Racquet House San Diego Pro-Am - Semi finals

Kane Waselenchuk and Rocky Carson won their semi-finals on Saturday and will meet on Sunday in the final of the Racquet House San Diego Pro-Am tournament. They are the #1 and #2 ranked players, respectively, on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT), so it's not a surprise that they'll play in the final. What was a surprise is that Waselenchuk had a harder time getting there than Carson.

Waselenchuk played 4th seed Jack Huczek in the semi-finals, and Huczek came out on fire in game one. He put up a 7-0 lead with a combination of drive serves and drive z serves to the right side - Waselenchuk's backhand. Waselenchuk did come back to cut the lead to 7-5, but Huczek then went on to win game one 11-5.

A similar scenario played out in game two, as Huczek got a 8-3 lead. However, this time Waselenchuk stopped the bleeding and made a successful come back to win 11-8.

And after those two close games, Waselenchuk made sure it wasn't close in games three and four, as he stepped up his level of play to win the match in four games, 5-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-3.

Carson was expected to have a tough time with 3rd seed Ben Croft in the other semi-final, but Carson won in three straight games, 11-8, 11-3, 12-10. Both the first and third games were close, and Croft actually had a chance to win the third game when he led 10-9. But he wasn't able to close it out.

Sunday will be the second meeting of the season for Carson and Waselenchuk. They met in the final of the Kansas City Pro-Am with Waselenchuk winning in three straight games.

The final will be at noon PDT on Sunday and is available with a subscription to the IRT Network.

San Diego Racquet House Pro/Am
San Diego, California - September 30-October 3, 2010

Semi finals

Kane Waselenchuk d. Jack Huczek, 5-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-3
Rocky Carson d. Ben Croft, 11-8, 11-3, 12-10

Final

Kane Waselenchuk v. Rocky Carson

Follow the bouncing ball....