Carson & Waselenchuk to meet in IRT Florida Pro-Am final

Rocky Carson - the #1 International Racquetball Tour (IRT) player has booked his place in the final of the Florida Pro-Am in Sarasota, Florida, with a win over IRT #4 Daniel De La Rosa, 11-7, 11-2, 8-11, 12-10, in the semi-finals. Carson will play IRT #2 Kane Waselenchuk in the final Saturday night.

Carson and De La Rosa were close all the way in game one, and tied at 7-7. Then Carson won the next four points, ending it with a backhand reverse pinch from deep. Carson also had two aces in the game. He served well through the match, and had eight aces in all.

Game two was all Carson, as he quickly went out to a 10—1 lead. He stalled there some, as De La Rosa dug in his heels and Carson didn’t close it out until the seventh game point. After that the match outcome didn’t seem in doubt.

But De La Rosa must have taken some momentum from the end of game two, as he led for most of game three, including a 9-6 advantage. Carson made it close late with two aces that cut De La Rosa’s lead to 9-8.

However, De La Rosa got the serve back with a backhand winner, and then hit two winners to end the game 11–8.

In game four, the players were close all the way. Carson did pull ahead when he made it 7-3. De La Rosa did cut the lead to one point at 7-6 and 8-7, but Carson got to 10 first, leading 10-7. However, Carson didn’t convert the first three match points, and then De La Rosa scored two to tie the game at 10-10.

It looked like a tie-breaker was going to be necessary. However, Carson regained the serve, and then scored two consecutive points to win the game and end the match.

In the other semi-final, Waselenchuk defeated Alvaro Beltran in the other semii-final, 12-10, 6-11, 11-2,11-0, to create a Carson-Waselenchuk showdown in the final for the second consecutive year.

Beltran started the match well, going out to a 5-0 lead in game one. Waselenchuk then went on a streak of his own that made the score 6-5. But again momentum shifted again, as Beltran went on another run to make the score 10-6. However, Beltran couldn’t close out the first game, as Waselenchuk came back again to win the game.

How would the match have turned out differently if Beltran had won the first game?

Beltran did win game two, but then Waselenchuk stepped it up, and won game three and four comfortably to set up yet another showdown with Carson.

The IRT Network will carry both semi-finals live over the web beginning Saturday 11 AM EST. Note: the final will be at 7 PM EST Saturday night.

2015 Florida Pro-Am
Sarasota, Florida

Semi-finals (with seeding)

1 Rocky Carson d. 4 Daniel De La Rosa, 11-7, 11-2, 8-11, 12-10
2 Kane Waselenchuk d. 3 Alvaro Beltran, 12-10, 6-11, 11-2, 11-0

Final (with seeding)

1 Rocky Carson v. 2 Kane Waselenchuk - 7 PM EST Saturday

Follow the bouncing ball….