Iwaasa Takes De La Rosa to Tiebreaker at IRT Event March 12 - 15
This past weekend, Coby Iwaasa travelled to Lombard, Illinois to play in the 30th Annual IRT Tier 1 Pro Stop. There were over 200 players competing and 33 of them in the Men's IRT Singles Pro Division. The top men's racquetball players in the world competed for the championship title. 2 players from Canada: Tim Landeryou from Saskatchewan and Coby Iwaasa from Alberta were there.
In the round of 32, Coby easily defeated Keith Minor from Illinois in 3 games straight: 11-2,11-2,11-5 which would set up a much anticipated showdown with the #4 player in the world, Daniel De La Rosa. Coby is described as the young gun of the new generation of young pro racquetball players and had previously played against De La Rosa in the Texas IRT Pro Stop in September last year and losing in a thrilling 5 game tiebreaker.
De La Rosa is top young player from Mexico who broke into the IRT in 2008 and is arguably Mexico's best player. This year De La Rosa won his first Pro IRT title by defeating fellow countryman Alvaro Beltran in the finals and Rocky Carson in the semi finals. De La Rosa is a formidable opponent and on his way to being #1 in the world.
Coby Iwaasa's match up with De La Rosa was speculated as being an easy win for De La Rosa but Iwaasa would show that nobody should count him out. In game 1, Coby came out with powerful drive serves that De La Rosa was unable to handle allowing for easy set ups and put aways for Coby. De La Rosa could not get on track and lost the 1st game 6-11. The second game saw De La Rosa pull his game together and win 11-7. In the third game, Coby came alive again with his drive serves and a well planned time out to finish the game at 11-4. In game four, the battle continued with some unbelievable rallys by both players and some controverial calls resulting in a win for De La Rosa, 11-6. In the tie breaker game, Coby made some errors in his shot selection and with confidence waning, was unable to execute his best skills and losing 11-1.
There are no doubts that Coby can challenge the top players in the world but can he win those tough matches? That is what he and his coaches are working on to help him prepare for the next big tournament and Pan Am Games.