Men’s singles: 🥇Ben Johns 🥈Tyson McGuffin 🥉Jay Devilliers
Women’s singles: 🥇Catherine Parenteau 🥈Salome Devidze 🥉Lea Jansen
Men’s doubles: 🥇Riley Newman & Matt Wright 🥈Ben Johns & Collin Johns 🥉Tyler Loong & Callan Dawson
Women’s doubles: 🥇Andrea Koop & Vivienne David 🥈Etta Wright & Irina Tereschenko 🥉Anna Bright & Parris Todd
Mixed doubles: 🥇Andrea Koop & AJ Koller 🥈Lucy Kovalova & Matt Wright 🥉Anna Bright & Dylan Frazier
Three players entered championship Sunday with the chance to get a double gold, but it was Andrea Koop who emerged as the only competitor to accomplish that feat! Some drama struck the women’s doubles division, a rivalry was reignited and many more storylines materialized at the PPA Takeya Showcase in Newport Beach, Calif.
Mixed Doubles
The Andrea Koop show was officially in town, as she picked up her first-ever PPA title and first mixed doubles gold of the year! Earlier in the week they gave us this gem of a point as they took down Riley and Linsey Newman:
Today, Andrea he and her partner AJ Koller took down one of the division’s juggernauts and two seeds in Lucy Kovalova and Matt Wright, 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9. The former UCLA Bruin received some local support from friends and fans, despite her being from and residing in Michigan. Once a Bruin, always a Bruin!
The big storyline coming out of mixed doubles Friday, was the number one seeds Catherine Parenteau and Ben Johns getting upset by Mary Brascia and Julian Arnold. The California natives made it look easy against the heavy favorites winning 11-4, 11-4. Unfortunately for them, they were beaten in the next round by Koop/Koller.
Rounding out the podium were the third-place finishers Anna Bright and newly-signed Selkirk star Dylan Frazier. They had to get six wins in the opportunity bracket, which included their bronze medal dub against Selkirk-duo Parris Todd and Tyson McGuffin.
Women’s Doubles
Koop didn’t stop at mixed doubles. In her second event on championship Sunday she took another gold with Vivienne David, beating the ninth-seeds, Etta Wright and Irina Tereschenko, 13-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7. In mixed doubles, Koop was the player to set up her partner. But that changed in women’s doubles, as she played on the left side and became the aggressor. David did her part too by locking down that right side with her defense and hitting winners with her two-handed backhand.
Credit to the newly-acquired PPA-player, Wright, who had an unbelievable women’s doubles tournament, alongside the crafty veteran. While Wright was denied the gold, she did get her hands on her first PPA women’s doubles medal and will surely be in the running for more in the future.
Coming in bronze was Bright and Todd, who took down Cierra Gaytan-Leach and Yana Grechkina. After losing to Wright/Tereschenko, these bronze medalists showed tremendous resolve in the backdraw to get onto the podium.
A little drama was present in this bracket with Parenteau and Allyce Jones playing against each other for the first time since their situation from last weekend transpired. Long story short, Parenteau dropped Jones to play with Anna Leigh Waters at the USA National Pickleball Championships. Parenteau later issued an apology, but that damage was done. In turn, that drama led to possibly the best match of the weekend with Jones/Meghan Sheehan-Dizon barely beating Parenteau/Brooke Buckner in bracket-play, 10-12, 13-11, 12-10.
Men’s Doubles
The rivalry is back on! Wright and Newman have once again beaten Ben and Collin Johns in a championship Sunday, which hasn’t happened since early October in Las Vegas. Just when it was looking like the Johns solidified themselves as the eminent team in this matchup, Newman and Wright flipped the script.
Wright/Newman had their game plan, and the Johns theirs. But it was ultimately the extremely aggressive play style of the gold medalists that made it challenging for the Johns brothers. They did their best at fending off attack after attack from the challengers, but it eventually became too taxing to handle.
Tyler Loong and Callan Dawson came out with the bronze against Koller/Thomas Wilson, leaving the number three seeds Devilliers and McGuffin medal-less in men’s doubles. However, that wasn’t the case for them in men’s singles!
Men’s Singles
Both McGuffin and Devilliers took singles medals, via silver and bronze, respectively. But the man of the bracket was the number one seed Ben Johns. After losing in the men’s doubles final, the 23-year-old came out on an absolute mission to rout the Selkirk-sponsored player. It’s not so much that McGuffin played poorly, he just happened to be a bystander of the Johns’ men’s doubles loss.
Johns was playing his patented cat and mouse game, but also mixed in some powerful third shot drives. It was just too much for McGuffin to deal with. Coming in third was Devilliers, who was victorious over Yates Johnson. Speaking of Johnson, Yates’ twin brother Hunter had an exceptional tournament, until he sustained an injury in his match against Johns. Unlucky for him, he lost that match after taking the first game and then had to pull out of the consolation bracket.
Women’s Singles
Parenteau picked up her first PPA singles medal since May, winning 8-11, 11-1, 11-8 over Salome Devidze. Parenteau was down 2-7 in the third game, but picked up some serious momentum after the side change. She won the second game from that side in a dominant fashion and had that in the back of her pocket in game three. Parenteau relied heavily on her backcourt game and passing shots, seldomly approaching the net.
Devidze was up large on Parenteau in the third, but seemed to self implode after a couple of calls didn’t go her way. Lea Jansen was the remaining lady that got on the podium, as she fended off Brascia in the bronze medal match, 11-8, 13-11. Despite the Parenteau-win, there’s a good chance Waters is still looking at this division, confident that she will come back and retake her title. After all, she never lost it in a match; she just chose to sit this tournament out.
