Rounds of 64 & 32 at 2019 IRT Valentine Open

There were no surprises on Thursday at the 2019 International Racquetball Tour (IRT) Valentine Open in Laurel, Maryland, but there were some tie-breakers. In one of those contests current Pan American Champion Carlos Keller came back from a game down to defeat Eduardo Garay, 13-15, 15-11, 11-7, while Mario Mercado also had to overcome a game deficit to beat Mauricio Zelada, 14-15, 15-11, 11-1.

Keller’s win puts him into the Round of 16 against Kane Waselenchuk, the IRT’s #1 player, while Mercado will face International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Champion Rodrigo Montoya. Also in the 16s, Andree Parrilla will face Andres Acuña, who has some good wins under his belt, 6th seed Samuel Murray goes against the current IRF U18 World Junior Champion Eduardo Portillo, and 7th seed Alvaro Beltran takes on Jake Bredenbeck with the winner probably facing IRT #2 Rocky Carson in the quarterfinals.

Look for all the action via the usual IRT media outlets: The IRT YouTube channel or the IRT Facebook page. The Round of 16 begins Friday morning at 10 and 11 AM with the quarterfinals Friday starting at 4 PM. The singles semi-finals will be 11 AM and noon Saturday with the final at 7 PM Saturday. All times Eastern.

2019 IRT Valentine Open, September 19-21, 2019
Laurel, Maryland

Qualifying Round 1 - Thursday

Carlos Keller d. Samuel Kelley, 15-8, 15-0
Eduardo Garay d. Stacey Young, 15-1, 15-6

Mario Mercado - BYE
Mauricio Zelada d. Kyle Ulliman, 15-11, 9-15, 11-9

Maurice Miller d. Joe Kelley, 15-9, 10-15, 11-2
Gerardo Franco - BYE

Robert Collins - BYE
Scott McClellan d. Jamal Harris, 15-9, 15-7

Kadim Carrasco d. Dylan Pruitt, 15-5, 15-1
Andres Acuña - BYE

Eduardo Portillo - BYE
Troy Warigon d. Yacouba Keita, 15-7, 13-15, 11-7

Set Cubillos d. David Austin, 15-14, 11-15, 11-1
Jake Bredenbeck - BYE

Thomas Carter - BYE
Geoff Heskett d. Justus Benson, 15-10, 15-12

Qualifying Round 2 - Thursday

Q8 - Carlos Keller d. Eduardo Garay, 13-15, 15-11, 11-7
Q1 - Mario Mercado d. Mauricio Zelada, 14-15, 15-11, 11-1

Q4 -Gerardo Franco d. Maurice Miller, 15-12, 15-4
Q5 -Robert Collins d. Scott McClellan, 15-5, 15-7

Q6 - Andres Acuña d. Kadim Carrasco, 15-4, 15-7
Q3 - Eduardo Portillo d. Troy Warigon, 15-1, 15-5

Q2 - Jake Bredenbeck d. Set Cubillos, 15-11, 15-2
Q7 - Thomas Carter d. Geoff Heskett, 15-5, 15-3

Round of 16 - Friday

Kane Waselenchuk v. Carlos Keller - 11 AM
Rodrigo Montoya v. Mario Mercado - 11 AM

Sebastian Franco v. Gerardo Franco - 11 AM
Alejandro Landa v. Robert Collins - 11 AM

Andree Parrilla v. Andres Acuña - 10 AM
Samuel Murray v. Eduardo Portillo - 10 AM

Alvaro Beltran v. Jake Bredenbeck - 10 AM
Rocky Carson v. Thomas Carter - 10 AM

Follow the bouncing ball….