KANE-ADIAN IS NUMBER 1

KANE-ADIAN IS NUMBER 1

Kane Waselenchuk, of Edmonton, Alberta, is now the number 1 racquetball player in the world. He earned the title by defeating Jack Huczek (Michigan, USA), 11-4, 9-11, 11-4, 11-8, in the final of the Dallas Open Racquetball Championship, which was the last tournament of the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) season.

Waselenchuk is the first Canadian, or indeed non-US player, to be number 1. He was briefly number 1 earlier in the season, after winning the US Open tournament, but Huczek regained the number 1 ranking when Waselenchuk forfeited out of a tournament due to injury and then missed the next two tournaments after that.

Waselenchuk, who now resides in Austin, Texas, won 6 IRT tournaments this season: New Orleans, the first tournament of the season, Chicago and Memphis, two of the biggest IRT tournaments, as well as Boston and Las Vegas, which were the two tournaments prior to Dallas.

This was Waselenchuk's third consecutive IRT tournament victory. In the last three tournaments, his games won and lost record was 36 and 5. Waselenchuk only lost one game in each of the last two tournaments. IRT matches are best of 5 games.

To reach the finals in Dallas, Waselenchuk beat Mike Dennison (Colorado, USA) in the round of 16, 11-3, 11-0, 11-6, Shane Vanderson (Ohio, USA) in the quarter finals, 11-1, 11-9, 11-6, and Mexican Alvaro Beltran, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8, in the semi finals.

Fellow Canadian Mike Green (Hannon, Ontario) was the number 8 seed in Dallas. He beat Mike Guidry (USA) to reach the quarter finals, where he lost to Rocky Carson (California, USA), 12-10, 11-9, 11-1.

Green wanted to finish the season ranked in the top 8. The number 9 player, Sudsy Monchik also lost in the quarter finals in Dallas, so Green should remain at number 8 when the year end rankings are calculated.

Being in the top 8 is important, because the top 8 players automatically qualify for the main draw in an IRT tournament, and do not have to participate in qualifying matches.

CANADIAN RESULTS SUMMARY : SOMMAIRE DES RÉSULTATS CANADIENS