IRT at Longhorn Open

By Todd Boss and Karen Grisz
RACQUETBALL TOURNAMENT

The IRT kicked off the new year with a bang at the Longhorn Open the first week in January. We were so happy to be returning to UT-Austin and this iconic event. With 380 players, two clubs, and the #1 IRT ranking on the line, the excitement was palpable for pros and amateurs alike.

Big shout out to Soly Kor, all of the Longhorn’s sponsors, the IRT sponsors, and IRT commissioner Pablo Fajre and his technical team; with a special welcome to our newest partner, Gearbox. Longhorn was the first tournament for the IRT using the Gearbox black ball, and we look forward to working with Gearbox to support the tour players.

Going into the tournament, the IRT had seen a number of champions emerge through the fall, as we discussed in the last newsletter. Conrrado Moscoso, Daniel De La Rosa, and Andree Parrilla all had tour wins, and then Jake Bredenbeck won in Portland in December. This tournament really felt like it was up for grabs.

In the early rounds, the top under-21 international players made statements – Jose Carlos Ramos defeated #18 seed Erick Cuevas in the round of 64s, and former 18 and under champion Gerson Miranda beat veteran #17 seed Robby Collins (he lost in the next round to another 18 and under champion, Erick Trullio). Keep an eye on these kids!

In the round of 32s, Alan Natera had another great win (following a good showing in Portland), beating Sebastian Fernandez, staving off a match point and winning 11-9 in the tiebreaker.

Adam Manilla, who lost to Thomas Carter in the round of 16s in Portland, again couldn’t get past that round with a 11-10 tiebreaker loss to Rodrigo Montoya. Thomas Carter, after having made the quarterfinals in Portland, did so again with an impressive 15-13, 15-10 win over #5 Alex Landa. #10 seed Andres Acuna beat #7 seed Mario Mercado 15-7, 15-7. Lastly, for the third time in the last 10 months, Andree Parrilla was upset in the 16s as a #1 or #2 seed. This time, a repeat of what happened in Maryland last September, as #15 @Javier Mar flummoxed Andree with excellent serving tactics in games 2 and 3 to frustrate the #2 player and knock him out early.

In the Quarters, #1 Danield De La Rosa (DLR) went toe to toe with #8 Montoya, who last met in the final of the Dovetail Open in Sarasota. Game one was a tense tactical back and forth affair that looked for a while like a 15-14 game before DLR pulled away at 9-9 to win 15-9. Game two was anti-climactic, as DLR seemed to have solved the new ball and played with more patience and won going away. #4 Eduardo Portilla absolutely blasted surprise quarterfinalist Carter 1,4. – #3 Conrrado Moscoso won in two solid games against Jake Bredenbeck 11,10. #15 Javier Mar kept his tournament going, taking two close tactical games from the master tactician #10 Acuna 13,13.
The semifinals went according to seed with #1 De La Rosa beating Lalo Portillo 8,7, and – #3 Conrrado Moscoso beating #15 Mar 10,12, mounting a furious comeback in game two to do so.
In the Finals, we got the match that many people wanted to see. These two had met 5 times previously: twice internationally in 2015 (1-1), then three times professionally. Conrrado beat DLR at the 2019 US Open in the semis before losing the final to Kane; that was his real eye opening debut in the US. Then DLR beat him at the Lewis Drug a few months later, then they last faced off in the finals of the 2021 Denver event, another DLR win.
The fans were not disappointed. The two played a 40+ minute back and forth affair in game 1, with neither player backing down and little separating them. Moscoso made it to game point first but could not convert; DLR did, winning game one 15-14.
Game two featured DLR jumping ahead and threatening to run away with it, but Conrrado crawled back. Then Moscoso got the lead, and DLR clawed back. A couple of collisions and a couple of missed shots made the difference at the back end of game 2, as DLR pulled away and took the match 15-14, 15-12.
Doubles
After a few tiebreakers in the quarters and semis, the #1 doubles team in the world Montoya & Mar took the Doubles title over #2 Landa and Moscoso in two games. Montoya & Mar won their 5th pro doubles title together and strengthen their hold on #1.
See more, as always, at www.racquetballstats.com