Seattle Pro-Am - Top 4 seeds through to semi-finals

So far things have mostly gone according to form at the Seattle Pro-Am, the fourth leg of the International Racquetball Tour's (IRT's) 2011-12 season, as the top four seeds are all through to the semi-finals.

Kane Waselenchuk, the #1 IRT player, won both his matches on Friday in straight games, as did the 2nd seed Rocky Carson.

In the Round of 16, Waselenchuk defeated Hiroshi Shimizu, 11-3, 11-5, 11-3, and Carson beat Ryan Meyer, 11-1, 11-4, 11-6. Then in the quarter finals, Waselenchuk saw off Shane Vanderson, 11-6, 11-1, 11-6, and Carson won against Anthony Herrera, 11-3, 11-5, 11-2.

Ben Croft, the 3rd seed, had a bit tougher go of it, as he needed five games to beat James Slamko, winning 11-4, 9-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-0.

Slamko needed multiple game points in both the games he won. After Slamko finished game four on his second game point, Croft came out blazing in game five, taking a 5-0 lead before Slamko knew what hit him.

Slamko called time out, but all it did was prolong the inevitable, as Croft won 6 more points to get the win.

Croft won his quarter final match against Chris Crowther, but again it wasn't easy, as the first game went to extra points before Croft won it 12-10.

At 6-2 in game three, Croft's game style was on display, as he was on the ground four times to win the rally and make it 7-2.

Credit Crowther though, as he didn't cave in in game three, despite being dow. Crowther fought back to close the gap to 9-8, but couldn't get the final points to force a tie-breaker.

Fourth seed Jose Rojas also advanced after beating Charlie Pratt in the quarter finals, 11-6, 6-11, 11-1, 11-4. After losing the second game, Rojas really took it to Pratt, who seemed be at sea on the court. Rojas switched from drive serving to half lob serves, and cut the ball when going to the right side - Pratt's forehand. It was just such a serve that gave Rojas his first match point, as he hit it for an ace after Pratt whiffed on the return, making the score 10-0 in the fourth game.

The IRT Network will webcast Saturday's semi-finals beginning at 4 PM PDT.

Seattle Pro-Am, Seattle, Washington

Round of 16

Kane Waselenchuk d. Hiroshi Shimizu, 11-3, 11-5, 11-3
Shane Vanderson d. Tony Carson, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7

Charlie Pratt d. Taylor Knoth, 11-5, 13-11, 11-8
Jose Rojas d. Jansen Allen, 2-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-1

Ben Croft d. James Slamko, 11-4, 9-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-0
Chris Crowther d. Juan Herrera, 11-3, 11-1, 11-0

Anthony Herrera d. Andy Hawthorne, 11-7, 11-8, 11-6
Rocky Carson d. Ryan Meyer, 11-1, 11-4, 11-6

Quarter finals

Kane Waselenchuk d. Shane Vanderson, 11-6, 11-1, 11-6
Jose Rojas d. Charlie Pratt, 11-6, 6-11, 11-1, 11-4

Ben Croft d. Chris Crowther, 12-10, 11-4, 11-8
Rocky Carson d. Anthony Herrera, 11-3, 11-5, 11-2

Semi finals

Kane Waselenchuk v. Jose Rojas
Rocky Carson v. Ben Croft

Follow the bouncing ball....