The WPH R48Pro V Stop #3 & Mardi Gras Open kicked off with an exciting Friday morning qualifier, featuring players from California, New York, Arizona, Texas, Wisconsin, Canada, Mexico and Ireland. Each of the top eight qualifier seeds advanced, with none of the challengers scoring more than 15 points in any of the eight qualifier final matches. Ryan Bowler and Memo Pallares officially qualified for the first time, defeating Billy O’Donnell and Dan Armijo, respectively.
Qualifiers:
- Carroll
- Cordova
- Iglesias
- Montijo
- Selestow
- Bernhard
- Bowler
- Pallares
The top eight qualifiers were “blind-drawn” into the main draw to face the top eight players on the Race 4 Eight tour on Friday afternoon, producing several fascinating match-ups.
R48 #3 Emmett Peixoto drew R48 rising star Killian Carroll in the opening round, unquestionably the most difficult match-up in the blind draw. Peixoto appeared to have solved the Carroll puzzle that had befuddled “The Rock” in their previous encounters, racing to a 15-0 first game romp. Carroll battled back in game two, escaping with a 15-13 victory to force a decider. Peixoto led 13-10 in the third frame, standing just two points from the match. A low-risk overhand left spike kill from 30-feet just missed, giving Carroll the serve. Carroll would score the final five points of the match and despite being outscored 41-20, advanced to play Mando Ortiz in the round of eight. Ortiz encountered little difficulty in defeating Colorado’s Jonathan Iglesias in two games. Paul Brady outlasted a cerebral Adam Bernhard in two games in his first match since winning the R48 V Stop #1 2015 Simple Green U.S. Open in October. Brady will face Daniel Cordova, who needed three games and nearly two hours to defeat Anthony Selestow. Sean Lenning needed just 14 minutes to defeat first-time qualifier Memo Pallares and will face Stephen Cooney, who defeated Ryan Bowler in two games.
Luis Cordova authored the biggest upset of the day and the biggest win of his R48 career, knocking off 9-time R48 champion and current R48 #3 Luis Moreno in two games. David Fink defeated Tucson’s Abraham Montijo in two games to setup a clash with Luis Cordova.
Quarterfinals:
Brady vs. D. Cordova
Fink vs. L. Cordova
Carroll vs. Ortiz
Lenning vs. Cooney
To watch all of Saturday’s quarterfinal and semifinal action live and the 5th and 9th place Playoffs, go to the Watch ESPN APP (here). Make sure you have an account with your cable company so you don’t miss a point!
To follow all of the news from the world of handball and the 2016 WPH R48Pro V Stop #3 & Mardi Gras Open, go to wphlive.tv. To follow the draws and results from the 2016 WPH R48Pro V Stop #3 & Mardi Gras Open, click here
