Daniel De La Rosa a 3-time pro winner on the weekend. Photo via GameChangerPhoto/Mike Augustin

Congrats to the winners on the weekend:

Men’s 3-wall Pro Singles: Nick Montalbano

Women’s 3-wall Pro Singles: Rhonda Rajsich

Men’s Pro Doubles 3-wall: De la Rosa/Beltran

Women’s Pro Doubles 3-wall: De la Rosa/Munoz

Mixed Pro Doubles 3-wall: De la Rosa/De la Rosa

Men’s Pro Doubles 1-wall: Rolon/Sostre

Women’s Pro Doubles 1-wall: Maldonado/Stephen

Mixed Pro Doubles 1-wall: Montalbano/Munoz

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=30648

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As you can see from the winner’s list, a fantastic weekend for, in particular, Daniel De La Rosa, who takes home three pro titles (plus a fourth Combined 75+ title with Mike Peters). Its always a good weekend when you don’t lose. Also congrats to Nick Montalbano, Michelle De La Rosa and Carla Munoz, each of whom took home two pro titles.

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Quick review of the 8 draws (the Match report for the event out of the PRS database is the rball.pro URL listed in each case)

Men’s 3-wall Pro Singles: http://rball.pro/E09A46

Relative Outdoor newcomer Andres Acuña proved himself to be a quick study, defeating 2018 outdoor national champ Luis R Avila in the quarters then dominating outdoor legend William Rolon in the semis to make the final from the bottom half. Defending champ and #1 seed Nick Montalbano took out Virginia-based Thomas Gerhardt in the semis of the top half to return to the one-wall final.

In the final, Montalbano split the first two games against Acuna, who was playing just his second outdoor tournament ever and acquitted himself pretty well. In the tiebreaker though, the experience of Montalbano wore down Acuna and he defended his Vegas title from 2018.

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Women’s 3 wall Pro Singles: http://rball.pro/F95463

Ceci Orozco upset two higher seeds in tiebreakers to make the singles final from the bottom half, defeating outdoor specialist Michelle Herbert in the quarters then LPRT vet Adriana Riveros in the semis. Rhonda Rajsich was taken deep into a tiebreaker to oust former LPRT top-4 player Jessica Parrilla in the top half.

In the final, Rajsich dominated Pratt to take the singles Vegas title 1,2. This is Rhonda’s first ever Vegas singles title, and her first WOR singles title in any major since 2015.

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Men’s Pro Doubles 3-wall: http://rball.pro/082B26

Huge upset right out of the gate in the bottom half, as the #2 seed of Rick Koll and Emmett Coe was upset 11-10 by the team of IRT veteran Charlie Pratt and Vegas resident Thomas Moore. Pratt/Moore then went out 11-10 themselves to outdoor legend Greg Solis and Joe Young. This opened the door for the #3 seeded team of Robert Sostre and Chris McDonald to get to the final. There, they met the #1 seeded Daniel De La Rosa and Alvaro Beltran, who cruised past two talented teams to get to the final.

In the final, Sostre/McDonald saved match point in the 2nd to force a tie-breaker, but DLR/Beltran ran away with it to win the title 11-3 in the breaker. The Mexican duo repeat as champs here and take their 3rd major WOR doubles title in the last two years.

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Women’s Pro Doubles 3-wall: http://rball.pro/57847B

Seeds held to the final, setting up the anticipated rematch of last year’s 11-10 final between the #1 seeds Rajsich and Michelle Herbert versus #2 Michelle De La Rosa and Carla Muñoz Montesinos.

In the final, another tiebreaker and another tough match, but t his time mDLR/Munoz came out on top. Final score 13,(10),6. They win their 3rd major outdoor title in the past two seasons.

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Mixed Pro Doubles 3-wall: http://rball.pro/2D1CE5

The draw was completely chalk to the final, with #1 seeds/defending champs Koll and Rajsich ousting #4 seeded Jacqueline Paraiso-Larsson and Coe in the top half semi, while #2 seeded husband/wife De La Rosa pairing took out #3 Sostre/Munoz pairing in the bottom semi.

In the final, the DLRs turned the tide from last year’s final and swept to a 4,12 win over Koll and Rajsich.

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Men’s Pro Doubles 1-wall: http://rball.pro/144D5C

The #1 seeds and one-wall specialists Sostre/Rolon cruised into the final by virtue of a walk-over and a dominant semis win. There, they met the #6 seeded team of Floridians Jeffrey Palmer and Garry Smith who upset the 3rd seeds in the quarters then took out the 7th seeds in the semi.

In the final, the New York duo won a solid match over the upset minded Florida pairing, taking the title 11,13.

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Women’s Pro Doubles 1-wall: http://rball.pro/E03013

This was the first event competed, and was done in a flash Thursday afternoon. All three RR matches were played and the first champion was awarded on the tourney’s first day.

The Brooklyn-based duo of Anita Maldonado and Susan Stephen took out the top seeded team of Munoz and Michelle Herbert to take the title.

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Mixed Pro Doubles 1-wall: http://rball.pro/673E67

Seeds held to the final, but not without some drama. #1 Seeds Koll/Rajsich got dominated in game one of their semi and had to save match point against before advancing in a tiebreaker over Coe and Katharine Neils. In the bottom half, #2 Montalbano & Munoz got stretched to a tiebreaker by Young/Stephen but blanked the #6 seeds 11-0 to move onto the final.

In the final, Montalbano & Munoz blitzed to the title, beating the #1 seeds 7,2 to take the title.

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Congrats to all who competed; it looked like a great event and great weather from all the streaming.

Next up! The big one. The UnitedHealthcare US OPEN Racquetball Championships. I cannot be in attendance this year, but hope to do more than just a preview and wrap-up of this huge event. I hope to do daily posts to review the qualifying and the rounds as they happen. The draws look amazing; more than 90 men and 40 women entered into the pro draws. Awesome!

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WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball

USA Racquetball

International Racquetball Tour

LPRT

International Racquetball Federation

Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol

Federación Costarricense de Racquetball

Federación Chilena Racquetball

Fecoracquet Fecoracquet