IRT - Mile High Pro-Am - All higher seeds win in the 16s

Another tie-breaker in the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) Mile High Pro-Am in Denver Friday as the 8/9 game went the distance before 8th seed Andy Hawthorne defeated 9th seed Jose Diaz, 11-7, 7-11, 5-11, 11-3, 11-5.

Four of the five games had a similar pattern, as one player went up early and stayed ahead. Game two was the exception was Diaz came back from 6-2 down to win 9 of 10 points to win the game and level the match.

In game three, Diaz went up 5-0 and stayed ahead. In that game he used kiss lob serves to the left side - Hawthorne's forehand. But at the end of that game he switched to straight drive serves and didn't use the kiss lob, which may have been a mistake as Hawthorne came back from 2-1 down to win the match in five games.

Hawthorne will play IRT #1 Kane Waselenchuk in the quarter finals later on Friday after Waselenchuk defeated hometown player and US Junior Team member Adam Manilla, 11-5, 11-2, 11-0, in what was a battle of left-handers.

IRT #2 Rocky Carson also won his Round of 16 match easily, as he beat Andrew Gale three straight, 11-3, 11-3, 11-8. In the quarters, it will be Carson v. Carson, as Rocky will play Tony, although they aren't related.

Tony Carson beat Alex Ackermann, 11-4, 9-11, 12-10, 11-3, in the 16s. Game three of that match was long, including eight rallies at 4-4. Ackermann got up late at 10-7, and served for the game four times, but Carson fought all those game points off.

Then he made a slight change to his serving position. Carson had been hitting a lot of straight drives down the right side to Ackermann's forehand from a position on the right side of the service box. But that had lost its effectiveness, so Carson moved into the middle to hit that serve and that little change made the serve more effective and helped him come back and pull out game three and then win game four going away.

In what we thought was going to be the highlight match of the 16s, Chris Crowther had a relatively straight forward win over Daniel De La Rosa, winning in three straight games, 11-1, 12-10, 11-4. It wasn't due to a lack of effort by De La Rosa, who threw himself around the court in an effort to make Crowther play another shot.

De La Rosa almost levelled the match at 1-1, when he came back in game two from 10-6 to 10-10 using off speed Z serves to the left side that were tight to the back wall. But Crowther got the serve back and drove serve himself out of trouble, winning game two 12-10 and then comfortably winning game three.

Crowther will play Jose Rojas in the quarters, as Rojas defeated Brad Schopieray.

Finally, Alvaro Beltran will play Ben Croft in the quarter finals, as Beltran defeated Arthur Schmeiser, 11-3, 11-6, 11-3, and Croft beat Anthony Herrera, 11-8, 11-6, 11-6.

The IRT Network will be web-casting the Mile High Pro/Am quarter-finals beginning at 4 PM MDT Friday afternoon.

2013 Mile High Pro/Am - Denver, Colorado

Round of 16

Kane Waselenchuk d. Adam Manilla, 11-5, 11-2, 11-0
Andy Hawthorne d. Jose Diaz, 11-7, 7-11, 5-11, 11-3, 11-5

Jose Rojas d. Brad Schopieray
Chris Crowther d. Daniel De La Rosa, 11-1, 12-10, 11-4

Alvaro Beltran d. Arthur Schmeiser, 11-3, 11-6, 11-3
Ben Croft d. Anthony Herrera, 11-8, 11-6, 11-6

Tony Carson d. Alex Ackermann, 11-4, 9-11, 12-10, 11-3
Rocky Carson d. Andrew Gale, 11-3, 11-3, 11-8

Quarter-finals

Kane Waselenchuk v. Andy Hawthorne
Chris Crowther v. Jose Rojas

Alvaro Beltran v. Ben Croft
Rocky Carson v. Tony Carson

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