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Today, the Thursday of the US Open, is perhaps my favorite day of pro racquetball all season. Two rounds of top-level pro racquetball on both the men’s and women’s side. Lets take a look at the notable Men’s matches from today and preview the Quarters tomorrow.<\/p>\n
IRT round of 32 notable matches.<\/p>\n
–\u00a0Felipe Camacho<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0got a solid win over\u00a0Thomas Carter<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in the always-competitive 16-17 match-up, taking the tie-breaker 11-8. IRT round of 16 notables matches:<\/p>\n – In a surprise to me, #8\u00a0Mario Mercado<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0came back from a game down to top current IRF World Champ\u00a0Rodrigo Montoya<\/strong> Sol\u00eds<\/a>. This observer thought Montoya had a good shot at making the finals in this event; I wonder how much Montoya’s recent ankle injury has affected him this week. Quarter Finals Preview: Prediction: going chalk; 1,4,3 and 2 into the semis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today, the Thursday of the US Open, is perhaps my favorite day of pro racquetball all season. Two rounds of top-level pro racquetball on both the men’s and women’s side. Lets take a look at the notable Men’s matches from today and preview the Quarters tomorrow. IRT round of 32 notable matches. –\u00a0Felipe Camacho\u00a0got a … <\/p>\n
\n– In his first game back since his retirement talk this past off-season, #3\u00a0Kane Waselenchuk<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0took out a player less than half his age, defeating Mexican 18U and current 16U world titlist\u00a0Sebastian Fernandez<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in two. The kid is just 17 years old and played fantastically this weekend in both singles and doubles.
\n–\u00a0Alvaro Beltran<\/a><\/strong>, playing in his 19th US Open, was the first to advance to the 16s on the day, downing country-man\u00a0Rodrigo Rodriguez<\/a><\/strong>, who was making just his second ever IRT appearance.
\n– Veteran\u00a0Charlie Pratt<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0ended Bolivian 16U player\u00a0Diego Garcia<\/strong> Quispe<\/a>\u00a0run 12,5 . Just to re-iterate; both Fernandez and Garcia are in their age 17 seasons.
\n– Javier Mar<\/strong> upset #14\u00a0Adam Manilla<\/a><\/strong>\u00a05,14.
\n– Daniel de la Rosa<\/strong> took out Ricardo Diaz<\/strong>, the reigning US 18U champ, in his IRT debut. A great showing from Diaz on his pro debut beating two very solid IRT semi-regulars in\u00a0Nick Montalbano<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Troy Warigon<\/a><\/strong>.
\n– Huge upset win for Andres Acu\u00f1a<\/a><\/strong>, downing #11\u00a0David Horn<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in a tiebreaker. Two straight one-and-dones in the first two IRT events for Horn, who lost his opener in Laurel as well. Not a great start to the season\u00a0for Horn, who made a big step forward last year by making his first semi and first final.
\n– Mauro\u00a0Daniel Rojas<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0stretched #6 seed\u00a0Sebastian Franco<\/a><\/strong>, but the Colombian prevailed 11-8.
\n–\u00a0Maurice Miller<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0gave #2\u00a0Alex Landa<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>a scare, taking the first game before falling in a tie-breaker.
\n–\u00a0Samuel Murray<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0got a fantastic win, holding off the dark horse\u00a0Luis Conrrado Moscoso<\/strong> Serrudo<\/a>\u00a0in a tie-breaker; this was a quarter-finals quality matchup
\nin the 32s and sends home Moscoso much earlier than last year (when he ran to the quarters in his only prior IRT appearance.<\/p>\n
\n– #12\u00a0Jose Diaz<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0got perhaps the best win of his career with a tie-breaker win over #5 Beltran.\u00a0 Some post-game drama; reportedly Diaz was 25 minutes late to this match but was not penalized or forfeited.
\n– Javier Mar<\/strong> more than held his own in losing to #3 Waselenchuk 12,10.
\n– #10\u00a0Andree Parrilla<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0easily handled #7 Murray, perhaps worn out from a brutal earlier victory. Parrilla has now made the quarters in 4 of the last 5 IRT events he’s played, and 7 of the last 11 stretching well into last season; that includes a win and a final too. He’s a dangerous opponent who is one or two more big results from being a protected seed going forward.<\/p>\n
\n6 of the top 8 seeds ended up advancing, setting up some very solid match-ups in the quarters. Run the top-20 tour-wide Head to Head matrix (link here:\u00a0https:\/\/bit.ly\/2yf522N<\/a>) to fire off a new Head-to-Head “Tale of the Tape” report complete with pictures, biographical information and detailed match history for players in the IRT top 20.
\n– #1 Carson v #8 Mercado: Rocky is 6-0 lifetime against Mercado on the IRT, and despite Mercado’s great win today, I see Rocky making it 7-0. Both are control players, but Rocky will out-control Mario’s control game.
\n– #4 De La Rosa vs #12 Diaz: DLR is 4-0 against Diaz on the IRT, and is playing really solidly this week. Diaz fights for every point and punches above his weight class though, and won’t go down without a fight.
\n– #3 Waselenchuk vs #6 Franco: Kane is 2-0 over Franco lifetime, but despite Franco’s crisp play you never bet against the king.
\n– #2 Landa vs #10 Parrilla: Landa is 2-1 over Parrilla on the IRT, but 6-2 lifetime across multiple tours and Mexican National events. They’ve had close games and blow-outs. Parrilla seems like he’s in every match these days, and quietly he’s made the quarters in 4 of the last 5 events, and 7 of the last 11 pro events, a span that includes a win and a finals appearance. Landa will need to be “on” out of the gate.<\/p>\n