{"id":1389,"date":"2021-10-06T00:52:47","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T00:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/?p=1389"},"modified":"2021-11-08T20:23:19","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T20:23:19","slug":"us-open-qualifying-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/06\/us-open-qualifying-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"US Open Qualifying Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Waselenchuk-Kane-usopen2019-Savory-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-867\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Waselenchuk-Kane-usopen2019-Savory-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Waselenchuk-Kane-usopen2019-Savory-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Waselenchuk-Kane-usopen2019-Savory-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Waselenchuk-Kane-usopen2019-Savory.jpg 1875w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption>Kane is back playing singles for the first time since Mar 2020.  Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Welcome to the 25th annual US Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>This is such a massive tournament that we&#8217;ll break down the preview into Wednesday&#8217;s qualifiers and then the rest of the tourney. 76 Men and 44 women pros entered into the respective singles draws; this is down a bit from 2019 for the Men, but is up a bit for the Women. Great to see players from all over the world in action on the sport&#8217;s biggest stage.<br>r2sports home page: https:\/\/www.r2sports.com\/website\/event-website.asp?TID=31929<br>No real predictions here, just some thoughts on good matches in the four draws to look for as play starts on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>IRT Men&#8217;s Pro qualifying <\/strong>features two rounds on Wednesday; the 128s and the 64s. Here&#8217;s some matches i&#8217;d be watching:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Solid east coast\/west coast matchup between multi CT state champ Jose Flores and SoCal&#8217;s Majeed Shahin.<\/li><li>Bolivia&#8217;s Kadim Carrasco takes on Mexican legend Javier Moreno in a fun return for the former long-time International lefty. We havn&#8217;t seen Moreno in an IRT event since May 2016, not at a US Open since Nov 2015. Great to see him back.<\/li><li>Florida state champ Jonathan Burns takes on Mexican veteran Abraham Pe\u00f1a in an interesting opener.<\/li><li>The Kelley brothers are here; Sam takes on Colombian youngster and team Zurek player Juan Pablo Rodriguez Castrillon, while Joe takes on Idaho junior Alexxander Purcell . Both Kelley brothers have solid chances to move to the 64s.<\/li><li>Veteran lefty and multi-national amateur champ Jeff Stark takes on Bolivian Miguel A. Arteaga Guzman in a tough opener for both.<\/li><li>Maryland&#8217;s recently matriculated junior doubles national champ Dylan Pruitt faces off against a very tough Mexican lefty in @rodrigo rodriguez.<\/li><li>Arizona youngster Ben Baron takes on a player more than twice his age in veteran Floridian Alejandro Herrera Azcarate. Don&#8217;t be fooled by the age difference; Herrera brings the heat.<\/li><li>The legend Cliff Swain returns to the tour for the first time since oct 2016 and opens against &#8220;The Ref&#8221; Scott McClellan. Might be a short tourney for the IRT&#8217;s main ref; I have it on good authority that Cliff is playing lights out.<br>Projecting to the 64s, here&#8217;s some possible great matches for spots in the main draw:<\/li><li>Troy Warigon versus Shaheen: another east coast vs west coast battle.<\/li><li>Carrasco vs Burns: I&#8217;m projecting a fun battle here of veteran players to make the main draw.<\/li><li>Georgia&#8217;s Maurice Miller likely takes on Guatemalan Juan Salvatierra for the main draw.<\/li><li>another Georgian Austin Cunningham has an excellent chance to get to the 32s, projecting against Mexican youngster Erick Cuevas<\/li><li>Alan Natera Chavez, one of the higest ranked players pushed to qualifying, has his work cut out for him against Colombian international vet @andres gomez.<\/li><li>If Pruitt can win his first match, he likely gets his long-awaited grudge match against Formulaflow&#8217;s Mauricio Zelada, who challenged his young Maryland-area rival last year in a money match that never materialized.<\/li><li>Sam Bredenbeck has a great chance to qualify against Colombian international veteran Set Cubillos Ruiz.<\/li><li>Two long-time international players project to play each other with Colombian Herrera projecting to Costa Rican vet Felipe Camacho.<\/li><li>Swain will have to earn his round of 32 against former IRT touring player Nick Riffel in the 64s.<\/li><li>Lastly, Eduardo Garay Rodriguez will be tested against the tricky Colombian player Francisco Gomez, who surprised with a couple of upsets in the 2019 US open.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LPRT qualifying preview<\/strong><br><br>Like the Men, the women will play two rounds of qualifying to make the 32s. Here&#8217;s some interesting qualifiers to watch for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>We have not seen Ver\u00f3nica Sotomayor since Dec 2016 on tour; but she&#8217;s back and now living in Florida, training with her husband Sudsy Monchik and ready to play. I have it on good authority (ahem, Sudsy) that Vero is going to make noise this week. She starts in the 128s against Korean Sumin Lee.<\/li><li>Bolivian veteran Jenny Daza Navia gets started against American junior Minnesota native Ava Kaiser.<br>Projecting the 64s<\/li><li>Sotomayor has a great chance to move into the 32s against Colombian Mar\u00eda Paz Riquelme.<\/li><li>Two top American women are set to go head to head, with Michelle De La Rosa projecting to play Erika Manilla for a spot in the main draw. Tough match here for both.<\/li><li>USA Florida youngster Graci Wargo will be tested by Bolivian vet Daza.<\/li><li>Texan youngster Shane Diaz has an interesting match against Ecuadorian Maria Jose Munoz.<\/li><li>Lastly, there&#8217;s a second &#8220;Maria Munoz&#8221; in the draw who we think is actually Maria Paz Munoz ( Pazita Mu\u00f1oz Albornoz ). We could be wrong, but if this is Pazita, she&#8217;s an excellent international veteran who will really push her round of 64 opponent Erin Nocam aka Erin (Rivera) Groves into a tougher match than either deserves here.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>IRT Doubles preview<\/strong><br><br>So, I&#8217;ll just say it. I hate the IRT doubles qualifying structure at the US Open. 4 teams get byes to the quarters, then another 17 compete for the other 4 spots. I just don&#8217;t like this, but i&#8217;m not sure what the right way to fix it is. If you gave top 8 teams byes into the 16s \u2026 then you have 13 teams competing for those 8 open spots, which means some of them don&#8217;t even have qualifiers and you&#8217;re giving another 3-4 teams byes as well. So there&#8217;s no good solution.<br><br>That being said, there&#8217;s some very good doubles teams in qualifying, and a lot of good teams are going home early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Costa Rican national team of Andres Acu\u00f1a and Camacho takes on the reigning us national doubles champ Charlie Pratt Racquetball, playing this weekend not with his title-winning partner Rocky Carson but with Natera. Carson opted not to play pro doubles \u2026 but is playing Centurian doubles with Jerry Hall.<\/li><li>The #9 seeded Bredenbeck brothers take on a very tough Mexican lefty\/righty duo in Sebastian Fernandez and Rodrigo Rodriguez. Upset watch here.<\/li><li>Top Bolivian doubles team and multiple-IRF title wining duo of Conrrado Moscoso and Roland Keller take on the Guatemalan national team of Javier Martinez and @juan salvatierra. I don&#8217;t think the Bolivians are one and done here.<\/li><li>Meanwhile, the current reigning Bolivian National champs Carlos Keller Vargas and Carrasco take on two fellow Bolivians in Rodrigo Mendoza and Miguel Angel Arteaga Chavez. Tough draw; flying 4600 miles to play someone you could have driven to play in your home country.<\/li><li>Super interesting matchup between two all-American teams; Adam Manilla got David &#8221; Bobby&#8221; Horn out of retirement to play, and they face off against Warigon &amp; Miller, a veteran team who has played together for years. Should be a very interesting matchup with plenty of trash talk on the court.<br>Assuming some first round results, here&#8217;s some very interesting possible round of 16 matches to determine who makes the money rounds:<\/li><li>#5 seeds Rodrigo Montoya Solis and Javier Mar probably feel hard-done by the seeding forcing them to play two extra matches, but they should be able to handle their opener and then a likely meeting with the Costa Ricans.<\/li><li>Kellern &amp; Moscos project to play the Lefty\/Righty mexican pair of Patata and Rodrigo; fun one.<\/li><li>In another all-Bolivian match-up, Keller\/Carrasco project to play team Formulaflow in Zelada and Mario Mercado. Keller\/Carrasco topped Zelada at Bolivian Nationals earlier this year, but Mercado is a different beast on the court.<\/li><li>the winner of the all-american trash talking match between Manilla\/Horn and Warigon\/Miller likely faces the #6 seeded Colombian\/Zurek construction team of Eduardo Garay Rodriguez and Sebastian Franco. I don&#8217;t think Garay\/Franco are losing here, irrespective of who they play.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LPRT doubles qualifying<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Not a ton of doubles qualifying \u2026 but some very intriguing match-ups thanks to top players without a ton of doubles points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Michelle De La Rosa and Sheryl Lotts take on Sotomayor and Maria Jose Vargas Parada. Wow. Brutal draw for both sides; It wasn&#8217;t too terribly long ago that Vargas was part of the 2nd best doubles team in the pro tour.<\/li><li>Another fun one: Angelica Barrios teams with veteran Bolivian and excellent doubles player Daza and face Micaela Meneses Cuellar playing with Ana Laura Flores. The Lefty\/Righty pair will give Barrios\/Daza some things to think about, but the two native Bolivians should move on.<\/li><li>Should Vero\/Vargas move on, they face a winnable match against #5 seeds and longtime Colombian pairing of Adriana Riveros and Amaya Cris.<\/li><li>2018 US national doubles champ Kelani Lawrence teams with Hollie Scott to take on two younger Colombians in Camila Rivero Torrez and Brenda Laime Jalil in a fun opener.<\/li><li>Should Barrios\/Daza move on, they run into the tough lefty\/righty Mexican pairing of Jessica Parrilla and Montserrat Perez, a darkhorse here.<\/li><li>the reigning US national doubles champions Manilla and Rhonda Rajsich should survive a first round against two young tough players in Naomi Ros and Shane Diaz, but will have their work cut out for them against #6 seeds Nancy Enriquez and Carla Mu\u00f1oz Montesinos, two excellent doubles players.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Phew. Play starts bright and early Wednesday 10\/6\/21, 8am central. can&#8217;t wait to start seeing some match results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to the 25th annual US Open. This is such a massive tournament that we&#8217;ll break down the preview into Wednesday&#8217;s qualifiers and then the rest of the tourney. 76 Men and 44 women pros entered into the respective singles draws; this is down a bit from 2019 for the Men, but is up a &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/06\/us-open-qualifying-preview\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;US Open Qualifying Preview&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2,3,7,132,98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doubles","category-irt","category-lprt","category-singles","category-us-open","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1389"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1433,"href":"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions\/1433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.proracquetballstats.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}