Ektelon Nationals - Gutierrez beats Rojas

Polo Gutierrez may have ended Jose Rojas's dream for finishing 3rd at in the season ending International Racquetball Tour (IRT) rankings, as he defeated Rojas on Thursday at the Ektelon Nationals in Fullerton, California. Rojas won the first two games before Gutierrez came back and won in five games, 9-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-1, which is further testament to how good Gutierrez is when a match goes five games. Rojas, currently ranked 4th, needed to finish at least as well as Ben Croft, the 3rd ranked IRT player, to have a hope of passing Croft for the 3rd spot.

However, Croft won his match against Josh Tucker in three straight games, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10, so he'll have at least a quarter final finish in Fullerton, which is a Grand Slam event and thus worth more ranking points than a regular Tier 1 event.

Both top seeds won, as #1 Kane Waselenchuk defeated Alejandro Landa, 11-2, 11-8, 11-9, and #2 Rocky Carson crushed Juan Herrera, 11-0, 11-0, 11-3.

There was one other surprise semi-finalist though, as Tony Carson, the 9th seed, upset 8th seed Andy Hawthorne, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6. He'll now face Waselenchuk in the quarters.

Play continues in Fullerton through Sunday, and the IRT Network is live streaming the quarter finals Friday, semi-finals Saturday and final on Sunday.

IRT Ektelon Nationals - Fullerton, California 

Round of 16

Kane Waselenchuk d. Alejandro Landa, 11-2, 11-8, 11-9
Tony Carson d. Andy Hawthorne, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6

Chris Crowther d. Anthony Herrera, 11-8, 11-2, 11-4
Polo Gutierrez d. Jose Rojas, 9-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-1

Ben Croft d. Josh Tucker, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10
Alvaro Beltran d. Javier Moreno, 9-11, 11-5, 13-11, 12-10, 11-2 [sic]

Shane Vanderson d. Charles Pratt, 11-1, 11-0, 11-3
Rocky Carson d. Juan Herrera, 11-0, 11-0, 11-3

Quarter finals

Kane Waselenchuk v. Tony Carson
Chris Crowther v. Polo Gutierrez

Ben Croft v. Alvaro Beltran
Rocky Carson v. Shane Vanderson

Round of 32 

Kane Waselenchuk d.  Mauricio Zelada, 11-6, 11-0, 11-3
Alejandro Landa d. Daniel De La Rosa, 11-5, 11-8, 1-11, 11-6
Tony Carson d.  Hiroshi Shimizu, 11-3, 11-8, 11-5
Andy Hawthorne d. Ryan Meyer, 11-5, 11-4, 11-6

Chris Crowther d. Marco Rojas, 11-1, 11-5, 11-7
Anthony Herrera d. Jansen Allen, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5
Polo Gutierrez d. Brad Schopieray, 11-3, 11-8, 11-2
Jose Rojas d. Cesar Castillo, 11-2, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10

Ben Croft d. Matthew Majxner, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6
Josh Tucker d. Ruben Gonzalez, 6-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-0, 11-0
Javier Moreno d. Alejandro Herrera, 11-1, 11-9, 11-3
Alvaro Beltran d. Cliff Swain, 12-14, 11-4, 11-3, 11-7

Shane Vanderson d. Sebastian Franco, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9
Charles Pratt d. Andres Herrera, 11-8, 11-5, 6-11, 6-11, 11-7
Juan Herrera d.  James Swift, 12-10, 11-2, 11-5
Rocky Carson d.  Thomas Fuhrmann, 11-1, 11-4, 11-4  

Follow the bouncing ball….