Internationaux Cesta Punta SLAM Final, August 25, 2016--Commentary and enhanced linescores.
Beaskoetxea-Irastorza defeated Olharan-Lekerika 2-1 (15-7, 12-15, 5-3)
Full match video
Beaskoetxea-Irastorza used the last ounce of their strength and every ounce
of their experience to edge Ohlaran-Lekerika in this champion of champions
match, the final match of the ICP season. They had to come back from 0-2 in
the tie breaker to finish the job. After the first set it didn't appear that it would be that difficult. Lekerika, in the brightest spotlight at age 21, seemed to be cracking under the pressure. His 7 errors were key to B-I's easy victory. Ahead 4-1 in the second set, B-I seemed to be cruising to an easy championship. But, as the linescore below shows, O-L battled back. Lekerika still made mistakes, but got into his rhythm and showed why he is (in my opinion) headed for greatness. The set was a battle of attrition. O-L didn't take the lead until 7-6. With each point, it seemed that B-I were tiring. The point beginning at 10-9 O-L, a grueling point that consumed 20 balls and was the second longest point of the match, seemed to drain B-I. Though they won the point, the rest of the set went quickly and badly for them. Entering the tie breaker, it seemed O-L had all
the momentum. And when they took a 2-0 lead in the tie breaker, it seemed the championship was in their grasp.
Watch the last 6 points of the match and you'll see a great team, intelligent, talented, experienced, use all three of those attributes to mount its comeback. The last three points consumed 43 balls. When Beaskoetxea threw the winner that ended the match, he and Irastorza were elated and exhausted. They were also SLAM Champions for the second year in a row.
Enhanced linescore (Source: Canal+)
A note about the enhanced linescore. While Jai Alai/Cesta Punta is the fastest ball sport in the world, the points actually progress at a relatively leisurely pace compared to some of the other modalities I've done ball counts for. This has to do with the size of the court and the fact that the ball can be caught and then thrown. The ball moves at very high speed, but the game actually progresses much more slowly than I had thought.
B-I win toss and serve
Key: Server (B=Beaskoetxea, O=Olharan); Number of balls in play; Score; Leader (B-I or O-L)
Balls in play include serves.
Sources for all except balls in play and + - for tie breaker: Canal+. Balls in play: my counts of each point. Tie breaker scoring judgments are my own, as there was no Canal+ accounting for the tie breaker.
Set 1 (0:00-31:29 on the recording)
B.......35......1-0.....B-I
B........5.......2-0.....B-I
B.......16......2-1.....B-I
O........2.......3-1.....B-I
B........6.......3-2.....B-I
O.......16......4-2.....B-I
B........5.......5-2.....B-I
B........5.......6-2.....B-I
B.......15......7-2.....B-I
B........1.......8-2.....B-I
B........5.......9-2.....B-I
B........3......10-2....B-I
B........5......11-2....B-I
B........5......12-2....B-I
B........2......12-3....B-I
O........2......13-3....B-I
B........2......13-4....B-I
O........7......13-5....B-I
O........3......13-6....B-I
O.......16.....14-6....B-I
B........4......14-7....B-I
O........6......15-7....B-I
Scoring: B +2 -3; O +1 -4; I +2 -1; L+2 -7
166 balls in play
Number of balls/number of points
0-4......8
5-9......9
10-14..0
15-19..4
20+.....1
Longest point: 35 (0-0) won by B-I
Set 2 (34:47-1:12:04)
In the course of this game Irastorza threw the fastest clocked ball I saw,
196 kph (122 mph). There may have been faster throws. I didn't keep track of every clocked throw.
B.......11.......1-0.....B-I
B........6.......1-1.....===
O........4.......2-1.....B-I
B........3.......3-1.....B-I
B.......11.......4-1....B-I
B.......14.......4-2....B-I
O........7.......4-3.....B-I
O........6.......5-3.....B-I
B.......16.......5-4....B-I
O.......14.......6-4....B-I
B.......14.......6-5....B-I
O........7.......6-6.....===
O........3.......7-6.....O-L (O-L lead for the first time)
O........2.......7-7.....===
B.......15.......8-7....B-I
B........2.......8-8.....===
O........2.......9-8.....B-I
B........4.......9-9.....===
O.......11....10-9.....O-L
O.......20....10-10...===
B........7.....11-10....B-I
B........4.....11-11....===
O........3.....12-11....O-L
O........9.....13-11....O-L
O........5.....14-11....O-L
O........8.....14-12....O-L
B........6......15-12...O-L
Scoring: B +2 -4; O +4 -3; I +1 -3; L +4 -6
Cumulative through 2 sets: B +4 -7; O +5 -7; I +3 -4 L +6 -13
214 balls in play
Number of balls/number of points
0-4.......9
5-9.......9
10-14...6
15-19...2
20+......1
Longest point: 20 (10-9) won by B-I
Tie breaker set (1:15:24-1:25:01)
O-L win toss and serve
O.......11......1-0.....O-L
O........5.......2-0.....O-L
O........6.......2-1.....O-L
B........3.......2-2.....===
B........3.......3-2.....B-I
B.......18......3-3.....===
O........8.......4-3.....B-I
B.......17......5-3.....B-I
Scoring: B +3 -1; O +0 -1; I +1 -2; L +0 -0
Cumulative for the match:
B +7 -8; O +5 -8; I +4 -6; L +6 -13
71 balls in play
451 ball in play for the match
Number of balls/number of points
0-4.......2
5-9.......3
10-14...1
15-19...2
Longest point 18 (3-2) O-L won the point
Cumulative for the match
0-4.....19
5-9.....21
10-14...7
15-19...8
20+......2
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