Landa only seed to avoid upset in quarters at 2021 IRT Suivart Consulting Pro-Am

In four quarterfinal matches at the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) 2021 Suivant Consulting Pro-Am in Lilburn, Georgia, the only higher seed to win was Alejandro Landa, who is the top seed. Yet even his match wasn't easy, as Jake Bredenbeck pushed Landa hard in their match. However, the top seed came out on top in two straight games, 15-11, 15-13.

None of the other quarterfinal matches ended in two straight games, and the lower ranked player won all three. Second seed Rocky Carson was upset by 7th seed Conrrado Moscoso, 11-15, 15-12, 11-4. Third seed Andree Parrilla fell to 6th seed Eduardo Portillo, who’s also Parrilla’s doubles partner, 15-12, 14-15, 11-8. And 4th seed Daniel De La Rosa lost to 5th seed Samuel Murray, 14-15, 15-6, 11-9.

Although the Carson-Moscoso breaker looked lop-sided, they were close early on with ties at 2, 3 and 4. It took 18 rallies to get to 4-4. But from there, Moscoso took over, holding Carson scoreless. The run started with a drive serve ace, and during it Carson only served twice, as Moscoso piled up the points to win the breaker, 11-4, hitting a forehand winner from the back left corner down the line to end it.

Parrilla had the momentum early in his breaker with Portillo, having won the second game. He went up 5-1 in game three. But the younger Portillo came back and took the lead 8-5, which prompted a timeout by Parrilla.

He got a sideout when play resumed, and scored three points to tie the game at 8-8. Then Portillo called a timeout. From there, Portillo closed it out, although the winning point was a gift, as Parrilla was in the front court, and tried to make a backhand touch shot into the left court, but it skipped. Oops.

Finally, the Murray-De La Rosa match was close in both game one and three. It was close early in game two, also, but when Murray got ahead in the middle of that game, De La Rosa seemed like he decided to save some energy for the tie-breaker.

In their breaker, the lead went back and forth with ties at 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. From 7-7 to the end took 21 rallies. They went back and forth eight times when De La Rosa led 9-8. That stalemate was broken when De La Rosa skipped a backhand shot.

De La Rosa did get the serve back on the next rally by hitting a backhand return winner from a Murray Z serve. However, Murray prevented him scoring with a forehand wide angle winner. Murray then won the next rally with a great backhand pinch shot from deep in the court. De La Rosa gave Murray the win by just missing on a forehand pinch shot, making the final 11-9.

The Suivant Consulting Pro-Am matches can be seen via the usual IRT media outlets: The IRT YouTube channel or the IRT Facebook page. The singles semi-finals will be at 5 and 6 PM with final at noon Sunday. The doubles final is Saturday night at 8 PM. All times Eastern.

2021 Suivant Consulting Pro-Am, January 7-10, 2021
Lilburn, Georgia

Quarterfinals - Saturday

1) Alejandro Landa d. 8) Jake Bredenbeck, 15-11, 15-13
5) Samuel Murray d. 4) Daniel De La Rosa, 14-15, 15-6, 11-9

6) Eduardo Portillo d. 3) Andree Parrilla, 15-12, 14-15, 11-8
7) Conrrado Moscoso d. 2) Rocky Carson, 11-15, 15-12, 11-4

Semi-finals - Saturday

1) Alejandro Landa v. 5) Samuel Murray - 6 PM
6) Eduardo Portillo v. 7) Conrrado Moscoso - 5 PM

IRT Doubles - Final - Saturday

4) Alejandro Landa & Sudsy Monchik v. 6) Sebastian Franco & Eduardo Garay - 8 PM

Follow the bouncing ball….