Jai Alai/Cesta Punta--Jai Alai World Tour July 7-16 Wrap--Markina Masters, Liguilla 1 Gernika Grand Slam

The 6th Jai Alai World Tour began on July 7 and will end on September 27. The  Tour will consist of:

Two Grand Slams

Gernika--July 13, 20, 27, semis-August 3, FINAL-AUGUST 10
Hondarribia--July 19, 26, August 2, 9, semis-August 16, FINAL-AUGUST 23.

6 teams will contest the Grand Slams. They will consist of an "A" Group and a "B" Group which will play a single round robin. The top two in each group will face off in the Semi-finals. The two winners will then play in the Final.

Three Master Series

Markina: Quarter finals--July 7; Semi-finals--July 14, FINAL--JULY 16
Lekeitio: Semi-finals--July 28; FINAL--AUGUST 4
Zumia: 1/4--September 6, 13; 1/2--September 20; FINAL--SEPTEMBER 27

There may be other Master series as well. The full schedule is still "pending."

JAWT Announcement

JAWT brochure (.pdf format,9p.)

Complete (at present) calendar (JAWT)

Ongoing results (JAWT)

JAWT Players Page

Due to the manner in which the Masters and Grand Slams will be intertwined, as well as the chronological length of the Grand Slams, the blog will cover this tour in weekly increments, mixing tournaments. The latest scores and links to match stories can be found either on the right side of any blog post, or at the Current Results page, which is also used to show current results on mobile phones (and can also be found with the "pages" on the right side of  the blog).

An up to date player table is always available at the "current results" page, and a cumulative table will be presented at the bottom of each blog post.

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July 7-16--Markina Masters (complete); Gernika Grand Slam (League)

July 19-20 Hondarribia Grand Slam (League); Gernika Grand Slam (League)

July 26-28--Hondarribia Grand Slam (League); Gernika Grand Slam (League); Lekeitio Masters (Semi-finals)

August 2-4--Hondarribia Grand Slam (League); Gernika Grand Slam (Semi-Finals), Lekeitio Masters (Final and 3rd Place match)

August 9-16--Gernika Grand Slam (Final); Hondarribia Grand Slam (League) and Semi-finals

August 20-October 28--END OF SEASON--Hondarribia Final, Zumaia Masters, Ciudad San Sebastian Open, Gernika Urriko Open

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INJURY REPORT:

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. See below for contexts and outcomes under "Master Series Markina." When Lekerika will return is unknown.

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. When he will return to action is unknown at this time

Ludovic Laduche: Laduche 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.

Matches are played in sets, two to 15. Tie breaker to 5. 5 pasas (over serves) are allowed. After that an over serve is a fault. Any under serve is an immediate fault (Error corrected August 3, 2019).

Grand Slam Gerrnika Liguilla matches and Markina Masters full Tournament

Grand Slam Gernika (1) (2)

The teams:

Group A: Goikoetxea-(Unai) Lekerika; Erik (Mendizabal)-Etxeto; Hormatxea-Ibon (Aldazabal)

Group B: Diego (Beaskoetxea)-Lopez; (Xabier) Barandika-Ekhi; Egiguren-Inza

July 13

Liguilla Round 1

Group A Round 1 Table (wins-losses, set wins-losses; .3 is added for a tie breaker win

Goikoetxea-(Unai) Lekerika (1-0; 1.3-1)

Hormaetxea-Ibon (Aldazabal) (0-0; 0-0)

Erik (Mendizabal)-Etxeto (0-1; 1-1.3)

FULL MATCH VIDEOS FOR BOTH MATCHES (EITB--first match is (Diego) Beaskoetxea-Lopez v (Zabier) Barandika-Ekhi, followed by Goikoetxea-(Unai) Lekerika v Erik (Mendizabal)-Etxeto)

Group A

Goikoetxea-(Unai) Lekerika 2 Erik (Mendizabal)-Etxeto 1

(15-12; 13-15; 5-3) (33-30)

Selected linescore (Jai Alai News Facebook) (winners always listed first)

Set 1:

5-1; 6-2; 10-10; 15-12

Match article (Jai Alai News Facebook)

Match article (Jai Alai World Tour)

Group B Round 1 Table

(Diego) Beaskoetxea-Lopez (1-0; 1.3-1)

Egiguren-Inza (0-0; 0-0)

(Xabier) Barandika-Ekhi (0-1; 1-1.3)

Group B

Diego (Beaskoetxea)-Lopez 2 (Xabier) Barandika-Ekhi 1

(15-10; 12-15; 5-1) (32-26)

Selected linescore (Jai Alai News Facebook) (winners always listed first)

Set 1:

6-6; 7-7; 10-7; 13-8; 14-9; 15-10

Match article  (Jai Alai News Facebook)

Match article (final paragraph of article) (JAWT)

The first two Liguilla matches were won by the favorites, but not before they overcame strong opposition. Both D-L and G-L won when it counted, in the tie breaker. The match article discusses a somewhat depleted Lopez explaining why he felt "weak" during the match (residual weight loss from antibiotic treatment received in Mexico). He did manage "a cortada from the 8" line and a "perfect chula."  Barandika and Ekhi were both complemented on their performance. 

G-L had a difficult match against E-E. Erik, after missing the last two season's summer partidos, opened this season with a strong performance, according to the match article. 

An interesting sidelight was that the players wore microphones so the fans could hear them.

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Master Series Markina (1) (2)

July 16

FINAL

(Erik) Mendizabal-Irastorza 2

Hormaetxea-(Aimar) Aldazabal 0 

(15-9, 15-11) (30-20) 
(EIBT Full match video--match begins at 1:15:00 on the video) (ADDED July 21, 2019).

Video Highlights (EITB)

Selected linescores (Deia, Hitza, and Jai Alai News Facebook ) (winners always listed 1st)

Set 1:

3-1; 7-4; 10-4; 12-5; 12-9; 15-9

Set 2:

9-8; 13-11; 15-11

Scoring (Deia):

Mendizabal +15 (including 5 service aces) -3; Irastorza +3 -5

Hormaetxea +11 -7; Aldazabal +1 -5

Balls in Play: 332

Time of the match: 61:20

Match preview article (Deia, via Jai Alai News Facebook)

Match article (Deia, via JANF)

Match article (Hitza, via JANF)

Match article (JANF)

Match article (Jai Alai World Tour)

Opening Match "Friendly" (Source: JANF)

Jon Meabebasterretxea-(Enaut) Salegi 2

Jokin (Arbe)-Jon Mandiola 1 

(15-12; 10-15; 5-2) (30-29)

EITB Full match video--match begins at 0:00 on the video (ADDED July 21 2019)

After losing a tough Gernika Grand Slam Liguilla match on July 13, Erik (Mendizabal) came back with a very strong performance, winning 2 matches in 3 days, as he and the other Eric (Irastorza) won the Markina Masters in straight sets, dominating their opponents by 60-42. Erik M. had a magnificent final (+15 (including 5 aces) -3), scoring half his team's total points. Hormaetxea, who had begun the summer with 4 consecutive wins (two in the St. Jean de Luz play in tournament, and the Quarter and Semi-finals in this tournament), lost for the first time. He had a good match (+11 -7), but Erik M. had a better one.

The other noteworthy news about this tournament was the injuries that effected it. Jean Olharan is still feeling the effects of the shoulder injury he played through in the Final at Fronton Mexico and missed his Quarter final match. He was replaced by Ludovic Laduche, coming back off a serious injury of his own (see above). Also, Unai Lekerika was injured in his Gernika Liguilla match (see above) and missed his semi-final here.

The surprise of the tournament was the upset by Hormaetxea-(Aimar) Aldazabal over Goikoetxea-Ibon (Aldazabal) in the semi-finals. Aimar, playing in his first 3 matches in the back after a long career in the front, played well, winning 2 of them, and playing  a crucial role in the upset (see below).

July 14

Semi-finals

Erik (Mendizabal)-Irastorza 2

(Jokin) Arbe-Ekhi (substituting for (Unai) Lekerika 0

(15-14; 15-8) (30-22)

Hormaetxea-(Aimar) Aldazabal 2

Goikoetxea-Ibon (Aldazabal) 1

(15-4; 13-15; 5-3) (33-22)

H-A won tie breaker on a great Aimar save of a Goikoetxea winner, followed immediately by a backhand chula. It was Aimar's second ever match in the back court.

Match article for both matches (Jai Alai News Facebook)

Match article for both matches (Jai Alai World Tour)

July 7

Quarter finals: 

Quarter-final Preview (JAWT)

(Jokin) Arbe-(Unai) Lekerika) 2

(Xabier) Barandika-(Enaut) Salegi 0

(15-9, 15-12) (30-21)

All four players were complemented on good play. Arbe, Leke, and Salegi were pointed out by name.

Hormatxea-(Aimar) Aldazabal) 2

Laduche (substituting for Olharan)-Inza 0

(15-14, 15-9) (30-23)

H-A came from behind to win the first set. Aimar played his first match in the back court.

Match article for both matches (Jai Alai News Facebook)

Match article for both matches (Deia)

Current JAWT Ranking (through Markina Masters)

Classification explanation (see items #8 and 9)

Cumulative record of JAWT players

Key: Player, match w-l, set w-l (5 pt. tie breaker worth .3) Tournaments won. Current through July 16, 2019

Masters: MM (Markina) ML (Lekeitio)

Grand Slam: GG (Gernika) GH (Hondarribia)

Delanteros (front)

Diego (Beaskoetxea); 1-0; 1.3-1

Erik (Mendizabal); 2-1; 5-1.3; MM

Hormaetxea; 2-1; 3.3-3

Goikoetxea; 1-1; 2.3-2.3

(Jokin) Arbe; 1-1; 2-2

Laduche: 0-1; 0-2

(Xabier) Barandika; 0-2; 1-3.3

Zagueros (back)

Irastorza 2-0; 4-0; MM

(Unai) Lekerika; 2-0; 3.3-1

Lopez; 1-0; 1.3-1

(Aimar) Aldazabal; 2-1; 3.3-3

Ibon (Aldazabal) 0-1; 1-1.3

Etxeto 0-1; 1-1.3

Inza; 0-1; 0-2

Salegi; 0-1; 0-2

Ekhi; 0-2; 1-3.3

Jai Alai/Cesta Punta--Cesta Punta Pro Tour Internationaux Cesta Punta--St. Jean de Luz (Donibane Lohizune) Master 1 Tournament

The Cesta Punta Pro Tour's premier competition, St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta, played at St.Jean de Luz (1) (2) runs from July 2-August 29, 2019. It began with a play in Tournament to determine a "wild card" avant (front) and arriere (back) who would join the field for a 4 tournament competition that would determine the players in a 5th "SLAM" Tournament, a champion of Champions Tournament. All Tournaments will be played on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Live video coverage, as well as on demand video replays by the French TV network Canal + will be available at the St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta Youtube site.

The players

The schedule in a nutshell (on a single page) (Cestapunta Facebook)

Matches will be played in sets, two to 15 points. Tie breaker will be to 5. 5 pasas (over serves) will be allowed in the course of a match. More than that, as well as any under serve, will result in a fault.

Note: the cumulative records of all players in these tournaments will be kept at the bottom of each Tournament blog post.

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Play in Tournament 

Master 1 

Master 2  

Master 3

Master 4 

SLAM AND TWO MINOR TOURNAMENTS

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INJURY REPORT:

Jerome Portet (back) suffered an arm injury in practice before his play-in Final in the Internationaux Cesta Punta, Cesta Punta World Tour match. He missed that match. When he will return is unknown.

Note: to follow this tournament in  chronological order, read from the bottom up.

Master 1

July 16, 2019

FINAL

Olha-Lopez 2 (Aritz) Erkiaga-Minvielle 0
(15-12, 15-14) (30-26) (Canal + via St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta Youtube)

Set 2: 7-7--8-7; 30 balls in play, the longest point of the match (Canal + via St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta Facebook)

Set 1 Condensed Linescore (Canal +) (winners always listed first)

4-0; 4-2; 5-2; 5-4; 6-4; 6-5; 10-5; 10-6; 11-6; 11-9; 12-9; 12-11; 13-11; 13-12; 15-12

Partial scoring (Canal +)

Olha +3 -2; (26 balls in play)
(Aritz) Erkiaga +8 -2; (51 balls in play)

My scoring

Olha +3 -4; Lopez +7 -0
(Aritz) Erkiaga +8 -3; Minvielle +0 -2

Set 2: My scoring

Olha +5 -0; Lopez +1 -1
(Aritz) Erkiaga +12 -4; Minvielle +1 -5

For the match:

Olha +8 -4; Lopez +8 -1
(Aritz) Erkiaga +20 -7; Minvielle +1 -7

Balls in Play: 392; Set 1: 194; Set 2: 198

Time of the match: 66:02

Note on Canal + scoring. Canal +, in the publicly available video, only showed cumulative scoring for the first set, and only for the fronts in that set. They also provided partial balls in play data (fronts only). I did my own scoring because my methods are different from Canal +. Canal plus gave hardly any scoring information on back court players. They also did not credit a winner when the front court receiver intercepted the serve and immediately converted the point. My scoring model is EITB, which does hundreds of BP matches in various modalities. The rule of their scoring is that Team A's winners + Team B's errors always equals the Team A's total score.Same for Team B. This is not the case for Canal +, but I decided to provide any information they gave about the scoring of the match. Canal+ also has a different way of counting balls in a point than EITB does. With EITB, the winners' number of total balls in play is always equal to or within 1 of the difference in match points. Canal Plus does not count this way, and their total counts do not bear this relationship. I do not understand how they count points. EITB's method is much more intuitive, in my opinion, and helps to make what happened in the match more understandable. All of my scoring judgments are mine alone. Yours may be different.

Match article (cestapunta.com) 

Steady and effective play by O-L (9 less errors than E-M overcame an awesome offensive display by Erkiaga--more winners than the other 3 players combined), as O-L prevailed in 2 very close sets to win Master 1. They established an early lead in Set 1 and never relinquished it. Lopez had a great offensive set. His defense is very well known to anyone who has watched him, and he had an excellent season at Fronton Mexico before coming back to the Basque Country for the Summer Partidos. In this set he had cortada winners from the 9-10 line, the 12 line, and an overhead pass from the 11 line to finish the set. But the most impressive throw, in my opinion, was the backhand rebote (rebound) save he made on the 9-5--10-5 point, which he immediately converted into a two wall (left-front) winner from the 12-13. To make the save he had to cross the concha from left to right while angling back, and pick the rebote. It was the catch-throw of the match. (27:01-27:52 on the video). Erkiaga began the match with 2 errors in the 1st 4 points, and 3 in the first 12, but after that he found his game. From the 15th point to the last (27th), he contributed 5 winners (including 3 consecutive and 4 of 5, cutting the deficit from 10-5 to 11-9. But it wasn't enough, as 2 winners apiece by Olha and Lopez put the set away.

The 2nd set began with 3 consecutive Erkiaga winners following a Minvielle error to give E-M their biggest lead of the day. At that point Olha came to the party, contributing all of his 5 winners (dejada, 2 two walls, chic chac, and left wall rebote) to help O-L to tie the set at 9. The chic chac ended the longest point of the match, 30 balls in play (see the video link above). There were 7 errors from that point to the end, unfortunately 4 by Minvielle. Lopez wasn't the offensive force in this set as he was in the first, but he played rock solid defense, his only error of the match a difficult dropped catch that tied the set at 10. Erkiaga was involved in the last 5 scoring decisions of the match, 3 of which were winners. The first error came on a controversial call with the set tied at 13. He made a wonderful catch of a late left wall carom but was ruled to have juggled the catch. His body language, as well as Olha's cesta tap on the shoulder indicated the closeness of the call. Then Erkiaga made his poorest play of the match on the set finishing point, throwing a two wall winner off the court.

Olha, although he played an excellent overall game, had difficulty getting serves past Erkiaga. Erikaga intercepted 6 serves in the 2nd set and turned them into immediate winners with 3 two walls, 2 chic chacs, and a dejada. His aggressive play rattled Olha, but not enough.   

July 11, 2019

2nd Semi-final

(Aritz) Erkiaga-Minvielle 2
P. Tambourindeguy-Etcheto 1 (Canal + via St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta Youtube)
(4-15, 15-6, 5-2) (24-23)

Condensed linescore (match winners always listed first) (Canal +)

Set 1:

0-2; 2-2; 2-3; 3-3; 3-14; (Erkiaga 4 consecutive errors) 4-14; 4-15

Set 2:

2-0; 2-1; 5-1; 5-2; 9-2; (Etcheto 3 consecutive errors); 9-4; 12-4; 12-6; 15-6

3-1--4-1: Tambourindeguy makes the play of the match, climbing the protective netting to save an Erkiaga two wall winner. Erkiaga takes the save and wins the point with a dejada.

Tie Breaker

0-1; 1-1; 1-2; 5-2 (at 1-2, dropped catches by Tambourindeguy and Etcheto sandwich a brilliant ace by Erkiaga and Minvielle's only winner of the match, a perfectly placed outside pass from the 14).

Scoring

Set 1 (my scoring--Canal +'s does not come anywhere close to adding up to the score); balls in play breakdown source: Canal +. Note: my scoring has now changed with respect to "service aces." Canal + calls a 1 ball point that was dropped or thrown away by the receiver an error, so I will also. Set 2 and tie breaker: Canal + did not provide any scoring, so it is mine alone.

Set 1:

(Aritz) Erkiaga +1 -8; Minvielle +0 -1

P. Tambourindeguy +5 -0; Etcheto +1 -3

Set 2:

(Aritz) Erkiaga +6 -3; Minvielle +0 -1
P. Tambourindeguy + 1 -4; Etcheto +1 -5

Tie breaker:

(Aritz) Erkiaga +2 (including 1 service ace) -0; Minvielle +1 -0
P. Tambourindeguy +2 -1; Etcheto +0 -1

For the match:

(Aritz) Erkiaga +9 -11; Minvielle +1 -2
P. Tambourindeguy +8 -5; Etcheto + 2 -9

Balls in play 295:

Set 1: 107: Erkiaga 22 Minvielle 31; P. Tambourindeguy 27 Etcheto 27

Note: I have no idea how Canal + counts balls. When a team wins by 11 points but has only 1 more bip than the other team, it is a counting system that is different from any I've seen. My own ball count was 117, but I present theirs because it is there on TV, and it does give some idea of how the work was divided. 

Set 2: 145; Tie breaker; 43

Time of the match: 53:22

This was one of the strangest 3 set matches you'll see. The teams exchanged blowouts before E-M took control, winning the last 4 points of the tie breaker. The 27 match errors accounted for 57% of the match points. Erkiaga began the match with +1 -8, but was +9 -11 when it was over, including a decisive +2 -0 in the tie breaker.

Interesting note: There was only 1 over serve (pasa) in the entire match, very different from the 11 in the first Semi-final.

July 9, 2019

1st Semi-Final

Olha-Lopez 2 (Diego) Beaskoetxea-Ekhi 0 (Canal + via St. Jean de Luz Cesta Punta Youtube)
(15-14, 15-14) (30-28)

Condensed linescore (match winners always listed first)

Set 1:

4-0; 4-1; 5-1; 5-2; 7-2; 7-3; 8-3; 8-7; 10-7; 10-11; 12-11; 12-13; 13-13; 13-14; 15-14

5 lead changes, 5 equal scores

Set 2:

1-0; 1-3; 6-3; 6-6; 7-6; 7-7; 9-7; 9-9; 10-9; 10-10; 11-10; 11-11; 12-11; 12-12; 13-12; 13-13; 14-13;14-14; 15-14

2 lead changes, 10 equal scores

For the match: 7 lead changes, 15 equal scores

Scoring (my judgments, Canal + scoring made no sense to me, it didn't come even close to adding to the final score)

Set 1:

Olha +7 -3 Lopez +3 -3
(Diego) Beaskoetxea +6 -0 Ekhi +2 -5

Set 2:

Olha +6 -2; Lopez +5 -1
(Diego) Beaskoetxea +7 -2; Ekhi +4 -2

For the match:

Olha +13 -5 (including 2 service faults--1 was an over serve for his 6th Pasa--5 over serves are allowed, the other was an under serve, all under serves are immediate faults)

Lopez +8 -4

(Diego) Beaskoetxea +13 -2; Ekhi +6 -7

Balls in play: 1st set 157 (Canal +) 2nd set 184 (my count) 1st set: Olha 26, Lopez 54; Diego 28, Ekhi 49 (Canal +) No splits for 2nd set BIP

Time of the match 70:55

Match article (cestapunta.com)

The first semi-final was an exciting "nail biter" from start to finish, with 7 lead changes and 15 equal scores. Both forwards had great matches with +13 apiece. O-L gained their decisive edge in the back, where Lopez' net was 5 more than Ekhi's. It was enough, barely.

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Current CPWT ranking (through Master 1, July 16)

Cumulative record (match wins-losses, set w-l (.3 for tie breaker win), Tournaments won). Current through Master 1

P=Play in; M1, M2, M3, M4=Master 1-4; S=SLAM

Avants

Olha 2-0; 4-0; M1

Hormaetxea; 2-0; 3.3-1; P

Ithurria; 1-1; 1.3-2

(Aritz) Erkiaga 1-1; 1.3-3

Lesbats; 0-1; 1-1.3

J. Tambourindeguy 0-1; 1-1.3

P. Tambourindeguy 0-1; 1-1.3

(Diego) Beaskoetxea 0-1; 0-2

Arrieres

Lopez; 2-0; 4-0; M1

T. Basque; 2-0; 3.3-1; P

Portet; 1-0; 1.3-1

Minvielle 1-1; 1.3-3

(Manex) Urtasun; 0-1; 1-1.3

Etcheto 0-1; 1-1.3

Ihitsague; 0-1; 1-1.3

Ekhi; 0-1; 0-2

D. Ourthe; 0-1; 0-2

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Overall ICP record: Through Play In Tournament

Key: match w-l; set w-l --(.3=tie breaker), Ts won

P=Play in; M1, M2, M3, M4=Master 1-4; S=SLAM

Avants (fronts)

Hormaetxea; 2-0; 3.3-1; P

Ithurria; 1-1; 1.3-2

Lesbats; 0-1; 1-1.3

J. Tambourindeguy; 0-1; 1-1.3

Arrieres (backs)

T. Basque; 2-0; 3.3-1; P

Portet; 1-0; 1.3-1

(Manex) Urtasun; 0-1; 1-1.3

Ihitsague; 0-1; 1-1.3

D. Ourthe 0-1 0-2