2012 US Open Preview

Racquetball's "Big One" happens this week. That's right, folks: it's US Open time. The event - sponsored by United Healthcare - kicks off Wednesday in Minneapolis, and all the top players will be in action, as well as some that we haven't seen in awhile.

On the men's side, the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) rankings are used to create the seedings for the draw. The top 16 players are all there, and will be seeded into the main draw of 32.

Of note in the top players is that Alvaro Beltran is in the 4th seed spot, which would put him up against top seed Kane Waselenchuk in the semi-finals, if results go according to seeding.

Ben Croft - the 5th seed - will have something to say about that, but we've long thought that Beltran's game style is the best match up against Waselenchuk, so if they meet in the semis, that could be the match of the tournament.

The remaining 16 spots in the 32s will come from the 68 players who are in qualifying. Thus, it could take three matches to get to the 32s.

We've got the players listed by seeding below. With so many players unranked, it's difficult to even speculate on the draw match ups.

Mitch Williams is the most prominent name in the unranked players, but he's not the only former US Team player in qualifying as Doug Eagle is also entered.

2012 United Healthcare US Open IRT Participants
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Main Draw of 32 Players

1 Kane Waselenchuk v. Q16
16 Alejandro Landa v. Q1

9 Tony Carson v. Q8
8 Andy Hawthorne v. Q9

5 Ben Croft v. Q12
12 Anthony Herrera v. Q5

13 Brad Schopieray v. Q4
4 Alvaro Beltran v. Q13

3 Jose Rojas v. Q14
14 Ruben Gonzalez v. Q3

11 Javier Moreno v. Q6
6 Chris Crowther v. Q11

7 Shane Vanderson v. Q10
10 Charlie Pratt v. Q7

15 Juan Herrera v. Q2
2 Rocky Carson v. Q15

Qualifying Players

17 Arthur Schmeiser
18 Polo Gutierrez
19 Daniel De La Rosa
20 Jose Diaz

22 Alejandro Herrera
24 Felipe Camacho
25 James Slamko
26 Jansen Allen

28 Hiroshi Shimizu
29 Nick Montalbano
29 Gilberto Mejia
32 Alex Ackermann

34 Jose Serrano
35 Marco Rojas
38 Sebastian Franco
39 Mauricio Zelada

45 Cesar Castillo
48 David Horn
47 Rafael Filippini
49 Francisco Troncoso

55 Armando Bermudez
70 Andres Acuña
77 Coby Iwaasa
78 Joshua Hungerford

84 Juan Torres
91 Ivan Villegas
93 Jake Bredenbeck
103 Favian Elmore

112 Andrés Gómez
120 Mike Orr
125 Luis Reveron
128 Bruce Robles
134 Kurtis Cullen

140 Mike Ray
140 Roland Keller
140 Danny Lavely
140 John Goth

175 Jeff Stark
184 Ben Ryder

214 Stacey Young
214 Francisco Gomez Reyes
214 Sadao Funatani
214 Vincent Gagnon
214 Alexi David Cocco Hayes
214 Kadim Carrasco

251 Andree Parrilla

xx Andrew Clarke
xx Eduardo Avila
xx Aaron Granberg
xx Coby Arff

xx Bruno Casalvolone
xx Jonathan Doyle
xx Doug Eagle
xx Kenny Gilley

xx Kenny Green Jr.
xx Mitchell Hardin
xx Bill Harper
xx Justin Ivers

xx Carlos Keller Vargas
xx Daeyong Kwon
xx Jacob Valera
xx Kolten Wenckus

xx Mitch Williams
xx Erik Mendoza
xx Chase Robison
xx Erick Sandoval

xx Roberto Santander
xx Anthony Schonberger

LPRT Draw

On the women's side, 24 players are put into the main draw of 32 with the rest being put into the final 8 spots. There are 37 players overall, so we expect there will be three qualifying matches to determine the final draw.

But as with the men, it's difficult to tell who will be in those matches as there are several unranked players entered, including former top 10 player Veronica Sotomayor. Former #1 Jackie Paraiso, who has a very low ranking, is also entered.

Once again, we have the players listed in order of the latest Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) rankings.

2012 United Healthcare US Open LPRT Participants
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Main Draw of 32 Players (numbers are LPRT rank)

1 Paola Longoria
2 Rhonda Rajsich
3 Kerri Wachtel
4 Krystal Csuk

5 Adrienne Fisher
6 Kristen Bellows
7 Susana Acosta
8 Jen Saunders

9 Cristina Amaya
10 Cheryl Gudinas
11 Da'monique Davis
12 T. J. Baumbaugh

13 Keely Franks
14 Samantha Salas Solis
15 Grace Hughes
16 Laura Brandt

17 Linda Scales
22 Sheryl Lotts
24 Sharon Jackson
30 Carla Munoz

31 Jessica Parrilla
37 Janel Tisinger
38 Lily Berry
46 Maria Paz Munoz

Qualifying Players

50 Hailey Miller
52 Claudia Andrade
57 Jacqueline Paraiso
58 Young Ock Lee

xx Jenny Daza Navia
xx Veronica Sotomayor
xx Maria Jose Vargas
xx Nadia Verilli

xx Naomi Wakimoto
xx Emily Coonse
xx Alexandra Herrera
xx Malhee Kwon
xx Masiel Rivera

Follow the bouncing ball….