The 2021 UnitedHealthcare US Open draws will be stacked with players, as you would expect for the largest pro racquetball tournament in the world. The tournament begins next week in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the top 20 players from the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) and the top 19 players of the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) will be in action. Overall, there are 44 players in the LPRT division and 78 players in the IRT division.
But that’s singles, and we talked about that a bit on Monday. Let’s talk doubles. There will be 15 teams in the LPRT doubles division, which is up from 13 teams in 2019, when the US Open was last held. The IRT doubles division will have 21 teams, which is down from 27 teams in 2019.
We’ve done an anticipated seeding of the teams, although the doubles rankings on tours have a few discrepancies, so what we have is entirely unofficial. But we do know who is playing with whom, and that’s a good place to start.
LPRT
In the LPRT draw, Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas will be the top seeds, and favoured to win, although not as heavily as they would have been two years ago at the last US Open. In part, that’s because in 2019 they lost to Alexandra Herrera and Montserrat Mejia in what was one of the best matches you will ever see. Seriously. Herrera and Mejia will be the 2nd seeds this year.
Although most will expect another Mexican showdown final between Longoria/Salas and Herrera/Mejia again, which would probably be fun, there are two teams that could easily throw a spanner into the works. Valeria Centellas and Natalia Mendez now hailing from Argentina and the Guatemalan team of Gabriela Martinez and Maria Renee Rodriguez should be the 3rd and 4th seeds, and both have the potential to beat either of the Mexican teams.
Mendez played with Maria Jose Vargas previously, but they never seemed to really fit together, despite both being very good players. Centellas won Women’s Doubles at the 2018 International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Championships with Yazmine Sabja, so she knows how to play doubles, and seems to fit better with Mendez’s big swinging game style.
The Guatemalans have been playing together for years. They grew up playing together. And they are good. Martinez is the current IRF Women’s Singles World Champion, and coming off winning her 1st LPRT title last month in Colorado. Rodriguez is not as strong a player, but can be hot in doubles. She knows her role playing the right side with Martinez, and they were runners up to Longoria and Salas at the 2019 Pan American Games.
There are some other solid teams past those four, but they all have to viewed as dark horses for the title. One wild card team could be Vargas and Veronica Sotomayor. Sotomayor hasn’t played since December 2016, so what shape her game will be in is a complete unknown, but she won the US Open LPRT doubles title in 2014 - albeit with Longoria. Perhaps ironically, she (and Longoria) beat Vargas (and Rhonda Rajsich) in the final.
IRT
On the IRT side, Mexicans Alvaro Beltran and Daniel De La Rosa are the team to beat, as they demonstrated last weekend in winning the Shamrock Shootout. They’ll be the top seeds in Minneapolis, and their biggest competition could come from Sudsy Monchik and Kane Waselenchuk, who were within two points of defeating the Mexicans on the weekend, losing 15-14, 15-14, in the semi-finals.
The question is: where will Monchik and Waselenchuk be seeded? Neither has played much doubles prior to last weekend. Thus, they don’t have many ranking points. The US Open IRT Doubles draw has used a format with the top four teams granted spots in the quarterfinals, and the next four teams spots in the Round of 16.
If you’re not one of the top four or even top eight teams, it can be a grind, as the playdowns to get to the Thursday night’s quarters begin Wednesday, so you could play three matches prior to the quarters. In the past, players have been in action late Wednesday and then again Thursday morning. And that’s in addition to playing singles. Oh la la.
While our assessment of where teams will be seeded is unofficial, as mentioned, we don’t have Monchik and Waselenchuk in the top 8 teams based on the latest IRT Doubles rankings. Thus, they won’t have the easiest time of it. Moreover, it’s possible they could be on the same side of the draw as Beltran and De La Rosa, as they were last weekend, which would be mean a meeting before the final.
However, couldn’t it be that playing a little more racquetball will lead to more chemistry between Monchik and Waselenchuk, and allow them to shake off any rust that has been accumulated from not playing much during this pandemic? Certainly it could. But it can also come with the risk of losing, which might seem unlikely for this pair, but as we mentioned last week, the differences between many of the men’s teams is wafer thin. So, while it’s unlikely that Monchik and Waselenchuk could lose prior to meeting rivals Beltran and De La Rosa, it’s not inconceivable.
We see the other top 4 teams being Alejandro Landa and Samuel Murray at #2, Andree Parrilla and Eduardo Portillo #3, and Javier Mar and Rodrigo Montoya at #4. Parrilla and Portillo were runners up last weekend, while Mar and Montoya were the 2019 Pan American Games gold medalists. Meanwhile, Landa and Murray are both top 4 players in singles, who have played together a lot. Thus, these are all quality teams.
Some curious teams in the draw include Adam Manilla playing with David Horn, who hasn’t been seen on court in ages. But pairing him with the left handed Manilla makes for a fun team. On the more curious side, Jake Bredenbeck and Charlie Pratt, who were announced last week as the USA team for Men’s Doubles for the 2021 IRF World Championships later this year, aren’t playing together. That despite the fact they did so last weekend.
Bredenbeck is playing with his brother Sam, while Pratt is playing with Alan Natera. Also, Pratt’s not playing singles, which is also curious. Now, it could be that the Bredenbeck partnership for the US Open was decided long ago, so maybe it wasn’t something they wanted to change. The brothers did play together at the US National Championships in July, coming within three points of winning the title as they lost to Pratt and Rocky Carson in a tie-breaker, 11-8.
Again, a wafer thin difference.
We'll look forward to seeing some of those wafer thin differences in multiple doubles matches next week in Minneapolis, and we’re looking forward to covering it all for you.
2021 UnitedHealthcare US Open Racquetball Championships
October 6-10, 2021 - Minneapolis, Minnesota
LPRT Doubles - Anticipated Seeding (unofficial)
1) Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas
2) Alexandra Herrera & Montserrat Mejia
3) Valeria Centellas & Natalia Mendez
4) Gabriela Martinez & Maria Renee Rodriguez
5) Cristina Amaya & Adriana Riveros
6) Kelani Lawrence & Hollie Scott
7) Nancy Enriquez & Carla Muñoz
8) Jessica Parrilla & Montserrat Perez
9) Michelle De La Rosa & Sheryl Lotts
10) Erika Manilla & Rhonda Rajsich
?) Shane Diaz & Naomi Ros
?) Ana Laura Flores & Micaela Meneses
?) Angelica Barrios & Jenny Daza
?) Brenda Laime & Camila Rivero
?) Veronica Sotomayor & Maria Jose Vargas
IRT Doubles - Anticipated Seeding (unofficial)
1) Alvaro Beltran & Daniel De La Rosa
2) Alejandro Landa & Samuel Murray
3) Andree Parrilla & Eduardo Portillo
4) Javier Mar & Rodrigo Montoya
5) Sebastian Franco & Eduardo Garay
6) Kadim Carrasco & Carlos Keller
7) Conrrado Moscoso & Roland Keller
8) Jake Bredenbeck & Sam Bredenbeck
9) Andres Acuña & Felipe Camacho
10) Sudsy Monchik & Kane Waselenchuk
11) Mario Mercado & Mauricio Zelada
12) Alan Natera & Charlie Pratt
13) David Horn & Adam Manilla
14) Edwin Galicia & Christian Wer
15) Maurice Miller & Troy Warigon
16) Javier Martinez & Juan Salvatierra
17) Set Cubillos & Erick Cuevas Fernandez
?) Sebastian Fernandez & Rodrigo Rodriguez
?) Julian Cruz & Geovani Mendoza
?) Juan Pablo Rodriguez & Erick Trujillo
?) Miguel Angel Arteaga Guzman & Rodrigo Mendoza
Note: "?" indicates at least one of the players either doesn't have doubles ranking currently on their respective tour or there was some inconsistency with a player's ranking.
Follow the bouncing ball…..
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