The PPA tour is back after close to a one-month hiatus but some of the top pros have decided to extend their vacations and not make the trip to the altitude leaving the door open for some lesser-known names to make some deeper runs. Let’s dive into what took place on singles day.
Men's Singles: Johns & Alshon Advance to the Final
Ben Johns and Christian Alshon will face off in Sunday's men's singles final. This is the 5th time they will go at it this year with Alshon getting the best of Johns in their most recent matchup in Atlanta. Johns owns the H2H record in 2023 3-1. It was a pretty straightforward day for Johns while Alshon needed 3 games to beat both Patriquin and Staksrud en route to the final.
Women’s Singles: The Youngster vs The Veteran
Anna Leigh Waters will go up against her new MLP teammate Irina Tereschenko, Sunday, who is making her first championship singles appearance of the season. The last time these two met was in January at the Hyundai Maters where Waters won comfortably in two games. Anna Leigh didn't drop a game Thursday while Tereschenko went the distance against unknowns Taylor Garcia and Mariana Humberg.
In Case You Missed it
Quang Duong Backs it Up
What a year it has been for the multi racquet sport athlete as he continues his hot run in men’s singles. We wondered after APP Newport if we were going to see the avatar ball bender again but lucky for us he entered and qualified into the Denver Open draw. He started the day off taking out (4) Dylan Frazier and followed it up with wins over (20) Pesa Teoni and (21) Ross Whittaker before falling to world #1 Ben Johns. Duong doesn’t look like a one hit wonder and we hope to see a lot more of him in the near future.
Castillo Keeps Rising
Judit Castillo made a name for herself earlier this year at the US Open in Florida where she lost to Parris Todd in arguably one of the best singles matches of the season. She has since backed that up with several impressive victories but beating Lea Jansen today in the women's QF shows that she is here to stay. Her movement paired with her ball striking ability off both wings make her a threat to just about anybody on any given day. She now owns back-to-back bronze medals in her past two PPA events.
What’s on Deck
Tomorrow tune in for mixed doubles which features several teams we don’t normally get to see together including Anna Bright & Dylan Frazier & Pablo Tellez & Jill Braverman among others. Catch all the action on the PPA Tour's YouTube Channel starting at 10AM MST.
