Waselenchuk defeats Carson to win 2019 IRT Shamrock Shootout

Kane Waselenchuk gave another demonstration of why he is the #1 player on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) on Sunday, as he defeated IRT #2 Rocky Carson, 15-10, 15-10, to win the 34th Annual IRT Shamrock Shootout in Lombard, Illinois. Waselenchuk is undefeated this season, and also won the IRT Doubles title in Lombard on Saturday night with partner Ben Croft.

In game one, Waselenchuk got out to a 5-1 lead, which Carson cut to 5-3. But Waselenchuk won the next four points to lead 9-3, so Carson called a timeout. When play resumed, Carson got a side out, and scored three points on consecutive rallies to trail 9-6. Then the game stalled, as they exchanged sideouts. Over the next 11 rallies only one point was scored, and that by Waselenchuk, making it 10-6.

Carson broke the stalemate with a run of four points on consecutive rallies and tie the score at 10-10 with a drive serve ace to the right side, which is the lefthander Waselenchuk’s backhand side. Thus, there was a slight hope that Carson might win game one. Waselenchuk has not lost a game since the IRT changed its match format to two games to 15 and tie-breaker to 11 in January 2018. Waselenchuk’s never played a tie-breaker in this format.

But Waselenchuk dashed any hopes Carson had by getting the serve back with a forehand reverse pinch, and then scoring the next three points to make it 13-10. Carson got the serve back courtesy a Waselenchuk backhand skipped shot, but that was a short lived opportunity, as Waselenchuk hit a backhand winner off a Carson Z serve to the right side that Waselenchuk took early. Carson used that Z serve - a moderate speed, 1/2 lob type serve - often on second serve in the match, but it never seemed that effective against Waselenchuk. Two forehand winners later, and Waselenchuk had won game one, 15-10.

Game two started a bit slower, but had a similar story line. They were separated by a point with Waselenchuk up 4-3, but he won the next five rallies to make it 9-3, and then 12-3, to put the writing on the wall. Credit Carson for not giving up, as he got within four at 12-8, and again at 14-10. He fought off two match points with good forehand cross court shots, but Waselenchuk hit a forehand winner on his third match point to end the game, 15-10, and the match in two straight games.

Something surprising in this match was that Waselenchuk lob served a lot of the time. In fact, he may have lob served over 50% of the time. That’s unusual for him, because often Waselenchuk will lob serve on less than 10% of his serves. Generally, Waselenchuk hits drive Z serves on second serves, rather than lob serving. But he did play both singles and doubles in this event, so perhaps Waselenchuk didn’t want to hit too many drive serves, which take a considerable amount of energy, much more than a lob serve.

If you missed any of the action, check out the IRT Facebook page, where the matches are archived. The next IRT event will be the Bolivia Grand Slam in Cochabamba, Bolivia, March 27-31. That will also be a Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) event, so, like the US Open, it will be a true Grand Slam event.

The last two events of the 2018-19 IRT season will be the Florida IRT Pro-Am in Sarasota, Florida, April 26-28, and The New York Unity Championships in Syosset, New York, May 1-5.

2019 IRT Shamrock Shootout, March 14-17, 2019
Lombard, Illinois

Final - Sunday

1) Kane Waselenchuk d. 2) Rocky Carson, 15-10, 15-10

Follow the bouncing ball….