IRT 45th Annual Lewis Drug Pro-Am Recap

The IRT was back on the stage at the 45th Annual Lewis Drug IRT Pro/Am. This is the longest running tournament in the United States and an amazing tradition in South Dakota, held at the Sioux Falls Family YMCA.

As always, we want to thank those who make it happen: Mark Gibbs, Mark Griffin, the Pablo Fajre and his technical team, broadcasters Richard Eisemann and Carrie Wegener Reitmeier, and the new IRT management and staff. This was the first tournament for the IRT’s new leadership group, which took over management of the tour on January 1. IRT Vice President Adam Manilla said that transitioning into a new era of IRT leadership was made a bit simpler by having a legacy tournament first up on the schedule.

This was the also the first IRT tournament of 2025. And, after the holiday break, most of the top pros were healthy and ready to get back in the action, with the exception of Sam Murray. IRT No.4 Conrrado Moscoso marked his return to competition after undergoing shoulder surgery in early October 2024.

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Kane Waselenchuk

– Doubles: Conrrado Moscoso & Kadim Carrasco

Kane wins his 3rd tournament in succession; 15 matches in a row since a loss to Jordy Alonso last May. He extends his own record of being the oldest player to win a Tier 1 event on tour. Lastly, he drastically increases his lead atop the tour rankings, and now owns nearly double the points to just the #2 player on tour. Kane continues to be unstoppable.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=46712

Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw:

In the 64s:

Guillermo Jesus Ortega survived a solid match from former tour regular Alejandro Herrera Azcarate. Tour veterans Bobby Horn and Sebastian Franco both had winning results in their return to the tour after so long away.

International Racquetball Tour

Notable matches from the 32s:

#17 Diego Gastelum cruised past #16 Robby Collins in the 16/17 match; If Erick Trujillo is in the top 10, then Gastelum should eventually be as well.

#9 Jake Bredenbeck had probably the hardest round of 32, having to stare down Argentine Diego Garcia to move on with a 15-9, 15-9 win.

Sam Bredenbeck , back on tour after months away, cruised past #13 Carlos Ramirez 15-3, 15-5 in an upset by seed but probably not by talent.

#3 Adam Manilla was the unlucky recipient of seeing Sebastian Franco for his round of 32, but worked his way past the long-time top 10 Colombian to advance.

#15 Eduardo Portillo took out #18 Kadim Carrasco in a far-too-early match for the former top 6 player, who has seen his ranking dip as he spent much of 2024 missing events to work on his career.

#2 Rodrigo Montoya defeated his old WRT rival David ” Bobby” Horn in two to end Horn’s comeback early.

International Racquetball Tour

In the 16s:

Five of the top eight seeds fell in this round, as the latter part of the draw was littered with opportunistic double digit seeds.

– In the 8/9 match, which Alan Natera has dominated lately, #9 Jake Bredenbeck easily beat the Chilean 15-7, 15-1 to move into the quarters.

Jordy Alonso got a win-by-default walkover against Andree Parrilla.

Javier Mar upset #3 Manilla in a tie-breaker.

#10 Jaime Martell Neri got a well-played win over #7 Erick Trujillo to move into the quarters.

In the biggest upset of the night, #15 Portillo beat #2 Montoya 15-6, 15-4 to move into the quarters. Nobody likes to see a top-6 player in the 16s, but all credit to Lalo Portillo here controlling Montoya’s power game. He wasn’t done yet either…

In the Quarters

#1 Waselenchuk dominated Jake Bredenbeck, who is one of the few players on tour with a head to head win over Waselenchuk, 15-3, 15-8 to advance.

#4 Moscoso survived the first real test of his comeback from arm injury, and he did so in solid fashion. After falling down early in the first against Alonso, he ran the table to close out game one and then jump to a big lead in game two. Jordy clawed his way back to 10, but the Bolivian advances to setup the dream matchup in the semis 15-7, 15-10.

After his big 16s win, Mar couldn’t continue his run and fell to the rising Costa Rican Andres Acuna in three. Acuna makes his way into another semifinal and has solidified his spot deep in the top 8.

Portillo cruised past Martell 15-2, 15-10 with his sights on the final.

In the Semis

Waselenchuk and Moscoso played an interesting, back and forth match that highlighted a salient fact: the top players on tour can beat Kane…but they have to play three perfect games to do so. Moscoso played one perfect game, game 2, wining 15-10, but it wasn’t enough. After splitting the first two games, Kane stayed consistent while Moscoso floundered and Kane wins 11-6 in the tiebreaker.

In the other semifinal, Portillo and Acuna played a tactical close match, with Portillo advancing 15-11, 15-14 to setup a final few would have predicted.

In the final, Waselenchuk put his USA Racquetball Ranking on the line (Kane’s #1 there, but Portillo has a head-to-head win over him, and a defeat would immediately put Portillo top, but the result was as may expected. Waselenchuk won 15-5, 15-8 and Portillo wasn’t ever really in danger of an upset.

Doubles Review

Moscoso wins just his third career Pro doubles title, his first with Carrasco, with a well-played 15-11, 13-15, 11-9 tiebreaker win over the top seeds Montoya/Mar.