Alex Landa convincingly got by Daniel De La Rosa with his more seasoned play. De la Rosa seemed to still need to mature into his considerable game. This is another good showing at a major for Landa. He's playing solid ball and proves he can go attitude for attitude with anyone on the IRT.
Jose Rojas posted a statement after his loss to Landa match that read, "Hey guys, yesterday was a tough day for me here at the Open. First off, I just want to say congrats to Landa for playing a tough match against me and took me out. Just to give an update on what happened, my body couldn't take the stress of playing two tough matches back to back with 30 minute rest in between which. According to the event directors, somebody changed my first match time against Polo and didn't change my second match. This limited rest time in between these two grueling matches then caused my legs to cramp from game 2 on. That's why I was limping and unable to run like I did in game one. It's a bummer for me and very disappointed because I felt like I was at an unfair advantage and feel very unfortunate that this had to happen at the U.S. Open. I hate making excuses, but I just wanted to let my friends, family, and fans know what was wrong with me. Lastly, I want to thank my sponsors/supporters: ektelon, formula flow, cliff swain racquetball, and stockton pro racquetball academy. Looking on the bright side, I'm in the semi finals of the doubles and partnered with Daniel de la Rosa. Can't wait to play! Hope you guys tune in and watch. With that being said... Rojas out." - I originally listed it as a DNF in the 5th game, but our friends from the Racquetball Blog graciously informed me us that Rojas' severe cramping peeked on the last point. So no DNF. (And check them out for great play by play of all the big matches.)
In what turned out to be a 5 gamer, Rocky Carson withstood a Ben Croft that was playing seriously good. Rocky held off 6 match points to take game 3. Toward the end of that game, Ben went down really hard. After a short time on the ground, he game faced his way up and towards the back. He worked hard to hide that he was hurting, but he wasn't the same after game 3. Dispite Ben's clear disappointment, played incredible considering, but Rocky did Rocky and long ran the match to move into the Semis.
And doubles. The first Pro IRT doubles match had Jose and Daniel playing Rocky and Alvaro. The match was entertaining as all the players were displaying their personalities that grew into rallies that had the packed house loud and participating. You know it was serious fun when tournament director Doug Ganim was screaming stuff from the seats during the game.
In contrast, as I'm writing this, Kane and Ben are playing Chris Crowther and Landa in the last pro match of the evening and I can hear myself think.
On another note, anybody else noticing the flood of iPhone clips and pics on Social (Facebook) from the major Tours and groups? They could easily swap each other's names on any of them...