Saturday - UnitedHealthcare US OPEN Racquetball Championships

The Daily Racquet
OCTOBER 10th, 2015
Established 1996
Volume 20, Issue 3
Silent Auction for
Children’s Charities
Bidding ends at 5:00 p.m.
Ticket Session #7
LPRT Semifinal #1
IRT Semifinal #1
LIFE TIME FITNESS Target Center
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Ticket Session #8
LPRT Semifinal #2
IRT Semifinal #2
LIFE TIME FITNESS Target Center
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
KANE
VS
Men’s Professional Semifinal #1
11:00 A.M. - Stadium Court
Kane Waselenchuk vs. Alvaro Beltran
Women’s Pro Semifinal #1
10:00 A.M. - Stadium Court
Rhonda Rajsich vs. Maria Vargas
The first men’s semifinal of the day is a
rematch of last year’s Championship Final where
Kane won in a three game sweep. Kane and
Alvaro both regularly started playing on the IRT
in 2000 and have faced each other many times.
Waselenchuk is 38-4 all-time against Beltran,
including a 12-0 record in the last three seasons.
Alvaro has played a bunch of racquetball
this week including a pair of five gamers, a
tiebreaker in doubles and trio of close games in
the quarterfinals. Can the Mexican’s legs recover
enough to give the Canadian a run? Possible,
but not likely. King Kane moves on in his march
for US OPEN Title #11.
Rhonda and Maria met in this same spot at
last year’s US OPEN and have been regular semifinal
opponents on the LPRT the last couple years in their
quest to knock off Paola.
Rajsich cruised in her quarterfinal match
against a highly competitive Samantha Salas Solis.
Meanwhile Vargas bounced back from a racquet to
the head on Thursday to defeat Michelle Key in four
games yesterday.
Maria has had Rhonda’s number recently,
but Rajsich has had a calm and ‘under the radar’
demeanor all week. Could that mean she can sneak
up and take Maria to the brink? Remember, Rhonda
is a four-time US OPEN Champ after all.
Prediction: Kane in Three
Prediction: Maria in Four
The Pourhouse
S 5th St & Hennepin
2 Blocks East from the
Target Center
9:00 p.m
Men’s Professional Semifinal #2
2:00 P.M. - Stadium Court
Rocky Carson vs. Daniel De La Rosa
Women’s Professional Semifinal #2
1:00 P.M. - Stadium Court
Paola Longoria vs. Veronica Sotomayor
Daniel has cruised through his first three
matches this week, giving up less than four points
per game on average. Rocky has also reached the
semifinals with relative ease.
Daniel is labeled as the ‘heir apparent’ to the
top spot on the IRT and the stats back up that praise
to a point. Of any player not named Kane, Daniel has
defeated Rocky the most over the past three years.
Granted those four losses for Carson come against
seven wins, but if there is going to be an upset today
this match provides the best odds.
De La Rosa is just 22-years-old. Do the math
to Carson’s age there is a difference of 14 years. Will
that also be a difference on the court today?
Seeded No. 12, Veronica crashes the semifinal
party as the outsider with wins this week over LPRT
No. 5 Cristina Amaya and No. 4 Frederique Lambert.
Sotomayor is no stranger to the grand stage though,
having reached the UnitedHealthcare US OPEN
semifinals in 2012. She is also a US OPEN Champion
by winning the inaugural Women’s Pro Doubles
Championship.
Her partner in the doubles title last year here
in Minneapolis? The No. 1 ranked player in the world
and best female racquetball player of all time: Paola
Longoria.
Veronica looks primed to crack back into the
LPRT Top 8 this season, but today Paola wins easily.
Prediction: Rocky in Five
Prediction: Paola in Three
DRESS TO IMPRESS!
US OPEN
MEDIA TEAM
Jeff Oliver
Co-Media Manager
Leo Vasquez
Co-Media Manager
Freddy Ramirez
Photographer
Roby Partovich
Photographer
If you have a great story,
idea or thought, please feel
free to contact us...
E-Mail:
[email protected]
VS
PAOLA
PARTY WITH THE
PROS
ROCKY
VERONICA
DANIEL
Ticket Session #9
Men’s & Women’s
Pro Doubles Finals
LIFE TIME FITNESS Target Center
4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
VS
MARIA
USAR Amateur
Matches
LIFE TIME FITNESS All Locations
8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
ALVARO
In Play Saturday...
October 10, 2015
RHONDA
SUPER SATURDAY
VS
Established 1996
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10th, 2015
Volume 20, Issue 3
John Scott, the Voice of the IRT and
New York’s Meredith Gilbert
A huge thanks to Dee and Sal Perconti for
organizing this year’s Silent Auction
Ecuador’s Veronica Sotomayor has reached
her second career US OPEN semifinal
Hank Marcus with friends, including a very
smart baseball fan... Go Cardinals!
4-Time US OPEN Champion Rhonda Rajsich
jumped her way into another semifinal
Jose Diaz and Jake Bredenbeck take
questions from the media after their win
BEN
VS
JOSE
JAKE
KANE
PRO DOUBLES FINALS
SILENT AUCTION BENEFITING
CHILDREN’S CHARITIES
Bids for this year’s Silent Auction, benefiting
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and
Rapha House, must be placed by 5:00 p.m.
today at www.auctionsusopen.com.
Great deals on vacation stays in the Grand
Cayman Islands, Sun Valley and the Bahamas
are available! Also be sure to take a peek at
all the racquets signed by the top pros.
Men’s Professional Doubles Final
5:00 P.M. - Stadium Court
Kane Waselenchuk & Ben Croft vs.
Jake Bredenbeck & Jose Diaz
Jake is a Minnesota native, hailing from St. Croix and played collegiate Tell your friends back home about the auction
racqeutball at the powerhouse program at Colorado State University - Pueblo. too! They can place bids on all the items even
Jose is a member of the ‘209’ crew (a.k.a. he is from Stockton, Calif.) and currently though they aren’t in Minneapolis.
attends the University of the Pacific. Both Jake and Jose were members of the US
National Team for the 2015 Pan American Championships contested last April in
the Dominican Republic.
Kane and Ben are looking to become repeat Men’s Pro Doubles champs.
SAMANTHA
Women’s Professional Doubles Final
4:00 P.M. - Stadium Court
Paola Longoria & Samantha Solis Salas vs.
Alexandra Herrera & Monserrat Mejia
MONSERRAT
VS
ALEXANDRA
PAOLA
auctionusopen.com
Paola and Samantha have paired to become women’s racquetball most
dominant duo. In international competitions they have won two Pan American
Games and three World Championships. Solis Salas sat out last year’s US OPEN
while Paola won the event’s first ever Women’s Pro Doubles division.
The favorites will face off against a pair of youngsters also from Mexico.
Alexandra is 20-years-old while Monserrat is just 15-years-old!
MEDAL PICK-UP
Medals will ONLY be available
for pick-up at
LIFE TIME FITNESS - TARGET CENTER.
This includes divisions won at the
MAC, St. Louis Park and Moore Lake
clubs.
You may pick up your medals starting
at 2:00 p.m. at the USAR Booth in the
Player’s Village
CONGRATULATIONS!