Thursday resutls from 2019 IRT Atlanta Open

A couple surprises on Thursday at the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) 2019 Atlanta Open. The off court surprise was bigger, as IRT #1 Kane Waselenchuk announced he wouldn’t be in Georgia due to "personal reasons," but does intend to be in Maryland for the second event of the season. Without Waselenchuk, who won 6 of the 9 events last season, the Atlanta Open is now up for grabs.

There were surprises on court also. Yesterday, we wrote how Waselenchuk’s road to victory was getting tougher, and that he’d likely have to play Javier Mar in the Round of 16. That overlooked Sebastian Fernandez, who was a silver medalist in Boy’s U18 at last year’s World Junior Championships. We had a feeling that not mentioning Fernandez could be a mistake, and he reinforced that feeling by defeating Mar on Thursday, 15-10, 15-11.

Fernandez was to play Waselenchuk in the 16s, but will now get a pass into the quarterfinals for the first time. He’ll play the winner of Sebastian Franco and Rodrigo Montoya in the quarters. Although it’s Fernandez’s first quarterfinal appearance he was playing his 7th match in the Round of 16, and has wins over Jake Bredenbeck, Samuel Murray and Charlie Pratt on his record. Not a player to be overlooked.

Another surprise from Thursday was Eduardo Garay’s win over Andres Acuña, 7-15, 15-9, 11-8. Garay’s another of the young Mexicans who are making noise, but Acuña has several notable wins on his resume, especially when representing Costa Rica at international events. Garay will play IRT #2 Rocky Carson in the Round of 16.

Perhaps the saddest thing about Waselenchuk’s absence this weekend is that he was going to play doubles with Ben Croft, which is always fun to see. There are several good teams in Georgia that they could have played against, including Mar and Rodrigo Montoya, who they would have faced in their first match. Mar and Montoya won gold in Men’s Doubles at the Pan American Games last month, so that would have been a great match. The winner would have likely faced top seeds Alvaro Beltran and Daniel De La Rosa, who have had a couple of amazing matches with Waselenchuk and Croft at the last two US Opens. Would have been great to see another one of those matches.

Look for all the action via the usual IRT media outlets: The IRT YouTube channel or the IRT Facebook page. The Round of 16 will be Friday morning at 10 and 11 AM with the quarterfinals Friday starting at 4 PM. The singles semi-finals will be 3 and 4 PM Saturday with the final at noon Sunday. The doubles semi-finals will be Saturday night at 7 and 8 PM with the final Sunday at 1 PM. All times Eastern.

2019 IRT Atlanta Open, September 5-8, 2019
Lilburn / Atlanta, Georgia

Qualifying Round 1 - Thursday

Sebastian Fernandez d. Lee Meinerz, 15-9, 15-10
Javier Mar d. Jimmy Lan, 15-3, 15-5

Rodrigo Montoya - BYE
Maurice Miller d. Troy Warigon, 15-1, 11-15, 11-8

Mauricio Zelada d. Kadim Carrasco, 15-5, 15-14
Gerardo Franco d. Anthony Martin, 15-10, 13-15, 11-7

Thomas Carter d. Darrin Prince, 15-2, 15-8
Carlos Keller d. Oscar Nieto, 15-7, 15-9

Justus Benson d. Austin Cunningham, 15-6, 15-6
Robert Collins d. Yacoube Keita, 15-5, 15-3

Eduardo Portillo d. Floyd McDonald, 15-6, 15-6
Set Cubillos d. Nicholas Riffel, 15-13, 15-8

Scott McClellan d. Michael Arterburn, 15-1, 15-0
Mario Mercado - BYE

Andres Acuña d. Destry Everhart, 15-6, 15-7
Eduardo Garay d. Dan Fowler, forfeit

Qualifying Round 2 - Thursday

Q8 - Sebastian Fernandez d. Javier Mar, 15-10, 15-11
Q1 - Rodrigo Montoya d. Maurice Miller, 15-13, 15-5

Q4 - Gerardo Franco d. Mauricio Zelada, 10-15, 15-11, 11-2
Q5 - Carlos Keller d. Thomas Carter, 15-14, 13-15, 11-6

Q6 - Robert Collins d. Justus Benson, 15-11, 15-11
Q3 - Eduardo Portillo d. Set Cubillos, 15-5, 15-0

Q2 - Mario Mercado d. Scott McClellan, 15-4, 15-3
Q7 - Eduardo Garay d. Andres Acuña, 7-15, 15-9, 11-8

Round of 16 - Friday

Sebastian Fernandez d. Kane Waselenchuk, forfeit
Sebastian Franco v. Rodrigo Montoya - 11 AM

Alvaro Beltran v. Gerardo Franco - 11 AM
Andree Parrilla v. Carlos Keller - 11 AM

Alejandro Landa v. Robert Collins - 10 AM
Daniel De La Rosa v. Eduardo Portillo - 10 AM

Samuel Murray v. Mario Mercado - 10 AM
Rocky Carson v. Eduardo Garay - 10 AM

IRT Doubles - Round of 16 - Friday

1) Daniel De La Rosa & Alvaro Beltran - BYE
8) Kadim Carrasco & Carlos Keller v. 9) Maurice Miller & Troy Warigon - 1 PM

5) Javier Mar & Rodrigo Montoya - BYE
4) Ben Croft & Kane Waselenchuk - BYE

3) Sebastian Franco & Mario Mercado - BYE
6) Andree Parrilla & Eduardo Portillo v. 11) Lee Meinerz & Darrin Prince - 1 PM

7) Gerardo Franco & Nicholas Riffel v. 10) Sebastian Fernandez & Andres Acuña - 1 PM
2) Alejandro Landa & Samuel Murray - BYE

Follow the bouncing ball….