De La Rosa & Waselenchuk to face off in 41st Lewis Drug IRT Pro-Am final

Daniel De La Rosa ended Rodrigo Montoya’s run at the 41st Lewis Drug International Racquetball Tour (IRT) Pro-Am in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in convincing fashion, winning 15-1, 15-4. The win puts De La Rosa back in the final for a 3rd straight year. He won the 2017 Lewis Drug Pro-Am and was runner up last year.

De La Rosa’s opponent in the final is a familiar one: Kane Waselenchuk. It will be their 3rd meeting in a final this season. They played earlier this month in the final of California Open, as well as last year’s US Open final. Waselenchuk won both of those matches. In Sioux Falls, Waselenchuk defeated Rocky Carson in the other semi, 15-2, 15-9.

Looking ahead, Waselenchuk will likely move up in the rankings from his #3 position, as he didn’t play the Lewis Drug event last year due to injury, so a final appearance or win will be a big addition to his points total. De La Rosa - the IRT #4 - has at least matched his result from last year, so he’ll either maintain his points or gain, if he wins on Sunday.

Montoya, who is only 18th in the IRT rankings, should move up also. Finally, Carson was a quarterfinalist last year in Sioux Falls, so his semi-final finish this year could help him stay in the #2 position. Current #1 Alejandro Landa, who was the defending Lewis Drug champion, will likely drop positions, as he lost in the Round of 16 to Montoya.

De La Rosa had a chance to be in the doubles final also, but he and Alvaro Beltran - the #1 seeds - were knocked off by Montoya and Andree Parrilla, 14-15, 15-11, 11-10. After two close games, it looked like the tie-breaker wouldn’t be close, as Montoya and Parrilla took a 8-2 lead.

But De La Rosa had other ideas. After he and Beltran took a timeout, De La Rosa got them the serve back with two winners, then hit four more. That combined with two penalty hinder calls tied the game at 8-8. When Montoya tanked an overhand forehand shot, it seemed he and Parrilla had thrown the match away, especially as De La Rosa hit another winner - a soft forehand pinch - to reach match point at 10-8.

However, Montoya redeemed himself with a backhand pinch shot to put De La Rosa and Beltran half down, and then hit a winning backhand serve return off a De La Rosa lob serve to the left side. With the serve back, Montoya didn’t stop, as he hit a forehand pinch winner and a great backhand kill shot from shoulder high and 38’ that put his side on match point at 10-10.

There was a spot of controversy on the last rally, as a penalty hinder was called on De La Rosa, who was right on the right side wall as Parrilla was taking his shot. The call came before the shot, which Parrilla still took but didn’t end the rally. Yet the call seemed reasonable, although not to De La Rosa and Beltran.

The doubles semi-finals are noon and 1 PM Saturday, with the doubles final at 4:30 PM Saturday. The singles final will be Sunday at 11 AM. Look for all the action via the usual IRT media outlets: The IRT Network, the IRT YouTube channel or the IRT Facebook page.

41st Lewis Drug IRT Pro-Am, January 17-20 2019
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Semi-finals - Saturday

4) Daniel De La Rosa d. Rodrigo Montoya, 15-1, 15-4
3) Kane Waselenchuk d. 2) Rocky Carson, 15-2, 15-9

Final - Sunday

3) Kane Waselenchuk v. 4) Daniel De La Rosa - 11 AM

IRT Doubles Semi-finals - Saturday

5) Rodrigo Montoya & Andree Parrilla d. 1) Alvaro Beltran & Daniel De La Rosa, 14-15, 15-11, 11-10
2) Alejandro Landa & Samuel Murray d. 6) Mario Mercado & Mauro Rojas, 15-11, 15-11

IRT Doubles Final - Saturday

2) Alejandro Landa & Samuel Murray v. 5) Rodrigo Montoya & Andree Parrilla - 4:30 PM

Follow the bouncing ball….