Friday, December 13, 2013

Top Four Seeds into Semi-finals at the IRT New Jersey Open

The New Jersey Open semi-finals will be 1 versus 4 and 2 versus 3, as Rocky Carson - the #1 player on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) will face #4 Jose Rojas in one semi-final in Warren, New Jersey, while #2 Kane Waselenchuk will face #3 Alvaro Beltran in the other.

And the four top seeds made short work of their respective opponents in the quarter finals, as all four of them won in three straight games.

Perhaps the most impressive display was by Waselenchuk, who brushed aside Tony Carson, 11-0, 11-3, 11-0, in 23 minutes. The third game had 15 rallies only a few of which were longer than three shots. Waselenchuk got up 6-0 on aces and third shot winners.

Maybe ironically, top seed Rocky Carson was the most troubled of the four in his match against Jansen Allen, which he won 11-6, 15-13, 11-2.

The turning point of that match was Carson pulling out the second game on his fifth game point opportunity. Allen had been up in that game, 5-1, but found himself down 10-7, yet battled back to tie it at 10-10 and then had the lead at 11-10. Allen served twice for the game, but unsuccessfully.

Carson won game two with a serve that he drove to the left side - Allen's backhand, which Allen couldn't return.

Like Waselenchuk's victory, Beltran's win over Daniel De La Rosa, 11-1, 11-3, 11-5, was also impressive. The first game went by in the blink of an eye, and Beltran led all the way in game two.

In game three, De La Rosa had a brief lead at 5-4, but Beltran didn't allow his young countryman any more points, as he closed out the game, 11-5, and match in three straight games.

It was the 3rd seeded Beltran's fifth victory over De La Rosa in the last five weeks.

Finally, 4th seed Jose Rojas also had a comfortable win over 5th seed Chris Crowther, who did not seem to be anywhere near the top of his game, as Rojas won 11-4, 11-3, 11-6.

The semi-finals from New Jersey can be viewed over the web via the IRT Network. Note that the final will be Saturday night at 7 PM EST.

2013 New Jersey Open
Warren, New Jersey

Quarter finals


Rocky Carson d. Jansen Allen, 11-6, 15-13, 11-2
Jose Rojas d. Chris Crowther, 11-4, 11-3, 11-6

Alvaro Beltran d. Daniel De La Rosa, 11-1, 11-3, 11-5
Kane Waselenchuk d. Tony Carson, 11-0, 11-3, 11-0

Semi-finals - Saturday

Rocky Carson v. Jose Rojas - 11 AM EST
Kane Waselenchuk v. Alvaro Beltran - Noon EST

Follow the bouncing ball….

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