Thursday, January 2, 2014

2014 California Open - Preview

It's 2014, and the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) is wasting no time in getting back at it, as the California Open begins today in Reseda, California. The field is headlined by IRT #1 Kane Waselenchuk, and features 10 of the top 11 players.

If we look past the preliminary matches, Waselenchuk's road to another title could be one of his toughest, as he'll likely face IRT #5 Ben Croft in the quarter finals, then it will likely be either IRT #4 Jose Rojas or #6 Daniel De La Rosa in the semi-finals and then a likely final against IRT #2 Rocky Carson or #3 Alvaro Beltran.

Croft missed the last IRT event of 2013, the New Jersey Open, due to injury, which he described as a chronic one during the Coast to Coast California Open press conference on the IRT Network, although Croft did not state the exact nature of his injury. At that time, he wasn't even certain that he was going to play in Reseda.

However, Croft is in the draw, so we hope that means that he will be playing and if he's on the court, you can be certain Croft will give it all he's got.

Doubles in the future 2

During the press conference for the Coast to Coast California Open, IRT President Jason Mannino indicated that the IRT is interested in creating some doubles IRT events, but isn't sure when that will come about.

Also mentioned during the press conference, Rocky Carson will be playing doubles with Jose Rojas at the US National Doubles Championships in February and Mannino will play with Croft, if Croft is able.

The IRT Network will carry the action live over the web beginning Thursday night from 8 PM PDT and then all day Friday beginning at 10 AM PDT.

2014 Coast to Coast California Open - Reseda, California

Preliminary Round 1
Thursday

John Wolfe v. Amir Shahin
Eric Harper v. Keith Minor
Allan Hernandez v. Alejandro Arango
Felipe Munoz v. Armando Bermudez
Eddie Sada v. Majeed Shahin

Preliminary Round 2 Thursday

Q8 Francisco Troncoso v. Tom Fuhrman
Q1 Jansen Allen v. John Wolfe or Amir Shahin

Q4 Javier Moreno v. Eric Harper or Keith Minor
Q5 David Horn v. Allan Hernandez or Alejandro Arango

Q6 Hiroshi Shimizu v. Jeon Seung Jun
Q3 Alejandro Landa v. Felipe Munoz or Armando Bermudez

Q2 Jose Diaz v. Eddie Sada v. Majeed Shahin
Q7 Robert Collins v. Matt Majxner

Main Draw of 16 Friday

1 Kane Waselenchuk v. Q8
8 Ben Croft v. Q1

5 Daniel De La Rosa v. Q4
4 Jose Rojas v. Q5

3 Alvaro Beltran v. Q6
6 Chris Crowther v. Q3

7 Marco Rojas v. Q2
2 Rocky Carson v. Q7

Follow the bouncing ball….

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