2016 United Healthcare US Open - IRT Singles Qualifying

A couple of tie-breakers were needed to determine Round of 32 qualifiers in International Racquetball Tour (IRT) draw of the 2016 United Healthcare US Open in Minneapolis Wednesday, and both Samuel Murray and Mauro Rojas came back from 0-2 down to advance to the 32s on Thursday. Murray beat Gerardo Franco, 10-12, 9-11, 11-2, 11-1, 11-3, and Rojas defeated Thomas Carter, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-4.

Murray's win sets up a showdown with 5th seed Jose Rojas, and the winner of that will face the winner of 12th seed Robert Collins and Alejandro Landa, as Landa defeated Christian Wer, 11-4, 11-0, 11-4, to advance. One of those four players will be a US Open quarterfinalist.

Finally, in what must have been one of the longest matches in US Open history, Rodrigo Montoya came back from two games down to defeat Jaime Martell, 8-11, 9-11, 11-3, 13-11, 11-5. Montoya had to fight off match points in the fourth game to make it happen.

The men will play twice on Thursday with the Round of 32 and 16. Then the quarterfinals will be Friday, semi-finals Saturday, and the IRT final of the 2016 United Healthcare US Open will be Sunday October 9 at noon at the Life Time Athletic Target Center club in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.

2016 United Healthcare US Open
Minneapolis, Minnesota - October 5-9, 2016

IRT Men’s Singles - Qualifying - Wednesday

Round 1

Erik Garcia d. Edwin Galicia, 0-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-1

Jaime Martell d. Seungjun Jeon, 11-4, 11-4, 11-7
Rodrigo Montoya d. Nicholas Riffel, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8

Christian Longoria d. John Starks, 11-0, 11-3, 11-4
Teobaldo Fumero d. Andrew Conti, 10-12, 11-1, 11-7, 11-2

Christian Wer d. Bruce Robles, 8-11, 6-11, 11-4, 14-12, 11-1
Gerardo Franco d. Set Cubillos, 11-1, 11-4, 11-6

Mauro Rojas d. Andrés Gomez, 11-7, 11-1, 11-5
Tim Prigo d. Luis Avila, forfeit

Bradly Rogers d. Mike Orr, forfeit
Hiroshi Shimizu d. Mingyu Kim, 12-10, 7-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-2

Hans Mendez d. Justus Benson, 12-10, 11-8, 11-5
Jose Ubilla v. Michael Silvio, 11-6, 11-4, 11-8

Eduardo Garay d. Andrew Clarke, 11-1, 11-1, 11-4
Jonathan Burns d. Austin Cunningham, 10-12, 11-4, 11-1, 11-5

Thomas Fuhrmann d. Ben Ryder, 11-6, 11-0, 11-5
Moon Gyun Kim d. Destry Everhart, 12-10, 11-5, 5-11, 4-11, 11-8

Andres Acuña d. Aaron Booker, 11-2, 11-4, 11-0

Round 2

Q1: Cliff Swain d. Erik Garcia, 5-11, 11-2, 11-8, 11-4
Q16: Rodrigo Montoya d. Jaime Martell, 8-11, 9-11, 11-3, 13-11, 11-5

Q9: Christian Longoria d. Majeed Shahin, 11-6, 11-6, 11-1
Q8: Teobaldo Fumero d. Anthony Herrera, 11-3, 11-2, 11-5

Q5: Alejandro Landa d. Christian Wer, 11-4, 11-0, 11-4
Q12: Samuel Murray d. Gerardo Franco, 10-12, 9-11, 11-2, 11-1, 11-3

Q13: Mauro Rojas d. Thomas Carter, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-4
Q4: David Horn d. Tim Prigo, 11-0, 11-7, 11-0

Q3: Jose Diaz d. Bradly Rogers, 11-6, 12-10, 11-3
Q14: Dylan Reid d. Hiroshi Shimizu, 12-10, 11-3, 12-10

Q11: Javier Mar d. Hans Mendez, injury forfeit
Q6: Edson Martinez d. Jose Ubilla, 11-0, 11-3, 11-6

Q7: Eduardo Garay d. Fernando Rios, 3-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-1
Q10: Jonathan Burns d. Francisco Troncoso, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7

Q15: Thomas Fuhrmann d. Moon Gyun Kim, 12-10, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5
Q2: Andres Acuña d. Brad Schopieray, 11-5, 11-6, 7-11, 3-11, 12-10

IRT Men’s Singles - Round of 32 - Thursday

1 Kane Waselenchuk v. Rodrigo Montoya
16 Andree Parrilla v. Cliff Swain

9 Felipe Camacho v. Teobaldo Fumero
8 Sebastian Franco v. Christian Longoria

5 Jose Rojas v. Samuel Murray
12 Robert Collins v. Alejandro Landa

13 Mauricio Zelada v. David Horn
4 Alvaro Beltran v. Mauro Rojas

3 Daniel De La Rosa v. Dylan Reid
14 Scott McClellan v. Jose Diaz

11 Jake Bredenbeck v. Edson Martinez
6 Jansen Allen v. Javier Mar

7 Marco Rojas v. Jonathan Burns
10 Mario Mercado v. Eduardo Garay

15 Charlie Pratt v. Andres Acuña
2 Rocky Carson v. Thomas Fuhrmann

Follow the bouncing ball….