2015 Galaxy Custom Printing IRT Quarterfinals

The top four seeds won their respective quarterfinal matches Friday in the Galaxy Custom Printing International Racquetball Tour (IRT) Pro-Am in Lilburn, Georgia. Top seed Rocky Carson has been most impressive. He beat Matthew Majxner, 11-5, 11-1, 11-0, in the quarters. Carson played six games Friday, and only gave up 7 points.

Carson’s next opponent will be 4th seed Jose Rojas, who also won his quarterfinal match in three straight games, but had to play extra points in game one versus Felipe Camacho before he won 13-11, 11-4, 11-1.

Camacho led for most of game one, and got to game point at 10-7. However, Rojas fought off four game points, as he tied the game at 10-10. Camacho had one more chance at 11-10, but Rojas again escaped; this time with a backhand pinch shot.

Game one finally ended at 13-11, when Rojas found himself in the front court, and hit a soft backhand down the line that he sliced and got to run along the left wall out of Camacho’s reach.

Game two developed slowly, as it took many rallies for the players to get to 4-4. But from there, Rojas scored seven unanswered points to win 11-4. In game three, it was all Rojas, as he went out to a 10-0 lead, and won 11-1.

Second seed Alvaro Beltran also won his quarterfinal in three straight games, as he took out Mauricio Zelada, 11-2, 11-5, 11-9. Zelada was ahead for most of game three, including at 9-8, but he couldn’t close it out.

Beltran will play 3rd seed Daniel De La Rosa, who narrowly escaped from his match with Jansen Allen, as Allen was up 2-0 and then ahead 7-1 in game four, only to see De La Rosa come back and win it in five games, 7-11, 7-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-2.

Allen played well, and must be lamenting his missed opportunity to put De La Rosa away in the fourth game, when Allen had his big lead. De La Rosa seemed disinterested at that point, but from down 7-1, he got a couple of points on loose rallies by Allen. It was a time when Allen really needed to be putting his foot down, but he failed to do so, allowing De La Rosa back into the game.

The little change in momentum was all De La Rosa needed to reenergize himself, and push on to win game four and then game five, completing a comeback that seemed unlikely. A big part of De La Rosa’s comeback was hitting a lob kiss serve to the left - Allen's backhand, as Allen didn’t have a good return solution for it.

The semi-finals begin at 4 PM EDT on Saturday, and you can watch them live via the IRT Network.

2015 Galaxy Custom Printing - Atlanta Pro-Am, October 29-November 1
Lilburn, Georgia

Quarterfinals - Friday

1) Rocky Carson d. Matthew Majxner, 11-5, 11-1, 11-0
4) Jose Rojas d. 5) Felipe Camacho, 13-11, 11-4, 11-1

3) Daniel De La Rosa d. 6) Jansen Allen, 7-11, 7-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-2
2) Alvaro Beltran d. Mauricio Zelada, 11-2, 11-5, 11-9

Semi-finals - Saturday

1) Rocky Carson v. 4) Jose Rojas - 4 PM EDT
2) Alvaro Beltran v. 3) Daniel De La Rosa - 5 PM EDT

Follow the bouncing ball….