What would develope was a dramatic battle between these two teams which would extend to the 20th and final game of the event,with the winning team decided by the slimmest of marjins.

The inaugural edition of the World Circuit of Jai-Alai was the brainchild of Aitor Totorica,the former Tampa Jai-Alai player who has gone on to create Master Jai,the top jai-alai company in the Basque country.Totorica,thanks to sponsorships from Spanish companies BBVA,Asegarce and Bizkaia.net,put up the $20,000 in prize money and with the assistance of management from Orlando,Miami and Dania frontons,arranged an extensive event which was contested on three consecutive weekends.Each of the Florida frontons sent two doubles teams to the event,with the field rounded out by two duos from the Master Jai company travling over from Spain.

The tournament opened in Orlando in conjunction with that fronton's annual Citrus Invitational and capacity crowds were treated to two nights of exciting,top level action on a jai-alai court known as the fastest in the sport.Rekalde & Lopez captured the victory in the 10-point Citrus Doubles Championship,but it was Goikoetxea & Irastorza-with two victories-who headed back to Miami with the first round lead,21-19 over their fronton rivals after the opening four games.

Round 2 was a showcase for the Miami teams on their home court,despite a disappointing turnout by fans on Friday night.
Goiko & Irastorza won the opening two games and threatened to run away with the title by taking a nine-point lead after the first four games on Friday,but Rekalde & Lopez bounced back on Saturday afternoon in front of a much larger crowd and evened the score at 50 points apiece heading into the final round.Hormaetxea & Barrondo of Master Jai were a distant third after the second round with 28 points,while the remaining five teams were bunched up a a bit farther back.It was definitely a two-team race heading in the third and final round at Dania.
On friday night at Dania Goiko & Irastorza continued to hold the lead until the final tournament game of the night,when they were held scoreless and Rekalde & Lopez picked up the win and seven points to take a 70 -69 lead going into the final night.Then,with many former Miami champions in attendance on saturday night included joey,Elorrio,Rufino,Iruta and Juan II among Dania's largest audience in years,and back-and-fourth duel continued into the evening's final game with the score Rekalde & Lopez 83,Goikoetxea & Irastorza 82.

The favorites,coming out of post 3,scored 4 straight points to set up a face-off with Rekalde & Lopez in post 7,leading by three points.The 23-year-old backcourter encouraged his veteran partner with a determined look on the bench and told him,"We must win this point to have any chance,so let's go get them."A strong Lopez forehand caught Irastorza on the short hop and smacked off his cesta,giving Rekalde & Lopez the critical point,but they still trailed by two."We were happy because it was such a big point,but we couldn't relax until we got the lead back,"Rekalde told me later.Thye won the next point,then met Dania's Diego & Oyarbide needing to win the double-point to regain the advantage.

It turned out to be the best volley of the weekend,if not the entire tournament.Oyarbide made several seemingly impossible catches,but finally succumbed to one of Lopez's powerful forehand throws,and Rekalde & Lopez found themselves back in the lead,87-86.
Without a letdown,the pair then tried to finish out the game,but were beaten on an excellent rebote by Orlando's Aperri,who followed it with an ace serve to end the event,giving Rekalde & Lopez the one-point victory over Goikoetxea & Irastorza.