Conrrado Moscoso came back from a game down to defeat Rocky Carson, 6-15, 15-14, 11-2, in the final of the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) 2019 Bolivia American Iris Open in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It was a remarkable final. Moscoso is the 1st Bolivian - and 2nd South American (after Colombian Sebastian Franco) - to win an IRT event.
Moscoso came out firing in game one, as he took a 6-0 lead on consecutive rallies. That led to a Carson timeout.
If you ever needed an example of an effective timeout, this was it, as Carson got the serve back, and cut the lead in half to trail 6-3. But after an exchange of side outs, Carson continued to pile up the points. Eventually, he had 15, and had won game one, 15-6, although it seemed he didn’t know it, as it looked like he was going to serve after scoring his 15th.
Carson’s point streak ran to 17, when he took a 2-0 lead in game two. But Moscoso broke the streak at that point via a long pinch shot, and then tied it at 2-2 with a drive serve ace to the left side.
However, Carson put together another streak, as he ran the score up to 9-2 and 10-3. But this time Moscoso had an answer, as he began coming back, and caught up to Carson at 11-11. They were back and forth from there with ties at 12, 13, and 14. It took 19 rallies to get from 11-11 to 15-14.
A game involves multiple rallies, so we don’t like saying that any moment or play caused a loss. But Carson made a few errors late in game two. Moscoso served a lob Z to the right at 14-13 that Carson came up to hit early, and tanked it into the floor to give Moscoso his first game point at 14-14.
Carson denied that opportunity with a soft backhand shot. But on the next rally - Carson’s 3rd match point opportunity - he skipped what looked like an easy forehand shot near the front wall. Then on Moscoso’s second game point, Carson hit a backhand serve return that went out of the court. Oops.
The tie-breaker started slowly. Eighteen rallies and the score was only 3-2 for Moscoso. However, from there Moscoso scored eight points over 10 rallies, as Carson only served once in that stretch. Moscoso won it with a forehand kill shot on the right side.
In the breaker, Moscoso hit that lob Z to the right side a lot, and Carson never looked very comfortable with it. He often returned with an overhead forehand cross court shot, but Moscoso put a couple of those returns down the left side into the crack for winners.
Moscoso’s the first 1st time IRT champion this season, but the 5th over the last two seasons. Also, Moscoso was a double winner in Cochabamba, as he and Roland Keller won the IRT Doubles title last night over Carson and Felipe Camacho.
The atmosphere at the Bolivia Open looked incredible. If you didn’t see any of the action, check out the IRT media sources: the IRT Facebook page or the IRT YouTube channel. Reportedly, the tournament organizers are already planning on holding the event again next season.
The next IRT event will be the 2019 Florida IRT Pro-Am in Sarasota, Florida, April 26-28.
2019 Open Bolivia American Iris, March 27-31, 2019
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Final - Sunday
Conrrado Moscoso d. 1) Rocky Carson, 6-15, 15-14, 11-2
Follow the bouncing ball….
Sunday, March 31, 2019
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