Basque Pelota Updates (June 2016-April 2017); 2019-

This is a current awareness blog that links to the latest sources of information on Basque Pelota matches and Tournaments. It covers all of both North and South Basque modalities: Pro and amateur. It links to match stories, statistics and video highlights and/or full match videos. NEW!!! JAI ALAI LEAGUE (EREMAN!) WINTER SERIES--OCTOBER 2024--FEBRAURY 2025!!!

Monday, December 30, 2019

Jai Alai/Cesta Punta--Jai Alai World Tour, Banakako Txapelketa (Singles Championship)--COMPLETE RECAP OF THE JAWT SEASON, WITH FINAL PLAYER TABLE


Below you will find a known injury record, complete records for the Hossegor Masters Final, complete records for the Zumaia Masters, two independent matches, Ciudad San Sebastian and Gernika Open Urriko,  and the Singles Tournament that completed the 2019 the season--in reverse chronological order.

Below that are links to blog posts of all of the other JAWT Masters and Grand Slam Tournaments. Included are scores, selected statistics when available, match articles, analysis and full match videos. JAWT posts contain links to 23 full match videos.

Below that is a final player win-loss table for the entire season.

Below that are two links, one to all Iparralde Summer partido Tournaments (Gant d'Or, St. Jean de Luz and two independent tournaments, and one to all Fronton Mexico Tournaments. They link to the same kinds of  things that this post does.  They also link, in total, to 82 full match videos.

Feedback and/or corrections happily accepted.

INJURY REPORT:

September 20, 2019

Eric Irastorza: Irastorza, who has been out of action with a leg injury since mid-July, was unable to play in the Zumaia Master Semi-final on September 20. He was also unable to  play in the Ciudad San Sebastian match on October 26.

August 4, 2019

Imanol Lopez: Lopez suffered an arm injury early in the 1st set of the Lekeitio Masters Final on August 4. He had to leave for treatment but returned to finish the match. All of his throws from that point forward (except for 2 or 3 soft dejadas from deep in the back) were reverses. He is scheduled to play up to 5 matches the week of August 5-10, including 2 possible finals (Gant d'Or if he wins the semi-final 1st, and the Gernika Grand Slam). How many, if any, of those matches he is able to play remains to be seen. So far this summer, after winning the 2 Championships at Fronton Mexico, he is 9-0 in the Basque Country Summer Partidos, with 2 Championships.

Lopez missed his Semi-final Gant d'Or match on August 5. In an interview with Jai Alai News Facebook on August 7, he said that his arm was responding to treatment "incredibly" well and that he planned to play in the Gernika Grand Slam Final on Saturday, August 10. He is going to take the other matches he is scheduled to play "a day at a time", according to the article.


He played in the 1st Semi-Final of the St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta World Tour Master 4 on August 8 and lost in the tie breaker by the minimum, ending a 14 match winning streak. He played in a Hondarribia Grand Slam League match on August 9 and won in straight sets. He played in the Gernika Grand Slam and won--again in straight sets, running his new winning streak to 2 and 16 of the last 17. All this with an injured right arm that did not allow him to throw forehand until the Gernika match. In that match he used it sparingly but effectively (including one long low and slow cortada winner in the 2nd set). That he played at all was amazing. That he won 2 out of 3 was phenomenal.

He re-injured the arm in a Zumaia Masters Semi-final on September 27. He played in the last two matches of the season, splitting them.

July 28, 2019

Mikel Egiguren: For Egiguren the stress of having played 2 matches in 3 days (July 25 in the Cesta Punta World Tour Master 2 Final, and July 27 in the Jai Alai World Tour Gernika Grand Slam Liguilla match), along with the prospect of playing in the 1st Semi-Final of the CPWT Master 3 Tournament on July 30, led to his dropping out of the Leikeitio Masters Semi-final on July 28.

July 27, 2019

Txabi Inza: After playing twice in 3 days (July 23 and 25 in the Semi-final and Final of the CPWT Master 2 Tournament, Inza was unable to play in the 3rd Round Liguilla match of the Gernika Grand Slam. He was replaced by (Aimar) Aldazabal. I have found no information about the reason for his absence. Inza returned to play in the Final of the Gant d'Or Tournament at Biarritz on August 7. He won. 

July 26, 2019

Diego Beaskoetxea: Beaskoetxea was unable to play in his Hondarribia League match with Minvielle v Erik-Ekhi on June 26. According to the JAWT story (the same story for all matches), he decided to skip the June 26 Hondarribia Grand Slam League match in order to be more physically fit for the Gernika Grand Slam League match on July 27. (He was replaced by Ludovic Laduche. Beaskoetxea did play (and win) his League 3 Gernika match on July 27.

July 20, 2019

Nicolas Etcheto: Etcheto suffered an abdominal injury ("un pinchazo en la cintura") in warm-ups for his Round 2 Liguilla match in the Gernika Grand Slam. He played through it for one set but then could go no further. Etcheto returned to action on July 28 for his Lekeitio Masters Semi-final, partnering with Egiguren in a hard fought loss to (Jon) Zulaika-Lopez.

July 13, 2019

(Unai) Lekerika: Lekerika suffered a "cintura" (waist) injury in his July 13 opening Liguilla Group A match in the Gernika Grand Slam competition. He was unable to play in his Markina Masters semi-final match with Arbe v Erik (Mendizabal)-Irastorza on July 14. He was replaced by Ekhi. He returned to action, partnering with Goikoetxea on July 27 in their Gernika Grand Slam Liguilla match.

July 7, 2019

Jean Olharan: Olharan missed his Quarter final match in the Master Series Markina, still feeling the effects of the shoulder injury he played through in the Fronton Mexico in the Moises Cosio Gomez Copa Premier League Final on June 30. Olharan returned in the Gant d'Or Quarter-final on July 31. He was re-injured (back) in a Tournament at Mauleon on August 9. He missed Master 4. (Latest Source: Jai Alai News Facebook and Cesta Punta St. Jean Facebook). He played in the Zumaia Masters and at Gernika to close the season.

Ludovic Laduche: Laduche (who suffered a severe tendon injury in the April 26, 2019 FFPB (Federation Francais de Pelote Basque) Pro-Am Final. He missed the entire Fronton Mexico season and returned as a substitute for Olharan in the Master Series Markina on July 7. For more on Laduche's injury, including full match video of the match he was injured in, check the NEWS AND INJURY ARCHIVE OF THIS BLOG. Injuries are listed under obituaries and news items, in reverse chronological order. Modalities are mixed together.

JAWT Matches were played in sets, two to 15. Tie breaker to 5. 5 pasas (over serves) were allowed. After that any over serve was a fault. Any under serve was immediately penalized. 
(Banakako Txapelketa) Singles Championship--Mendibaren, Berriatua (1) (2) (December 13, 14, 20, 27)

The  final tournament of the 2019 season was a single elimination tournament with 2 play-in matches followed by 2 quarter-finals (against seeded in players), 2 semi-finals (against seeded in players) and a final.

The players: d=Delantero (front); z=zaguero (back)

Play-in: Etcheto (z); (Jokin) Arbe (d); Hormaetxea (d); Antxon (Alberdi) (d)

Quarter-finals: Seeded in: Aimar (Aldazabal) (z); Laduche (d)

Semi-finals: Seeded in: Olha (d); Lopez (z)

Tournament Preview (Jai Alai World Tour)
Tournament Preview (Jai Alai News Facebook, includes a list of finalists and winners for 1992, 1993, 1996, and 1998-2018)
Calendar, including a list of winners back to 2007) (.pdf format, 8p.)

Note: Source for all scores, unless otherwise specifically noted, is Jai Alai World Tour Resultados

FINAL

December 27

Match preview (Jai Alai News Facebook)
Match preview (Jai Alai World Tour)

(11-12, 12-10, 5-3) (28-25)

Judges: Benat Markuergiaga and Aitor Elkoro

Condensed linescores (EITB) (match winner always listed 1st)

Set 1:

0-1; 3-1; 3-2; 4-2; 4-5; 5-5; 5-7; 7-7; 7-9; 8-9; 8-10; 10-10; 10-11; 11-11; 11-12

6 equal scores

Set 2:

5-0; 5-3; 6-3; 6-4; 7-4; 7-7; 8-7; 8-8; 9-8; 9-9; 10-9; 10-10; 12-10

4 equal scores:

Tie breaker:

0-1; 1-1; 1-2; 2-2; 2-3; 3-3; (Aldazabal, in the front, waits for an easy kill shot opportunity, but slightly misjudges the speed of Lopez' return and drops the catch) 4-3; 5-3

Scoring (EITB): Lopez +19 -8; Aldazabal +17 -9

Total scoring for the match: +36 (.679) -17 (.321)

Balls in play (EITB data for the first 2 sets, my counts for the tie breaker): 252

Lopez 127 (105 on the bounce; 22 on the fly)
Aldazabal 125 (116 on the bounce; 9 on the fly)

Non-error %: .933

Time of the match: (EITB for the first two sets, my calculations for the tie breaker) 65:45 (no actual playing time available)
Average balls per point: 4.75
Average time per point: 1:14

Match article (Jai Alai News Facebook)
Match article (Jai Alai World Tour)

Imanol Lopez, nursing a quadriceps injury along with a right bicep that is still recovering from a serious injury suffered during the summer, found a way to make the big plays when he had to, and came from behind to defeat Aimar Aldazabal (the veteran front who played this entire season in the back) to win his 2nd Singles championship. But it was anything but easy. Aldazabal, a heavy "underdog", played superbly and twice came to within 2 points of a great upset. But he couldn't quite get over the top, and a simple error in the tie breaker (see above) finally did him in. The match was played on the 48 meter court at Berriatua, in my opinion a perfect length court for Cesta Punta singles matches. The long court at Dania Beach, Florida (where world class singles quiniela matches are held every performance) seems to me a little too long for singles, and the 38 meter court at Bizkaia (Bilbo (Bilbao)), where this tournament has been played in the recent past, seems a little too short. But here, back wall shots were a little easier to defend, which made for some great rebotes. In addition, both players showed great touch on their dejadas (drop shots), landing them from mid-court. 

The 13 equal scores in the match testify to its closeness and competitiveness. The biggest lead all night was the 5-0 lead Lopez carved out at the beginning of the 2nd set, a thunderous reply to his narrow defeat in the 1st. But Aldazabal was unflappable, and fought back with a 7-2 run to tie the score. There were 3 equal scores after that before Lopez took the last two points. Aldazabal was in control of the tie breaker until the unfortunate error. Lopez then quickly closed the proceedings with a perfect chic-chac on the first throw he had after the serve. 

Berriatua is Aldazabal's home town, so the large, appreciative crowd went home a little disappointed, no doubt. But they saw a great match, won by a great champion who always seems to "figure out a way," no matter what the obstacles. Lopez closed out a fantastic 6 months in which he won the Championship at Fronton Mexico, The Gernika Grand Slam, and this title, an impressive trifecta. In Mexico, Hegoalde (South Basque) and Ipparalde (North Basque), his overall record was 27-10 (not counting a loss in Mexico in a hastily arranged 15 point partido where he played in the front). He also had a 14 match winning streak during this period. At 35, he is still by far the best zaguero (back) in the world. Is he the best overall in the world? Perhaps, perhaps not. There is a puntista named Inaki Goikoetxea, who also won a "trifecta" (Gant d'Or, Cesta Punta Pro Tour SLAM, and the Fronton Mexico Championship). Let the debate begin :).

Match article (Jai Alai News Facebook)
Match article (Jai Alai World Tour)

Zagueros (backs), in matches against delanteros (fronts), were 4-1 in this competition. However, 2 of those wins were by Aldazabal.

Semi-finals

December 20

Match previews (Jai Alai World Tour)
Match previews (Jai Alai News Facebook)

Lopez (z) 2 Laduche (d) 0
(12-6, 12-5) (24-11)
(z 3-1; d 1-3)

(Aimar) Aldazabal (z) 2 Olha (d) 0
(12-8, 12-9) (24-17)
(z 2-1; d 1-2)

Match article for both matches (Jai Alai News Facebook)
Match article for both matches (Jai Alai World News)

+++++

Quarter-finals

Match previews (Jai Alai World Tour)

December 14

Laduche (d) 2 Arbe (d) 1
(7-12, 12-8, 5-1) (24-21)

(Aimar) Aldazabal (z) 2 Hormaetxea (d) 1
(12-10, 10-12, 5-4) (27-26)
(d 1-1; z 1-1)

Play-ins

December 13

Hormaetxea (d) 2 Antxon (d) 1
(12-6, 7-12, 5-2) (24-20)

Arbe (d) 2 Etcheto (z) 1
(12-6, 7-12, 5-3) (24-21)
(d 1-0; z 0-1)

Match article for all 4 matches (Jai Alai News Facebook)


+++++

October 28

Gernika Open Urriko (1) (2)

Full match videos for both matches (EITB--Arbe-Aldazabal v Olharan-Basque begins at 0:00, Beaskoetxea-Lopez v Goikoetxea-Inza begins at 1:05:47)

(Diego) Beaskoetxea-Lopez 2
Goikoetxea-Inza 0
(15-12, 15-11) (30-23)

Selected linescores (El Correo, Noticias de Alava, and Gernika Jai Alai via Jai Alai News Facebook) (match winners always listed 1st)

Set 1

4-7; 6-9; 11-11; 12-12; 15-12

Set 2

5-2; 8-4; 10-6; 11-6; 11-8; 13-8; 13-11; 15-11

Scoring: (Noticias de Alava and EITB)

Beaskoetxea +16(including 1 service ace) -2; Lopez +4 -5
Goikoetxea +13 -3; Inza +3 -7

Total Match Scoring: +36 (.679) -17 (.321)

Balls in Play: 404: Beaskoetxea 90; Lopez 115; Goikoetxea 107; Inza 92

Time of the Match: 73:48

Match article (Noticias de Alava)
Match article (El Correo)
Match article (Jai Alai News Facebook)

This was JAWT's final pairs match of the season and pitted the Iparralde (North Basque) double champions (Gant d'Or and Saint-Jean-de-Luz SLAM) against the Gernika Grand Slam champions. Beaskoetxea had a great match (as he also had in the Gernika GS Final on August 10 v Goikoetxea-(Unai) Lekerika), scoring over half his team's points. He scored about once every 5 1/2 times he threw the pelota (17.8% of his throws). Goikoetxea didn't exctly have a bad game (once every 8 throws--12.8%).

At the end of the match, Erik Mendizabal won the season's Best Front award (received by his father Jesus Mari--Erik was playing at Dania) and Lopez won the season's Best Back).

Opening Match

(Jokin) Arbe-(Aimar) Aldazabal 2
Olharan-T. Basque 0 
(15-14, 8-15, 3-2) (26-31)

Note: the tie breaker was played to 3.

Scoring: (EITB)

Arbe +10 -3; Aldazabal +4 -10
Olharan +13 -4; Basque +4 -8
Scoring adds to 26-30)

Total Match Scoring (56 of 57 points accounted for): +31 (.554) -25 (.446)

+++++

October 26

Open Ciudad de San Sebastian (1) (2)

Goikoetxea-Etcheto (substituting for Irastorza) 2
Egiguren-Lopez 0 (Jai Alai World Tour Resultados)
(15-12, 15-12) (30-24)

Selected linescore (winners always listed 1st)

Set 1 only:

1-0; 3-0; 8-8; 15-12

Opening Match

Laduche-Minvielle 2 Olha-Arkaitz 0
(I couldn't find any set scores)

Match article for the first match (MemorialElola Facebook). An interesting and quirky first person account. Read between the lines and it seems Lopez may have been looking forward to his Gernika match two days later.


+++++

Aitzuri, Zumaia (1) (2) (3) Masters

September 27

FINAL

Goikoetxea-T. Basque 2 Egiguren-Lopez 1 (EITB--match begins at 0:00)
(8-15, 15-13, 5-2) (28-30)

Scoring (EITB)

Goikoetxea +12 -4; T. Basque +4 -4
Egiguren +14 -6; Lopez +8 -6

Total Match Scoring: +38 (.633) -22 (.)367

Balls in Play: 431: Goikoetxea 103; T. Basque 111; Egiguren 106; Lopez 111

Time of the Match: 70:47

Lopez re-injured his arm in the 2nd set and had to play the rest of the match with only his backhand

Match preview (Diario Vasco)
Match preview (Jai Alai World Tour)
Match article (Jai Alive Facebook)
Match article (MemorialElola Facebook)

Note: On the video, after the Final there is a full match video (beginning at 1:26:13 of the Final of the Zumaia Youth Championship (amateur).

 (Cosme) K. Agirre-Izagirre (blue) 2  E. Agirre-Uranga (red) 0 
(12-8, 12-7 (24-15)

Keep an eye on Cosme. Before playing in this match, he played in a Quarter-final and Semi-final of the Masters (see below).

September 20

Semi-finals

Preview article, including explanation for Irastorza's absence (Jai Alive Facebook)

Full match video for both matches (EITB--Matches are listed in the order below)

Egiguren-Lopez (seeded in) 2
Olharan-Minvielle 0
(15-11, 15-11) (30-22)

Scoring: (EITB)

Egiguren +7 -5; Lopez +14 -3
Olharan +10 -5; Minvielle +4 -3
(Scoring adds to 29-22)

Total Match Scoring (51 of 52 points accounted for) +35 (.686) -16 (.314)

Balls in Play: 323: Egiguren 72; Lopez 93; Olharan 101; Minvielle 57

Time of the Match: 61:08

Goikoetxea-T. Basque (substituting for Irastorza) (seeded in) 2
Cosme (Agirre)-Etcheto 0
(15-4, 15-10) (30-14)

Scoring (EITB)

Goikoetxea +10 -4; T. Basque +10 -1
Cosme (Agirre) +7 -6; Etcheto +2 -3
(Scores add to 29-14)

Total Match Scoring: +29 (.674) -14 (.326)

Balls in Play: 291: Goikoetxea 74; T. Basque 79; Cosme (Agirre) 61; Etcheto 77

Time of the Match: 46:26

September 13

Quarter-final

Cosme (Agirre)-Etcheto 2 Laduche-T. Basque 0
(15-12, 15-12) (30-24) (Jai Alive Facebook)

Feature article on Cosme Agirre (Baleike.eus--Basque)

September 6

Quarter-Final

Olharan-Minvielle 2 (Jokin) Arbe-(Aimar) Aldazabal 1
(15-8, 11-15, 5-1) (31-24)

+++++++++

Grand Slam Hondarribia

August 30

FINAL

(15-13, 15-12) (30-25)

Scoring: (EITB)

Erik +19 -7; Ekhi +3 -2
Olha +11 -5; Etcheto +7 -3
(Scores add to 30-27)

Total Match Scoring (57 of 55 points accounted for): +40 (.702) -17 (.298) 

Balls in Play: 383: Erik 117; Ekhi 77; Olha 93; Etcheto 96

Time of the Match: 70:48

Jai Alive Facebook interviews with Christophe Olha and Erik Mendizabal

Match article (Jai Alai News Facebook)
Match article (Jai Alai World Tour)

3rd Place

Due to injuries to Egiguren and Lopez, their match for 3rd place with Goikoetxea-(Ibon) Aldazabal was canceled. Source: Jai Alai World Tour

==============================

Recaps: Full chronological coverage of all tournaments. These were done this way because Tournaments overlapped. 






==============================

Rankings explanation (see #8 and #9)

Cumulative record of JAWT players
Key: Player, match w-l, set w-l (5 pt. tie breaker worth .3) Tournaments won. FINAL (JULY 7-DECEMBER 27, 2019)--45 MATCHES

MM-Markina Masters; LM-Lekeitio Masters; GS-Gernika Grand Slam; HS-Hondarribia Grand Slam; ZM-Zumaia Masters; BT-Banakako Txapelketa (Singles Tournament--Berriatua)

Delanteros (front)

Diego (Beaskoetxea); 5-1; 9.3--3 GS
Goikoetxea; 8-5; 15.9--11.6 ZM

Erik (Mendizabal); 6-4; 13.3--6.6 MM; HS*

(Jokin) Arbe; 3-3; 6.6--6.6
(Jon) Zulaika; 3-3; 4.3--8 LM
Cosme (Agirre); 1-1; 2-2
Egiguren; 4-5; 9--9.3

Hormaetxea; 5-6; 9.6--12.6
Olha; 2-4; 3.3--9
Laduche; 2-4; 3.3--9
Olharan; 1-2; 2.3--4.3
(Xabier) Barandika; 1-4; 5--5.9
Antxon (Alberdi); 0-1; 1-1.3

*=Won Season's Best Front award.

Zagueros (back)

Irastorza; 2-0; 4--0; MM
Lopez; 12-3; 22.2--9.3; LM; GS*; BT
(Unai) Lekerika; 4-2; 7.6--5.3
Ibon (Aldazabal); 5-5; 11.3--8.9
Ekhi; 4-4; 10--6.6 HS
Minvielle; 3-3; 5.3--7
(Aimar) Aldazabal; 6-8; 11.6--15.9
Etcheto; 4-6; 9.3--10.6
T. Basque; 2-3; 4.3--6.3 ZM
Arkaitz; 0-1; 0-2
Salegi; 0-2; 0--4
Inza; 0-3; 0--6

*=Won Season's Best Back Award

==============================

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF IPARRALDE (NORTH BASQUE) CESTA PUNTA FALL PRO TOUR (INCLUDES LINKS TO 10 FULL MATCH VIDEOS)


COMPLETE COVERAGE OF FRONTON MEXICO SUMMER SEASON  (INCLUDES LINKS TO 63 FULL MATCH VIDEOS)
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