Men’s open doubles title.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from the LPRT crew, thanks to the tourney director, and thanks to all the sponsors as always.

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.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

We’re finishing off the last tournament weekend of the 2023 year. I’ll recap the Beach Battle from Hollywood and then after a break I’ll do a 2023 season IRT recap.

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tags

LPRT

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IRT Golden State Open Recap

Moscoso wins the final event of 2023 but it isn’t enough to get him the year end titie. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: @conrramoscosoortiz

– Doubles: Rodrigo Montoya and Javier Mar

Moscoso secures the last event of the 2023 season, his 8th career title. This moves him into a tie for 14th overall with none other than @John Ellis , who was recognized this weekend for his induction into the USA Racquetball hall of fame. See https://rball.pro/2fg for a full list of title winners in the history of the tour.

However, the story line of the weekend was @DaDaniel De la Rosa , losing finalist but who wrapped up his 3rd year end title in a row. The other story line, of course, was the return of the Glass Court to the pro sport. Congrats to tournament organizers Adam Manilla and Bobby Horn for securing the funding and expending the effort to make this happen. The IRT draw was one of the largest we’ve seen since the last time the court was in use, and it looked awesome. Thanks as always to @Keith Minor and Kwm Gutterman for your ongoing support of the sport, and for housing the court.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=41282

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/l2k

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In the qualifiers, some interesting/surprising results:

– Up and coming Mexican 18U Cristhian Sanchez took out top amateur Martin Anthony to move into the main draw.

– Former WRT #1 Alejandro Cardoza topped Guatemalan international Edwin Galicia to get into the main draw.

– 13-time title winner @Kane Waselenchuk moved into the main draw as expected, topping fellow Texan Craig Clements .

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In the 32s:

– @Sam Bredenbeck got a nice win over Bolivian vet Kadim Carrasco to force his way into the 16s.

– 2-time IRT champ Rocky Carson reminded current tour players that he can still ball, topping #12 @Javier Mar in a breaker to move on.

– Guatemalan #1 @JuJuan Salvatiera surprised #13 Robert Collins to move on.

– Kane, seeded 19th in this event, cruised past Mexican 21U @Erick Trujillo 7,7 to get into the 16s and setup a rematch of Boston’s showdown with Moscoso.

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In the 16s:

– @Andres Acuna dominated Alan Natera in the 8/9 match 6,10, setting up the expected quarter final battle with DLR.

– Rocky shocked #5 Andree Parrilla 11,9 to move into the quarters.

– In a very highly anticipated match, #3 Moscoso faced off against Waselenchuk. To this observer, Kane wasn’t looking nearly as sharp in Pleasanton as he did in Boston, as evidenced by Trujillo’s ability to get points on him in the earlier round. The glass court plays slow as well, which contributes (along with the slower ball) to balls being up and gettable to an extent that wasn’t the case on Boston’s cement walls. Kane controlled game one for long stretches, but Moscoso kept it close and ended up losing 15-10. I was critical of Moscoso’s lack of serving diversity and his game plan being exposed by the tactical genius of Kane ahead of this match, but all credit to Conrrado here; he came out firing in game two and blitzed Kane 15-4 in a one-way traffic game that continued into the tiebreaker. Final score: (10),4,4. I believe we saw the Bolivian get over a mental hurdle and just gain confidence as the match wore on, freeing him to go for his typical “shoot with abandon” mentality and, once he started hitting those shots, there was nothing anyone could do.

– @Eduardo Portillo topped @Alejandro Landa 10,3 in what was Landa’s final pro singles match as a full time touring pro. We’ll do a career retrospective of Landa in this space at a later date.

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In the Quarters, we got some match results with historical implications.

– #1 Daniel DE LA Rosa , who went into this event knowing that a semi finals appearance would seal the 2023 title, took the court knowing that the results before him already sealed the deal (more on that later). Perhaps distracted, he dropped a game to #8 Acuna but ground back to take a close breaker 11-8.

– #4 Rodrigo Montoya blitzed Carson 15-1 in the first and then held on 15-13 for the two game win to send the veteran Cinderella home.

– #3 Moscoso sent home your host on the weekend Manilla 6,11

– #2 @Jake Bredenbeck , who went into this event knowing that he needed a tourney win plus some help, was shocked by #7 Portillo 10,13 to end his season. This result ended up officially sealing the 2023 title for DLR and sent Jake home with a bitter taste.

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In the Semis

– DLR made fast work of Montoya 8,7

– Moscoso blasted Lalo 6,2 to setup an entertaining final.

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In the Finals, Moscoso played a comprehensive lights out match, crushing the new #1 DLR 4,3 to take the title. Daniel had little response to Moscoso’s dominance, and the Bolivian made a bit of a statement with the win. Despite finishing #2, Moscoso actually out-titled Daniel this year 4-3 (though Daniel made 4 other finals to Moscoso’s two, demonstrating a bit more consistency throughout the year).

In the post-game interview, Daniel announced that he will not be “touring full time” in 2024, alluding to his commitments to “another sport.” There’s little surprise here; he signed an exclusive 3-year contract with the Professional Pickleball Association in August which guarantees a salary, benefits, and expense reimbursement to an extent where DLR could not say no. His main sponsor Pro Kennex and Mike Martinez tried to manage the situation on social media by noting that DLR is a “multi sport” sponsored player and has expectations of continuing to play and compete in racquetball, but as they say, we’ll see how it goes.

A quick glance at the 2024 known schedules for Racquetball and Pickleball right now shows that

– DLR is free to play the Lewis Drug (no conflicts)

– may have a conflict for USA Nationals on 2/11/24 weekend if he plays the MLP,

– would have a MLP conflict for Minnesota HoF tourney

– Definitely has a PPA conflict with 3/17 Papa Nicholas event (which is also Beach Bash in 2024)

So we’ll see. The biggest question may just be how many tier1s can the IRT get in 2024. We’ve lost the Longhorn Open, I’ve seen no word from the Atlanta guys (Suivant and Williams) about their regular February event, the SoCal Open isn’t on the books for April, Denver is not happening this year, Tracktown & Boston were first time events in 2023 that may or may not return, there’s no guarantee of a US Open in 2024, we’ve seemingly lost the Sarasota/Dovetail open, the organizers of the DC-area Capital Classic have pulled back. NY Open is gone along with its sponsor from the sport, and the Pelham TOC downgraded to a satellite. So, DLR may not have to “tour full time” to play a full slate of 2024 events if there’s only a handful.

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Points Implications of results

As noted above, DLR sealed the year end title (his 3rd) with Jake’s quarter final loss. More interestingly is that Moscoso’s win coupled with Jake’s early loss has jumped Conrrado up to #2 for the season. The only other last minute moves in the top 10 saw Acuna bump up to #8, pushing the absent Murray back to #10 for the year. Landa’s final season ends with him just getting pushed out of the top 10.

We’ll do a full comprehensive recap of the season later on this month.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/wsi

Montoya and Mar captured another doubles title as a team. Its their 3rd pro doubles title this season and their 7th together professionally. This is on top of their 2023 Pan Am games gold, their 2022 Worlds, and their 2019 Pan Am gold medals as a partnership.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– @Diego Gastelum took an all Mexican U21 final against Rico. Both players got walkovers from Guatemalans in the semis, possibly due to travel issues.

– Alan Natera / Victor Koliczew got a win in the Open Doubles final when NorCal duo Torres and Reynolds withdrew.

– Christie Noler took the 4-player Women’s Open RR

– Sonya_Shetty_/_Victoria_Rodriguez took the women’s Open draw

– Shane Diaz / Will Reynolds: took Mixed Open

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Favio Soto, Steve Schulze, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew . Thanks to guest broadcasters all weeked like @Brian Pineda and @Sudsy Monchik , who make it great to watch along from home.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

We’ll cover the LPRT and WOR events later this week, then that’s a wrap for 2023!

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Posted on

LPRT 31st Annual Xmas Classic Preview

Gaby makes a rare LPRT appearance. Photo via Gaby

We’re doing double duty this weekend, with the men on one coast and the ladies the other. Also this weekend is the 31st Annual Christmas Classic, being hosted just south of Baltimore at the Severna Park club, which features an old school sunken glass court with permanent seating behind it.

No Erika this weekend; she stays in Pleasanton to help her brother run the IRT event.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=41727

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Lets preview the draw. Here’s some notable matches that i’m looking forward to:

In the 32s, three play-ins. We get a repeat of lefties Riquelme-Leon from Chicago a few weeks ago, plus a fun match between two USA players York and Ros.

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round of 16:

Some slight jumbling of the back of the top 10 gives us some fun round of 16 matchups. Munoz and Salas repeat their frequent rivalry as of late. Parrilla and Herrera go at it again in the 16s, just as they did in Chicago a few weeks ago. Mendez and Lawrence in the 7/10 looks great. Lots of challenging round of 16 matches here.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1. Mejia versus the Salas/Munoz winner. Mejia jsut handled Munoz in the Portland Lprt exhibition, but would struggle a bit more with the veteran Salas.

– #5 Gaby is back, projecting into #4 Laime. Great match. Laime was upset early in the previous match, and Gaby is a tough matchup.

– #3 Vargas projects into #6 Herrera, another possible quarters rematch from Chicago where she advanced easily.

– #2 Longoria set to face the Lawrence/Mendez winner. If Kelani, look for her to continue to edge closer to an upset.

Semis:

– Mejia over Gaby. I don’t think Gaby is playing regularly enough to take out Mejia.

– Vargas over Longoria; Vargas has the hot hand.

Finals; Vargas continues her winning streak and takes her second in a row.

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Doubles review

All the regular teams are here, and i project another all Mexican final. We’ll give this one to Longoria and Salas.

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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. Look for Timothy Baghurst, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Thanks to the Tourney Directors Stuart Solomon for driving down from Boston and putting this event on!

Thanks to our main sponsors; it goes without saying that without you and your support, we don’t have a sport.

@LPRT

LPRTLPRT

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IRT Golden State Open Preview

Can DLR finish off the title for 2023? Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

Welcome to the 10th and last IRT Tier 1 event of the 2023 season. For the first time since 2015, the season-ending title race comes down to this event. We’ll talk about that at more herein.

I just did a guest spot on Sudsy Monchik ‘s show talking about a bunch of these issues. I’ve got a surprise time crunch for the rest of this week so this will be abbreviated.

Short answer on the title race: if DLR makes the semis, he’s got the title sewn up. If he gets upset early, then Jake has to advance 3 rounds further to win (i.e., Jake wins, DLR loses in qtrs = jake title. Jake finals and DLR loss in 16s = Jake title. Jake semis and Daniel loss in 32s won’t be enough).

R2 Sports App link:https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=41282

There’s a massive 48 player draw here, which is awesome and by far the biggest draw since Denver or the last US Open.

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Lets preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:

In the round of 64, there’s a couple of matches i think will be competitive. Bredenbeck – Jennings, Riffel-gomez, Cardona-Galicia, Sendrey-Wolfe, and Horn-Gatica could all be fun. the best match though of the round is @wWayne Antone versus Diego Gastelum , fresh of a win at U21 worlds. Two solid players and this should be a great match.

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Projecting the 32s: keep an eye on:

– Natera-Martin; Martin can make top player sweat. Parrilla-Cardona; two old WRT foes take off and Cardona can play with Andree. Rocky Carson faces @Javier Mar in a fantastic round of 32. King Kane plays into @Erick Trujillo , against whom he once got a 1,1 win. Lastly Thomas Carter likely faces co-host bobby Horn in a tough one (if bobby’s been playing racquetball instead of pickelball that is).

– DLR likely faces N ick Riffel, not the easest first rounder but one that DLR should handle

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round of 16:

– DLR title watch: he likely faces Carrasco or Sam Bredenbeck; he should advance over both

– Acuna-Natera in 8/9 should be a great match. Acuna has the edge

– Mar-Parrilla or Carson-Parrilla; expect a tactical showdown

– for the 2nd event in a row Kane Waselenchuk plays into Moscoso, and for reasons I expounded on in Sudsy’s show, Kane wins again.

– Portillo faces Landa in wh at might be Landa’s final regular touring match

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Projected Qtrs:

– DLR over Acuna; these two met in Boston and it was a nailbiter: 14,14. Can Acuna play spoiler here? DLR is 5-0 lifetime vs Acuna, 2-0 versus Natera so the odds are with him to advance and capture the title.

– Montoya vs the winner of Mar/Carson/Parrilla; advantage Rodrigo whoever it is. I have a soft spot for Mar, but he’s better on the doubles court

– Kane plays into Manilla for the 2nd event in a row, and i can’t see any different of a result than in Boston.

– Jake plays Lalo; Jake s hould move on, knowing what’s at stake.

Semis:

– A distracted DLR, knowing this result wins him the title, loses to MOntoya

– Jake faces Kane again, and wins another nail biter after Kane runs out of gas.

Finals;

– Montoya over Jake; they’ve met a bunch of times going back to WRT and Montoya holds a slight 5-4 career advantage.

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Doubles review

Always project Montoya and Mar to win in doubles. DLR and Landa are 2nd seed but i could see a shocker like Acuna/Portillo from the bottom half.

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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!

Thanks to the Tourney Directors Adam Manilla and Bobby Horn for putting this event on and getting the funds to bring back the portable court for the first time on tour since the 2021 US Open. Thanks to all the event sponsors; it goes without saying that without you and your support, we don’t have a sport.

Associations

International Racquetball Tour

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John Pelham Memorial Tournament of Champions Recap

Montoya spoils both Jake and Conrrado’s title chances. Photo Kevin Savory 2022 Portland IRT event

Congrats to your Pro singles winner on the weekend: Rodrigo Montoya

The Pelham Memorial was dropped from a full tier 1 (which it has been for a few years) down to an IRT Satellite event for the 2023 season, but still featured a really solid draw with 4 of the top 5 players in the world all advancing to the semis. A reminder: non tier 1s are NOT loaded to the Pro Racquetball Stats database, but i’m covering his b/c of the strength of the draw and because of the year end race implications.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=41520

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

In the 16s, the top 8 seeds advanced as expected but we got some solid matches. I the 8/9, @Sam Bredenbeck pushed Kadim Carrasco before falling in a breaker. Montoya faced off against former IRT tour veteran Charlie Pratt and advanced. Jaime Martell faced former tour regular @Tony Carson and advanced in two closer games 12,10.

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In the Quarters, again all top 4 seeds advanced but a couple of the matches were closer than expected. Alan Natera pushed #3 Andree Parrilla in the first game before Parrilla advanced in two. Martell took a game off of #2 Conrrado Moscoso before the Bolivian took control.

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In the Semis, two upsets.

– #1 @Jake Bredenbeck , who was trying to win this satellite to put as much additional pressure on Daniel De la Rosa heading into Pleasanton, was upset in two 15-14 games against Parrilla. Jake’s going to be kicking himself for having game point in both games but failing to convert.

– #2 Moscoso, who is still technically capable of winning the year end event, lost easily to a familiar nemesis Montoya. Rodrigo has a number of career wins over Conrrado and handled him easily here 7,11.

In the Finals, Montoya took out Parrilla in a tie-breaker that was cut short by an injury that forced Parrilla to retire.

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Points Implications of results

– Jake adds some points to his total, but not really enough to trouble DLR for the year end title. When the 2022 Portland points expire, Jake will trail De la Rosa by roughly 211 points, which means that Jake will have to “make up” 211 points on Daniel in Pleasanton to earn the title. Jake will need a shocking early round upset from DLR and will need to win in Pleasanton to really have a shot at the title. If Daniel gets to the semis … he’ll have the title sewn up.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– There was a nice little LPRT exhibition that included Montse Mejia, Carla Munoz, Michelle Key, and Erika Manilla.

– Men’s Open Singles was andres gomez taking out Oregon local player @Sunji Spencer in a tiebreaker.

– Men’s Open Doubles featured two solid teams in the final: Martel/Natera versus Pratt & Tony Carson. The mexicans took out the Americans in a great 11-8 tiebreaker match.

– Mixed Open was taken by @Will Reynolds and Shane Diaz, who got a walkover against Key & Rhys Anderson.

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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 Directors Dave Azuma and Jeff Clark for putting this event on!

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/

Next weekend is the big finale of the 2023 IRT season in Pleasanton. @Adam Manilla

and Bobby Horn have the portable court up and running, and the tournament should be amazing. Then, the weekend following the Ladies are back in action in my hometown DC area Xmas classic, a tournament I used to help run 25 years ago.

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tags

International Racquetball Tour

LPRT

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LPRT Turkey Shoot Wrap-up

Vargas dominates to win in Chicago. Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Maria Jose Vargas

– Doubles: Montse Mejia & Alexandra Herrera

Vargas wins her 6th career LPRT singles title, bringing her back into a tie with current #1 Montse Mejia for 13th all time. See https://rball.pro/4vk for a complete list of LPRT tournament winners with their career totals.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=41683

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/ng0

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In the 32s, Floridian Chanis Leon got a solid win over Colombian Maria Paz Riquelme , while @Lexi York got the win over fellow American @Stephanie Synhorst to move on.

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In the 16s:

– Natalia Mendez took a topsy-turvy match over Carla Muñoz in the 8/9 match-up, winning the first game 15-5, then losing the second game 15-1, before cruising in the tie-breaker 11-2. Odd score-line for sure.

– #10 Kelani Lawrence got a first career win over #7 Samantha Salas Solis 12,11.

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In the Quarters

– #1 Monserrat Mejia dropped the first game against Mendez before advancing.

– #4 Vargas ground out two close game wins against #5 Alexandra Herrera 13,11.

– #6 Erika Manilla got her first career win over #3 Brenda Laime Jalil with a very solid 9,7 win.

– #2 Paola Longoria subdued Kelani 9,6 to move into another semi.

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In the Semis, two upsets.

– #4 Vargas crushed #1 Mejia 7,7 to move into the final. Vargas continues to show why she’s putting her name in the hat for #1.

– #6 Manilla got her career best win, topping the 13-time LPRT tour champion Longoria in a tie-breaker ot move into the final. It’s her second career final after last year’s US Open.

In the Finals, Vargas was just too strong and cruised to a 9,5 win in a match between the two hardest hitters on tour. Vargas completes a dominant performance in Chicago, where not one player even scored double digits on her the entire weekend.

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Points Implications of results

Vargas should move up to #3, pushing Laime down a spot Herrera’s loss will push her back to #7, a spot she hasn’t seen in nearly a decade. With Alexandra’s falling, Manilla moves up to #5 and the absent Gaby up to #6. Mendez rebounds back up to #8.

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Doubles review

The doubles contest came down to the two top Mexican teams as expected, with Herrera & Mejia winning their 7th pro doubles title together.

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/6z9

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Lawrence took the Women’s Open draw over Munoz.

– Thomas Carter beat fellow Illinois native Jeremy Dixon in Men’s Open.

– Carter teamed with @Alok Mehta to win Men’s Open Doubles too.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from the LPRT crew.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/

We get a break for turkey day, then there’s just 3 pro tournaments left. An IRT Satellite in Portland, then the final tour stop of the 2023 season for the men in Pleasanton, and lastly the long running Xmas Classic in the DC area for the ladies.

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LPRT Turkey Shootout Preview

Can Laime make another run? Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory

The LPRT is back in action after a 3 month hiatus; the last time we saw the pro ladies on the court was in Denver for World Singles & Doubles. This is the 5th year in a row the famed Glasscourt club in Lombard outside of Chicago has hosted the Ladies for the “Turkey Shoot,” and it’ll be great to see the pros battling it out on the “Fishbowl” court in the club (which features glass on three sides).

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=41683

We have a bit of a smaller draw than expected: just 18 players here in Chicago. Two of the top 10 are missing (Barrios and Gaby) but most of the rest of the top 10 is here, making for a pretty solid draw.

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Lets preview the draw. With 18 players there’s just two play ins: @Lexi York takes on @Stephanie Synhorst and @Maria Paz Riquelme takes on Chanis Leon . Both could be pretty tight, and it’ll be interesting to watch the two lefties (Riquelme and Leon) battle for a spot in the 16s.

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round of 16: Some fun matches coming our way in the opening round:

– 8/9: Carla Muñoz versus Natalia Mendez : Carla is just 1-8 lifetime against the Argentine. They’ve split their last 2 meetings, but Natalia got her in Denver at this same juncture.

– 5/12: @Alexandra Herrera versus Jessica Parrilla . Herrera has slipped out of the top 4 for the first time since January 2018. Parrilla spent all of last season in the top 8 and now is on the outside looking in. These two have met 13 times in all competitions, and Leoni hasn’t gotten a win over her lefty counterpart since 2016. Odds are Alexandra is moving on here.

– 6/11: @Erika Manilla versus @Valeria Centella : Centellas shocked Erika in December of last year, and Erika won the rematch rather handily in May in Greenville. Which Centellas shows up here? Manilla is coming off a gold medal in Chile, a career accomplishment, and is riding high.

– 7/10: Samantha Salas vs Kelani Lawrence: 4 career meetings between these two and Samantha is 4-0. Kelani has pushed their last two meetings to the bring though and will be pushing to get a breakthrough win.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 Monserrat Mejia over Mendez. Montse is 3-1 lifetime, but they’re usually close. But Mejia should advance here.

– #4 @Maria Jose Vargas over Herrera. Vargas is 9-2 lifetime, and Herrera’s wins came during a time when Vargas was down and Alexandra was seriously “up.” The tides have changed now, and Vargas is going to be tough to beat.

– #3 Brenda Laime over Manilla: Laime has quietly ascended to #3 with a slew of top finishes this season. But she’s jeckyl and hyde: in six events in the calendar year 2023, Laime has three round of 16 losses … and two finals. She’s 2-0 over Manilla this year, handling her with relative ease in their last meeting in Denver, and her time training with Mercado & Zelada is paying off. She moves on.

– #2 @Paola Longoria over Salas: Longoria and Salas meet again; they’ve met 60 times previously on the LPRT (and more in Mexican nationals) and they’ll meet again. Longoria moves on.

Semis:

– Mejia over Vargas: despite Vargas’ career rebound, Mejia has owned her in 2023, winning all three of their matchups. Mejia’s mental game is solid and she handles Vargas’ power with ease.

– Longoria over Laime: Brenda may have famously beaten Paola in Virginia last September, but Longoria otherwise has owned this matchup. Laime needs to play flawless racquetball and have a strategy to win here.

Finals; Longoria over Mejia.

I do think Paola is highly motivated to regain #1. And despite Mejia winning the title and being ranked #1 right now, Longoria has won their last three matchups (Mexican Nationals in Feb, World Singles in Aug, and then the Pan Am Games gold medal match). Three wins, three different confederations.

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Doubles review

Just 8 teams competing, but all the regulars partnerships are present. Longoria & Salas are #1, Herrera & Mejia are #2 and are the favorites to get to the final to battle again. Team Argentina (Vargas & Mendez) will try to stop Longoria & Salas in the semis, while an intriguing team of Laime & Manilla will test their mettle against the long-time partners Scott & Lawrence before getting to the semis.

Look for Mejia & Herrera to take this.

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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. Regular broadcaster @Timothy Baghurst is busy coaching the kids in Bolivia, so look for others on the mike this weekend to join Jerry J Josey Jr. ., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike.

Thanks to the Tourney Director Dan Jaskier 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.

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!

Associations

LPRT