After a week off the PPA Tour resumed play in pickleball’s birth state Seattle, Washington. Despite top names Tyson McGuffin and Catherine Parenteau missing in action there was still plenty of entertaining matches across the board. Let’s dive into what took place in both men’s and women’s singles.
Men’s Singles Final: Top Seeds Collide
(1) Ben Johns and (2) Federico Staksrud will meet in a men’s singles final for the 5th time this year with Johns coming out on top in three of their four matches. Surprisingly this is the first time they will be meeting since the Onix Austin Showdown in March. It shows that these singles draws are getting much more difficult to navigate and today’s action was just another example of that.
Johns faced a gauntlet as he took out (9) Jaume Martinez Vich 15-13 11-6 in the QF before taking out (5) Connor Garnett 10-12, 14-12 11-8 in the SF. Both Vich and Garnett have made splashes this year making two of the last three singles finals on the PPA Tour so it was quite the effort from Ben to take them out back to back.
On the other side Federico Staksrud took out qualifier Naveen Beasley in the QF who defeated both Dylan Frazier and Ryan Sherry earlier in the day. In the SF he faced lucky loser Ryan Eveloff in what was a tightly contested straight game victory 11-6, 11-7. It was a nice day for Eveloff as he took out household names (6) Pablo Tellez and (3) JW Johnson prior to the loss to Staksrud.
Women’s Singles Final: The Texas Open Rematch
(1) Anna Leigh Waters and (2) Lea Jansen will meet once again in a women's singles final with the previous four meetings going in favor of the #1 seed. However the last time they faced off at the Texas Open it was Jansen who had match points on her paddle as she was just one backhand passing shot away from earning her first gold medal of the year. What makes this rematch even more exciting is the post match announcement by Jansen that this will be her last singles tournament ever.
Waters defeated Lacy Schneemann 11-5, 11-0 and Judit Castillo 11-3, 11-7 en route to Sunday’s final while Jansen ended the day winning her last three games 11-0, 11-1, 11-0 after dropping the 2nd game in her QF match to Lauren Stratman 11-13.
What’s on Deck
Mixed doubles action kicks off Friday morning on PPA’s YouTube channel before switching over to CBS Sports at noon PST. Anna Bright/James Ignatowich are looking to get back to championship Sunday after falling just short in both Texas and San Clemente while Dylan Frazier/Mary Brascia are setup for a QF showdown with Ben Johns/Anna Leigh Waters. Don’t miss out as it should be an exciting slate of matches.
