The Veolia Milwaukee Open got underway at the Baird Center yesterday. This is not a progressive draw week so it was a full day of singles. This may end up being the most important tournament of the year for some as it is the last chance to accumulate points before the end of the year PPA Finals in San Clemente where only the top eight make it for singles and top sixteen make it for doubles. Let’s breakdown what when down.
Women’s Singles: Fahey’s strong run continues
Kate Fahey had medaled in six of the past eight PPA events in singles. It’s impressive given the fact that she was in qualifying in singles draws just five months ago. Today was another demonstration of why she may be the 2nd best singles player on tour right now as she took down her St Louis Shock teammate Anna Bright in the round of 16 in a hard fought high pitched three game match. From there she beat Kaitlyn Christian in three games and Judit Castillo in two games.
On the other side of the draw Chao Yi Wang will make her first PPA Championship Sunday appearance this week. Zoey, as most people call her, defeated Mary Brascia in the quarterfinals, which was significant as it catapulted Parris Todd into the top eight of the race rankings. Wang subsequently defeated Todd in the semifinals in three games. She'll have to impose her will coming forward if she wants to take down the red hot Fahey Sunday.
Men’s Singles: Staksrud books another ticket to Sunday
Federico Staksrud has had a historic singles season. He has competed in every singles tournament while his fellow competitors have taken many off or withdrawn for body preservation. He has also made sixteen finals and twenty semifinals coming into the event. Today was more of the same as he defeated some dangerous youngsters in Zane Ford and Adam Harvey to make his 17th final of the year.
On the other side Hunter Johnson has not so quietly been a top five singles player over the past 3 months. His ability to move and shape the ball off the forehand wing continues to give opponents fits. He beat last week’s runner up Michael Loyd 11-5, 11-3 in the quarterfinals and Pablo Tellez in three games in the semifinals.
On the Horizon
Mixed doubles action kicks off at 12pm EST. The #1 seeds are Dylan Frazier and Anna Bright. The former 2022 partners and former podcast hosts of the Drop will look to make their way through a fairly wide open draw on Friday. Don’t miss any of the action on PickleballTV.
