Q Dub record set in San Diego

There was a record setting number of wins by players coming through qualifying at this past weekend's International Racquetball Tour (IRT) San Diego Open. This is the stat we here at The Racquetball Blog call QWs, or Q Dubs.

There were 7 such wins in San Diego, which is more than any other tournament we've been keeping records for. That's admittedly not a long period, but the previous high was 5 at the first two tournaments in the 2008-09 season, as Kane Waselenchuk was coming back from his suspension and had to go through qualifying, winning four matches in each to win those tournaments (Jason Thoerner won one match in both tournaments as well).

Since then, there hasn't been more than three Q Dubs at any event, so the seven in San Diego is a huge increase. Of course, that was partially helped by Waselenchuk's forfeit in the Round of 16, but that was only one of the seven Q Dubs.

Alex Landa got that forfeit win over Waselenchuk, but he then lost to Tony Carson, who was also a qualifier. Indeed, that's the first time two qualifiers have played in the quarter finals since October 2008, when Waselenchuk defeated Thoerner in the quarters of the Kansas City Open.

The other qualifier wins in San Diego went to Javier Moreno, who defeated Chris Crowther, and Alvaro Beltran, who won three times to get to the final, defeating Andy Hawthorne, Ben Croft and Rocky Carson along the way. These wins may put Beltran into top 8, which would allow him to avoid qualifying. Beltran was a top 4 player, but hasn't been in the top 10 since injuring his knee prior to the 2009-10 season.

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