IRT - San Diego Open Qualifying Rounds

The International Racquetball Tour's (IRT's) San Diego Open qualifying draw will be kicking off shortly. Thirty-eight players are in the running for the eight spots in the Round of 16 on Friday. The 38 includes some notable players, such as Mike Green, Polo Gutierrez, Javier Moreno, Jose Rojas, and Josh Tucker, who was one of the 8 qualifiers last week in Seattle, as well as such usual suspects as Chris Crowther and Andy Hawthorne.

Thus, some of the 8 seeded qualifiers will be hard pressed to make the Round of 16. For example, Andy Hawthorne will potentially face Mike Green, a former IRT top 10 player and winner of the West Michigan Open this season, while Kris Odegard will likely be up against Javier Moreno.

Also on the bottom of the qualifying draw, Gil De Los Rios, who lost in a tie-breaker to Hawthorne last week, could push Travis Woodbury, although De Los Rios will probably have to beat Tony Carson for a chance at Woodbury. Similarly, there should be a good battle between Junior World Champ Jose Rojas, who got to the semis in his last IRT tournament (the California Open in January) and Polo Gutierrez, with the winner to face Juan Herrera for a spot in the main draw.

Highlights of potential matches in the top half of the qualifying draw are Hiroshi Shimizu versus Tucker, and yet another all Herrera battle this time between Andres and Anthony.

Start times for the qualifying matches are between 2 PM and 9 PM Pacific time Thursday with the survivors to play in Friday's Round of 16.

IRT San Diego Open
Men's Singles Pro Qualifier

Round 1 & 2

Q1 Tim Landeryou v. Luis Robles
Q1 Javier Aldiez v. Rafael Filipinni

Q8 Anthony Herrera v. BYE
Q8 Dawoud Gharafshad v. Felipe Munoz

Q5 Josh Tucker v. Allan Hernandez
Q5 Darrin McNally v. Lee Connell

Q4 Gil Meija v. Ricardo Soto
Q4 Roby Partovich v. Mike Orr

Q3 Polo Gutierrez v. Tom Resendez
Q3 Issac Hugo v. Jose Rojas

Q6 Tony Carson v. Jared Torres
Q6 Dan De La Rosa v. Gil De Los Rios

Q7 David Horn v. Jaime Estrella
Q7 Javier Moreno v. BYE

Q2 Mike Green v. Fred Forbes
Q2 Tony Ramierez v. Michael Burgess

Round 3

Q1 Chris Crowther v. Landeryou/Robles/Aldiez/Filipinni
Q8 Andres Herrera v. Ant. Herrera/Gharafshad/Munoz

Q5 Hiroshi Shimizu v. Tucker/Hernandez/McNally/Connell
Q4 Alejandro Herrera v. Meija/Soto/Partovich/Orr

Q3 Juan Herrera v. Gutierrez/Resendez/Hugo/Rojas
Q6 Travis Woodbury v. Carson/Torres/De La Rosa/De Los Rios

Q7 Kris Odegard v. Horn/Estrella/Moreno
Q2 Andy Hawthorne v. Green/Forbes/Ramierez/Burgess

Follow the bouncing ball....