No rest for the weary as the PPA pros had no week off between the Tournament of Champions in Brigham City Utah to the PPA’s next stop in Kansas City Missouri. It was one of the hottest days we have seen at a PPA event this year with temperatures reaching triple digits. Referee timeouts when either player reached 6 points were instituted as an extra timeout to allow players time to find hydrate. Today was as much about the play on the court as it was physical fitness. Without further ado let’s dive into what we saw on singles day.
Men’s Singles Championship: (1) Ben Johns vs (3) Tyson McGuffin
Two of the sport’s household names will go at it one more time on Sunday for a right to be crowned champion. The last time these two faced off against each other was at the Texas Open where it was Ben Johns that won in three tight games. The conditions will be similar to what we saw in Texas so we’ll see if McGuffin can find a way through this go around.
Ben Johns had a rather straightforward day. Anytime Ben suffers an early loss in singles he always seems to bounce back at the next tournament and that is exactly what he did. He took out (17) Quang Duong, (9) Jaume Martinez Vich and (12) Julian Arnold all in straight games surrendering no more than 7 points in any of those games. Johns will look to carry that momentum into Sunday’s final against his rival.
On the other side Tyson McGuffin picked up right where he left off in Brigham City. After taking out (19) DJ Young 11-7, 11-3 he defeated a familiar face Connor Garnett 11-9, 11-2 in the QF. In the SF he faced his toughest test in (2) Federico Staksrud. After falling behind 10-3 in game 1 Tyson used one of his infamous timeouts to regroup. After that it was all McGuffin as he reeled off 9 points on serve to take game 1 12-10. In game 2 he closed it out 11-5 to stamp his ticket to Sunday.
Women’s Singles Championship: (1) Anna Leigh Waters vs (2) Catherine Parenteau
These two are no strangers to Championship Sunday and they will once again square off to play for gold. Waters holds a 5-1 record over Parenteau this year with her only loss coming at the Florida Open back in March.
Waters had a relatively easy day out there but did drop a game to (8) Lina Padegimaite before bouncing back in games 2 and 3 to win 11-3, 11-3. In the SF she faced (5) Lauren Stratman winning in straights 11-5, 11-3.
On the bottom half Catherine Parenteau had to fight and claw her way through (7) Judit Castillo and (11) Jorja Johnson. After an 11-0 start vs #7 seed, she dropped game 2 8-11 before taking game 3 11-2. In the SF she was down 8-1 to Jorja Johnson before winning 10 points on serve to close out game 1 11-8. Game 2 looked to be well in hand as Parenteau got off to a quick start up 5-1 but Johnson dug in and pushed it to 11-11 before losing 13-11 showing that singles is truly a game of runs.
On the Horizon
Mixed Doubles action kicks off at 10am CT tomorrow. All the matches will be streamed on Amazon Prime this week so don’t miss any of the action as back to back triple crowns for Tyson McGuffin and Catherine Parenteau are still alive after surviving a grueling day of singles in the blistering heat.
