The PPA Tour 2023 season came to a close today with five best 3 out of 5 championship matches in San Clemente, CA. Both Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns were going for one last triple crown but there were plenty of strong competitors in their path including Riley Newman, Christian Alshon and Anna Bright. Let's review how all five championship matches unfolded starting with women's doubles.
Women's Doubles Championship: Waters & Parenteau Dominate
Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau set the tone this morning as they gave Anna Bright and Vivienne David no reason to believe they could pull off the upset. They won convincingly 11-2, 11-5, 11-6 as Waters was all over the court poaching any ball in sight while Parenteau was her usual steady self. We'll see if this partnership continues into 2024. If it does it's hard to imagine any team that can consistently compete with them.
Men's Doubles Championship: Newman & Wilson Test the Johns Brothers
After a slow start in game 1, Riley Newman and Thomas Wilson upped their game a few levels as they had the Johns brothers in trouble late in game 3. Wilson and Newman are two of the most athletic players on tour and their ability to turn defense into offense and electrify the crowd with highlight reel shots seemed to throw a wrench in the Johns' plans. However Ben & Collin were able to do just enough to seal games 3 & 4 11-9 and 12-10 to win their 13th gold medal of the season together.
Women's Singles Championship: Waters Outlasts Parenteau
Anna Leigh Waters struggled in pool play on Thursday dropping multiple games but she came back today with much more energy as she was able to out execute her women's doubles partner Catherine Parenteau 11-7, 11-1 to clinch her second gold medal of the day.
Men's Singles Championship: Johns & Alshon Go The Distance
The match of the day belonged to Ben Johns and Christian Alshon. Alshon presented problems for Johns with his ability to pressure off his initial passing shot and take the next ball out of the air. It took time away from the world #1 and forced him to hit volleys with more risk than he is used to. The match went to three games and ultimately Johns prevailed 13-11 after an unfortunate missed return from Alshon.
Mixed Doubles Championship: Johns & Waters Cruise
Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters kept they energy high in this one despite both playing two matches prior. On the other side the Johnson siblings looked flat for most of the match as they couldn't stack more than 1-2 points together on serve. it was a relatively easy win for the #1 seed as they lost only 8 total points.
