Normally we see the same old familiar faces on Championship Sunday but today at the Takeya Showcase was full of parity and upsets. With this being the 3rd or even 4th tournament in a row for some of the pros on tour fatigue was definitely a topic of conversation heading into the event. Let's dive into some of the highly entertaining matches we saw this afternoon.
Men’s Singles Championship: (2) Federico Staksrud vs (24) Gabriel Joseph
Federico Staksrud is the definition of consistency in men’s singles as he has now made 7 PPA championship Sundays in the 14 tournaments he has played in. Today he had a much more difficult road than he did in Seattle but it was vintage Fed as he took (15) Hayden Patriquin 11-6, 11-8 (7) Dylan Frazier 11-9, 11-5 and (3) JW Johnson 11-8, 6-11, 11-2 to stamp his ticket to the final.
Gabriel Joseph was the Cinderella story of the day as he was playing fairly close to his home in Calabasas, California. His day started off a bit shaky as he found himself down 10-2 to (9) Pablo Tellez before reeling off 10 points on serve to steal game 1 12-10. He then took out (8) Connor Garnett 4-11, 11-6, 12-10 (16) Yates Johnson 11-9, 6-11,11-7 and (4) Tyson McGuffin 2-11, 11-5, 11-4. What day for Gabe as he will look to cap off his magical run with a gold medal against one of the household names in the sport Federico Staksrud on Sunday.
Women’s Singles Championship: (9) Hurricane Tyra Black vs (6) Yana Newell
Hurricane Tyra Black pulled off what seemed like the impossible today as she took out (1) Anna Leigh Waters 11-8, 2-11,11-3 in the QF. What makes that win even more special is that her first singles tournament of her career was at the Florida Open in March. She lost to Anna Leigh in round 2 11-0, 11-0. Tyra didn’t stop there as she took out (5) Lauren Stratman 11-5,11-6 to make her first PPA championship Sunday.
Yana Newell has been knocking on the door step as she earned her first PPA singles medal of the year last week in Seattle. Today she backed up that performance by defeating (14) Jorja Johnson 11-9, 11-0 and (2) Mary Brascia 6-11, 11-3 11-4 to make Sunday’s final. She is looking for her first gold medal of the year as she and Lauren Stratman took a silver in Charlotte in women’s doubles.
On The Horizon
Mixed Doubles kicks off tomorrow at 10am PST on PPA’s YouTube Channel before moving over to CBS from 12-3PST. Coverage concludes on YouTube from 3PM-onward. If today was any indicator you will not want to miss out!
