Singles day got moved indoors early due to inclement weather, which pushed back late round matches into the wee hours of the night. For those who stayed up late they were treated to some highly entertaining matches which resulted in some major upsets. Let’s breakdown what happened starting with men’s singles.
Men’s Singles Championship: (1) Ben Johns vs (22) Christopher Haworth
Christopher Haworth made a name for himself last year when he took out Ben Johns at Nationals. Since then he has mostly competed on the APP Tour but he showed up to Dallas this week with something to prove as he ended the finals streak of Federico Staksrud with a convincing 11-6, 11-2 semifinals victory. Haworth’s length and elite groundstrokes from the back of the court got the job done and he’ll have a chance to pull off another monster upset on Sunday.
Ben Johns had a pretty comfortable day on the top half of the draw. After falling behind to Dylan Frazier 10-5 in game one he came all the way back to take it 13-11 and followed it up with an 11-1 win in game 2. Johns has seemed to regain his singles form after his victory in Atlanta last week.
Women’s Singles Championship: (3) Lea Jansen vs (4) Salome Devidze
Lea Jansen defeated Catherine Parenteau in a late night thriller winning 11-7 in the 3rd to advance to Sunday's final. Parenteau forced Jansen into some long drawn out points but Jansen's ability to finish up at the kitchen line was the difference.
On the other side of the draw, there was tons of drama and tight line calls between Anna Leigh Waters and Salome Devidze to close out the evening on grandstand. After Devidze dropped game 1 11-8, she began to go for her shots even more and it paid off as she handed Waters her first singles loss of the season. Devidze and Jansen have a checkered history so it should make for a highly entertaining final on Sunday.
On the Horizon
Mixed doubles action kicks off at 12pm EST on PickleballTV. Jack Sock is not in the draw this week so Catherine Parenteau will be teaming up with former MLP teammate Tyler Loong. Make sure to follow the PPA Tour on social media for updates on the schedule as weather may push back some of the early round matches.
