Weekend round up

Ben Croft won the Garden State Open - a Tier 4 event on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) held on the weekend in Fairfield, New Jersey. Croft defeated Travis Aldinger 11-8, 11-5, 11-6, in the final.

In the semi-finals, Croft beat Anthony Defusto, 13-11, 11-5, 11-4, and Aldinger beat Nick Montalbano, 11-7, 11-3, 11-5. Croft also won Men's Open doubles with Ruben Gonzalez, as they defeated Montalbano and Fabian Pedraza, 15-2, 15-8 in the final.

Aimee Ruiz won the Women's Open division by defeating Elise Wilson in the final, 15-5, 15-1.

New York City Pro-Am

Ruiz's and Gonzalez's victories were their second in as many weekends, as they both won in Syosset, New York. Ruiz defeated Brandi Jacobson Prentice in the Women's Open final after defeating Wilson in the semis. Jacobson Prentice beat Kimberly Ferina in the other semi.

Gonzalez won Men's Open doubles with Jose Rojas in Syosset. They defeated Alejandro Landa and Alejandro Herrera in the final and Anthony Herrera and Fabian Pedraza in the semis. Landa and Herrera beat Montalbano and Brad Kirch in the other semi.

Vincent Gagnon won the Men's Open division in Syosset. He beat Alejandro Herrera in the final, and Andy Hawthorne in the semi-finals. Herrera defeated Kirch in the other semi.

This Weekend

This coming weekend will be a busy one, as there will be three Tier 4 IRT events and one Tier 2 event. The latter is the long running Lewis Drug Pro Am in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with Jack Huczek, Rocky Carson, Shane Vanderson as well as Croft, Gonzalez, Hawthorne and Alejandro Herrera all entered.

The Tier 4 events are the Wichita Open in Wichita, Kansas, Metroplex Racquetball Championships in Arlington, Texas and the Wilson Tour of Hope in Cincinnati, which is also a Women's Professional Racquetball Organization (WPRO) satellite event.

In addition, Racquetball Canada's National Team Selection Event is taking place in Brossard, Quebec, just outside Montreal. It's the last chance for players to qualify for the Pan American Championships in Honduras at Easter and their first opportunity to qualify for the 2010 International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Championships in Korea in August.

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