The PPA Las Vegas Cup came to an end today. Five championship matches took place in front of a sold-out crowd in the Fontainebleau ballroom. Let’s breakdown each of the matches and see who was able to win gold medals.
Women’s Doubles: ALW & CP extend winning streak
Sometimes a team’s best chance against Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau is to catch them on a slow start. Unfortunately, the top seeds rattled off the first eleven points against Parris Todd and Hurricane Tyra Black today and rest was history. The games got more competitive as the match went on but the top seeds were never in any real danger. They secured their 11th title of the year and will look for their 12th in a few short weeks when the PPA Tour heads back east to Atlanta.
Men’s Singles: Staksrud gets his revenge
Federico Staksrud lost in the finals to Dylan Frazier at the Hyundai Masters in January. Today he got his revenge, winning in a convincing two games 11-3, 11-1. Much like Jaume Martinez Vich did in the semifinals, Dylan Frazier did his best to slow the game down and make Federico Staksrud play his preferred cat and mouse style but the #1 seed was just too strong today. Staksrud now has sixteen singles medals to his name, seven of them being golds.
Women’s Singles: Waters makes a statement
The talk on social media the past few weeks has been about the ascension of Kate Fahey in women’s singles. That had to be in the back of Anna Leigh Waters’ mind today as she came out extremely focused on the task at hand. She pickled Fahey in game one and took game two 11-6 to win her second gold medal of the day.
Men’s Doubles: Daescu & Tardio too much for Bar/Navratil
This was a phenomenal match for three games. Bar/Navratil got off to a similar start as their semifinal. They dropped game one quickly but came out very strong in game two, jumping out to an 8-0 lead. They frustrated the younger Tardio and veteran Daescu with monster serves but the reigning champs found their second gear late in game 3 when they needed it most to run away with the match in four games. They’ll look for three in a row in Atlanta in a few short weeks.
Mixed Doubles: Waters & Johns in sharp form
Riley Newman and Catherine Parenteau looked very much in the match early, trailing 7-5 in game one and playing some well-constructed points but it was simply too much Ben Johns from there. Waters has been a steady presence for this team lately. Despite their unblemished record, they have had some close calls in the past couple of months. Teams were mostly targeting Johns in those matches but today he answered the call in a major way. He dominated in the middle and even broke out his new found two handed backhand from the kitchen line.
On the Horizon
The pros have a week off before they take a trip across the country for the Atlanta Slam. This will be a progressive draw so round of 64 matches will start on Tuesday. Make sure to follow the PPA Tour on social media for updates on the draw and streaming schedule.
