Two major upsets in the in the Round of 16 at the Coast to Coast California Open in Reseda, California, as Alex Landa defeated the International Racquetball Tour's (IRT's) #4 player Jose Rojas, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8, and Daniel De La Rosa beat #5 Chris Crowther, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-3.
Moreover, Landa and De La Rosa will play each other in the quarter finals with the winner advancing to the semi-finals, and that will be the first career semi-final for each player.
Earlier Marco Rojas surprised IRT #1, Kane Waselenchuk, by winning the first game of their match, 11-5. Indeed, Rojas stormed out to a 8-0 lead before Waselenchuk got on the board.
But in the end Waselenchuk showed why he's the #1 player by limiting Rojas to six points over the next three games, and winning the match 5-11, 11-3, 11-0, 11-4. Waselenchuk was playing his first competitive match in about two months as he missed the New Jersey Open last month, so perhaps he was just a little off at the beginning of the match. But Rojas played well, including hitting some drive serve aces to Waselenchuk's backhand.
IRT #2 Rocky Carson won his match with relative ease, as he defeated Jansen Allen in three straight games, 11-3, 11-8, 11-5. Carson will play Tony Carson - no relation - in the quarter finals later on Friday, as T. Carson defeated Anthony Herrera, 11-9, 8-11, 11-2, 11-5, in the 16s.
But #3 Alvaro Betlran had his hands full with fellow Mexican Polo Gutierrez, as Gutierrez took the first two games from Beltran 11-1, 11-4. But Beltran cranked up his drive serve and responded with two wins of his own 11-6, and 11-2 to force a tie-breaker.
In that tie-breaker, Beltran went out to a lead at 4-0. Gutierrez held firm there for a few rallies, and they exchanged points to make it 5-1, when Beltran broke through to take a 10-1 advantage. But Gutierrez didn't roll over and got a few points to make it 10-5. Beltran won it on the 6th match point by drive serving left, which Gutierrez returned to the right and Beltran laid out to hit a pinch that rolled out of the front right corner to make the final score 11-5.
The Round of 16 continues in Reseda, California, and the IRT Network is web-casting California Open matches throughout the tournament. The first quarter final match will be at 4 PM PST.
2013 California Open - Reseda, California
Round of 16
Kane Waselenchuk d. Marco Rojas, 5-11, 11-3, 11-0, 11-4
Javier Moreno d. Andy Hawthorne, 11-4, 9-11, 4-11, 11-6, 11-9
Daniel De La Rosa d. Chris Crowther, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-3
Alex Landa d. Jose Rojas, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8
Alvaro Beltran d. Polo Gutierrez, 4-11, 1-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-5
Ben Croft d. Brad Schopieray, 11-6, 11-5, 12-10
Tony Carson d. Anthony Herrera, 11-9, 8-11, 11-2, 11-5
Rocky Carson d. Jansen Allen, 11-3, 11-8, 11-5
Quarter-finals
Kane Waselenchuk v. Javier Moreno
Alex Landa v. Daniel De La Rosa
Alvaro Beltran v. Ben Croft
Rocky Carson v. Tony Carson
Follow the bouncing ball....
No comments:
Post a Comment