Jake Bredenbeck is into his 2nd career final on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT), as he defeated Mario Mercado, 15-9, 15-9, in the semi-finals of the 2022 IRT Golden State Open in Pleasanton, California on Saturday night. Earlier on Saturday, he beat Jaime Martell in the quarterfinals, 2-15, 15-3, 11-2.
Mercado had the big upset of the quarterfinals, as he knocked off the #2 seed Andree Parrilla, 15-12, 15-14.
In the final, Bredenbeck will face the most in form player on the IRT in Conrrado Moscoso, who won the US Open last weekend, and two months ago won the ()International Racquetball Federation (IRF) Men’s Singles World Championship for the first time. Despite that success Moscoso got to the final by the narrowest of margins, and had to comeback to do it. He eked out a win over Eduardo Portillo, 7-15, 15-13, 11-10, in what was a battle of the two most recent winners on the IRT.
Portillo controlled game one, and although they were close in game two, Moscoso led for most of it, eventually winning it to force a tie-breaker. In the breaker, Portillo went up 5-2, and Moscoso came back and tied it 5-5.
Yet Portillo again went ahead at 7-5, and although Moscoso tied it at 7-7 with a drive serve ace to the left side, Portillo got to 10 first with a 10-7 lead.
Moscoso staved off Portillo’s first match point with a backhand kill shot, and then serves up an ace drive serve to the left side to make it 10-8. Portillo got the serve back with a backhand pinch shot winner, as Moscoso went for another ace. With the serve secured and ahead of his second match point, Portillo called a timeout.
Often the player who calls a timeout wins the first rally coming out of the timeout. But that didn't happen this time, as when play resumed Moscoso got the serve back with a backhand cross court return of Portillo’s drive serve to the left. He got within one at 10-9 by making a forehand rekill, and then Moscoso tied it at 10-10 with a forehand pinch shot.
That gave Moscoso his first match point, and he didn’t need a second, as he ended the rally with a forehand winner down the line that was well out of Portillo’s reach.
Portillo failed to reach the singles final, but he will be in the doubles final Sunday, as he and Andrés Acuña - the 4th seeds - upset top seeds Javier Mar and Rodrigo Montoya, 15-12, 15-1, in the doubles semi-finals. They’ll play 2nd seeds Samuel Murray and Andree Parrilla in the final, as Murray and Parrilla held on to defeat 6th seeds Sebastian Fernandez and Adam Manilla, 15-8, 13-15, 11-10. Murray and Parrilla were down 10-5 in the breaker, but won six consecutive rallies to squeak out the breaker, 11-10.
You can see the 2022 IRT Golden State Open finals via the usual IRT media outlets: The IRT YouTube channel or the IRT Facebook page. The singles final will be Sunday at 11:30 AM with the doubles final to follow at at 12:15 PM. All times Pacific.
2022 IRT Golden State Open, October 6-9, 2022
Pleasanton, California
Quarterfinals - Saturday
1) Conrrado Moscoso d. 8) Adam Manilla, 15-11, 15-5
4) Eduardo Portillo d. Diego Garcia, 15-2, 15-5
6) Jake Bredenbeck d. Jaime Martell, 2-15, 15-3, 11-2
7) Mario Mercado d. 2) Andree Parrilla, 15-13, 15-14
Semi-finals - Saturday
1) Conrrado Moscoso d. 4) Eduardo Portillo, 7-15, 15-13, 11-10
6) Jake Bredenbeck d. 7) Mario Mercado, 15-9, 15-9
Final - Sunday
1) Conrrado Moscoso v. 6) Jake Bredenbeck - 11:30 AM
Doubles - Semi-finals - Saturday
4) Andrés Acuña & Eduardo Portillo d. 1) Javier Mar & Rodrigo Montoya, 15-12, 15-1
2) Samuel Murray & Andree Parrilla d. 6) Sebastian Fernandez & Adam Manilla, 15-8, 13-15, 11-10
Doubles - Final - Sunday
2) Samuel Murray & Andree Parrilla v. 4) Andrés Acuña & Eduardo Portillo - 12:15 PM
Follow the bouncing ball….
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment