Top 2 seeds into semi-finals at 35th Annual KWM Gutterman IRT Shamrock Shootout

The top two seeds are through to the semi-finals at the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) 35th Annual KWM Gutterman Shamrock Shootout in Lombard, Illinois, but the 3rd and 4th seeds lost. Kane Waselenchuk, the IRT’s #1 player, defeated 8th seed Eduardo Portillo, 15-6, 15-7, and IRT #2 Alejandro Landa beat 7th seed Samuel Murray, 15-6, 15-9.

But 6th seed Daniel De La Rosa upset 3rd seed Rocky Carson, 15-5, 15-5, and 5th seed Andree Parrilla came back from a game down to defeat 4th seed Alvaro Beltran, 6-15, 15-12, 11-4.

Both Waselenchuk and Landa had streaks of good play that helped them to victory. Waselenchuk started slowly in game one, as Portillo was up 4-1. However, Waselenchuk won 21 of the next 23 points, as he went from down 1-4 to win game one 15-6 and then take a 7-0 lead in game two.

After Portillo got a few points in game two, Waselenchuk then went up 13-3. Portillo kept fighting and it took several rallies for Waselenchuk to finish off the game, 15-7.

Landa began his match on fire, as he took a 9-0 lead. From there they were even, as Landa won 15-6. In game two, he and Murray were close early with Murray holding slight leads at 5-3 and 7-5.

There were 9 sideouts with Murray ahead 7-5. Landa broke the stalemate with a forehand winner to make it 7-6, and he tied it with another forehand winner, 7-7. An ace serve from Murray got him back in the lead, 8-7, but Landa got the serve back with another forehand winner that went cross court.

With the serve, he put together a streak of six points to go from 7-8 down to 13-8 up, which put the writing on the wall. Murray got a final point with another ace serve - driving the ball to the left, making it 13-9, but Landa won the next three rallies with forehand shots, the last being a reverse pinch that won him the game, 15-9, and the match in two straight games.

Shamrock Shootout action 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 5:30 and 6:30 PM, and the final will be 1 PM Sunday. The doubles semi-finals are Saturday afternoon at 1 and 2 PM and the final Saturday night at 8:30 PM. All times Central.

2020 35th Annual IRT KWM Gutterman Shamrock Shootout, March 12-15, 2020
Lombard, Illinois

Quarterfinals - Saturday

1) Kane Waselenchuk d. 8) Eduardo Portillo, 15-6, 15-7
5) Andree Parrilla d. 4) Alvaro Beltran, 6-15, 15-12, 11-4

6) Daniel De La Rosa d. 3) Rocky Carson, 15-5, 15-5
2) Alejandro Landa d. 7) Samuel Murray, 15-6, 15-9

Semi-finals - Saturday

1) Kane Waselenchuk v. 5) Andree Parrilla - 6:30 PM
2) Alejandro Landa v. 6) Daniel De La Rosa - 5:30 PM

IRT Doubles - Semi-finals - Saturday

1) Alvaro Beltran & Daniel De La Rosa d. 4) Andree Parrilla & Eduardo Portillo, 14-15, 15-8, 11-6
3) Javier Mar & Rodrigo Montoya d. 2) Alejandro Landa & Samuel Murray, 15-11, 15-4

IRT Doubles - Final - Saturday

1) Alvaro Beltran & Daniel De La Rosa v. 3) Javier Mar & Rodrigo Montoya - 8:30 PM

Follow the bouncing ball….