Carson wins The Fall Brawl & is IRT's new #1

Rocky Carson won The Fall Brawl, a Tier 3 event on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) in Lombard, Illinois. Carson defeated Jose Rojas in the final, 11-4, 11-8, 11-10 [sic]. In the semi-finals, Carson beat Marco Rojas, Jose’s younger brother, 11-2, 11-4, 11-4, and Jose Rojas defeated Sebastian Franco, 11-5, 11-6, 11-4.

There were two tie-breakers in the quarterfinals, as Franco upset Jansen Allen, 11-6, 7-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-7, and Jose Rojas needed five games to fend off Jake Bredenbeck, 11-2, 5-11, 11-3, 6-11, 11-4.

US Open & New #1

Carson’s win comes ahead of this week’s US Open - the true Grand Slam event on the pro racquetball calendar, as both the IRT and Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) will be competing in Minneapolis.

Carson will be the #1 seed in Minneapolis, as he has risen back into the top spot on the IRT rankings, ahead of Kane Waselenchuk, who’ll be trying to win his 11th US Open title this year. Waselenchuk is undefeated at the US Open since 2003.

Carson’s rise in the rankings, in spite of their being no Tier 1 event since last month’s Ghost of Georgetown event, is due to the fact that there were two Tier 1 events before last year’s US Open, which were both won by Waselenchuk, but this year there was only one. Thus, Waselenchuk’s points have decreased by more than Carson’s, and they are close in points (78 point difference currently).

The principal effect this will have in Minnesota is in the seedings and who play who when. Carson will now be on track to meet IRT #4 Daniel De La Rosa in the semi-finals, while Waselenchuk could face #3 Alvaro Beltran in the semis.

The 2015 US Open is the 20th edition of the event, so it will be a special anniversary of an event that began in 1996 in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Fall Brawl, Lombard, Illinois (IRT Tier 3)

Final

Rocky Carson d. Jose Rojas, 11-4, 11-8, 11-10 [sic]

Semi-finals

Rocky Carson d. Marco Rojas, 11-2, 11-4, 11-4
Jose Rojas d. Sebastian Franco, 11-5, 11-6, 11-4

Quarterfinals

Rocky Carson d. Mario Mercado, 11-3, 11-3, 11-3
Marco Rojas d. Mauricio Zelada, 11-2, 11-7, 11-6

Sebastian Franco d. Jansen Allen, 11-6, 7-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-7
Jose Rojas d. Jake Bredenbeck, 11-2, 5-11, 11-3, 6-11, 11-4

Men’s Open

Final

Jake Bredenbeck d. Mario Mercado, 15-14, 12-15, 11-9

Semi-finals

Jake Bredenbeck d. Troy Warigon, 15-3, 15-1
Mario Mercado d. Sebastian Franco, 15-8, 15-8

IRT Rankings - October 1, 2015

1) Rocky Carson (USA) - 3668
2) Kane Waselenchuk (Canada) - 3590
3) Alvaro Beltran (Mexico) - 2780
4) Daniel De La Rosa (Mexico) - 2350
5) Jose Rojas (USA) - 1972

6) Ben Croft (USA) - 1860
7) Jansen Allen (USA) - 1712
8) Marco Rojas (USA) - 1424
9) Charlie Pratt (USA) - 1372
10) Jose Diaz (USA) - 865

11) Tony Carson (USA) - 862
12) Robert Collins (USA) - 787
13) Felipe Camacho (Costa Rica) - 717
14) Alejandro Landa (Mexico) - 690
15) Tim Landeryou (Canada) - 650

16) Matthew Majxner (USA) - 649
17) Chris Crowther (USA) - 516
18) Coby Iwaasa (Canada) - 458
19) Danny Lavely (USA) - 426
20) Alejandro Herrera (Colombia) - 409

Follow the bouncing ball….