APP Tour Beer City Open – Live Blog
It’s live blog time. Check out the fantasy draft preview for the scoop on the brackets for this weekend and follow along to see how our picks are going.
Sunday, July 11 – Singles
6:56 pm EST (Slim) – Michelle Esquivel takes down Lauren Stratman in three games to take the gold medal in women’s singles. Both of the ladies seemed to be running out of gas in the final. Credit to Esquivel to pulling out her first singles gold in quite sometime.
Bobbi Oshiro had a great run today getting the bronze and this where there being only one stream is a real shame, as it would have been awesome for her to get some shine on the stream and also an awesome opportunity for pickleball fans to see a new and upcoming player.
Side note: apologies if you found a drop in live blog quality this weekend Gritty is usually the workhorse on live streams grinding away but he had other commitments weekend, which left this plug to do it this weekend
5:54 pm EST (Slim) – JW Johnson gets his first men’s singles pro singles gold medal defeating Jay Devilliers, 4-11, 11-8, 11-5, in the final. JW really seems to have been figuring out and developing his singles games these last couple of months, so it is very exciting to see what the future may hold for him in singles. I am sure Jay Devilliers will be excited to be heading home after his insane stretch of tournaments.
5:15 pm EST (Slim) – Michelle Esquivel is in the women’s gold medal match as she beats Lauren Stratman 11-2, 12-10. Lauren Stratman will be playing Bobbi Oshiro in the bronze medal match. Bobbi is having a massive day as she beat Andrea Koop 15-11 and Annica Cooper 15-4 to reach the bronze medal match.
4:17 pm EST (Slim) – Devilliers takes down Frazier 15-6 in the men’s bronze medal match. They played one game to 15 because apparently there is in coming rain in the forecast. We will see if they are able to get all the matches in. Still a very impressive day fro Frazier, making his singles debut.
3:50 pm EST (Slim) – The women’s winner bracket final is set with Lauren Stratman set to take on Michelle Esquivel. Lauren Stratman controlled her semi-final match against Vivienne David 11-3, 11-6, when Lauren’s ground strokes are on, she is a very tough match up for a lot of women. She also seems to be serving a little harder, which was making it tough for Vivienne to get to the net. Michelle Esiquivel defeated Andrea Koop in her semi final in three games, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6. If Lauren can carry over her level from the Vivienne match, I like her to beat Michelle in the winner’s final.
Dylan Frazier continues his very impressive pro singles debut by advancing to the bronze medal match after battling back to beat John Cincola, 15-11 after falling down 9-3 early in the match. Dylan has shown an impressive amount of fight today, falling down big early in a couple of his loser’s bracket matches. Dylan will meet Jay Devilliers in the bronze, I think Jay has a massive edge in this match, but if Dylan can find a way to extend points and the match he might have a chance, as I don’t know how much Jay has left in the tank.
3:10 pm EST (Slim) – JW Johnson beats Jay Devilliers in two games 11-7, 11-9. Not to take anything away from JW who has been playing a ton of pickleball (but at 19 I am not sure fatigue is thing haha) but Jay Devilliers looked really fatigued I think for the first time in this 8 tournaments in 9 weeks stretch or whatever it is that he has been playing. I know Jay is the back draw king, but I am curious if he has anything left in the tank today. On the loser’s side of the bracket, Dylan Frazier avenged his earlier loss to Jack Foster 15-7, and is not playing John Cincola who squeaked by AJ Koller 15-13 in the game to go to bronze. An impressive run for a guy in his first pro singles tournament.
In women’s Vivienne David, reached the winner’s bracket semi final but had to fight hard against Bobby Oshiro 10-12, 11-9,11-8. We clearly missed on Oshiro with the fantasy draft.
2:45 pm EST (Slim) – the first women’s semi-final is set, with the hometown girl Andrea Koop, set to take on Michelle Esquivel. Andrea made quick work of Corrine Carr 11-3, 11-0 to get there, while Michelle Esquivel had to go three games against Annica Cooper to get there, 10-12,11-5, 11-8. Lately it seems like almost a lock that Michelle’s first round match up will go three games. On the other side of the women’s draw Lauren Stratman is sitting in the semi-final waiting to play the winner of Vivienne David and Bobby Oshiro, after Bobby made quick work of Sydney Sonday 11-2, 11-1.
On the loser’s side of the men’s bracket, Dylan Frazier making his pro debut is making quite a run, having just knocked off FAD 15-7. That match also contained one of the wilder things I have seen in a match, Frazier hit a winner that may have clipped the net and said sorry before the point was over, and FAD complained that was a distraction and was awarded a point. I was shocked that the ref actually awarded FAD the point, and thought it was beyond poor sportsmanship on FAD’s part to ask for that, so was happy to see Dylan pull out the match.
2:05 pm EST (Slim) – After a short rain delay, Jay Devilliers handled John Cincola with relative ease 11-4, 11-4, and was in control the whole match. The JW vs Jay winner’s bracket final should be very interesting to watch, JW won the last match up between these two at the SoCal Classic, in a marathon 3 game match, so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. The women’s bracket is also under way now, with most of the opening round match ups complete.
12:55 pm EST (Slim) – JW Johnson won his semi-final over Jack Foster with relative ease (when doesn’t JW make it look easy though?) 11-5, 11-3. Jay Devilliers has reached the other semi-final with John Cincola, but William Sobek really made him work to get there, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4.
12:15 pm EST (Slim) – In men’s singles the first semi-final is set, with JW Johnson set to take on Jack Foster. In the quarterfinals JW went three games against AJ Koller, but none of the games were particularly close, 3-1, 11-5, 11-1. After squeaking by Dylan Frazier in his first round match 11-4, 4-11, 12-10, Jack Foster handled Juan Arraya 11-2, 11-4. I’d expect this semi final to be pretty competitive, but would expect JW to come out on top. On the bottom side of the draw John Cincola is sitting in the semi finals after making quick work of Kyle McKenzie 11-2, 11-8, and Frank Anthony Davis 11-4, 11-2. I would expect John beat FAD but was slightly surprised by the scores in that match. John will likely play Jay Devilliers, provided Jay can make it through his quarterfinal match up with William Sobek.
Saturday, July 10 – Gender Doubles
10:35 pm EST (Slim) – Devilliers and Smith take the gold 11-9, 11-8 over Stone and Deakin. Devilliers and Koop will both be going for a triple crown tomorrow.
9:35 pm EST (Slim) – Deakin and Stone sneak by Nunnery and Cassidy in three games, winning the third game 13-11. After playing a couple of close 3 game matches, it will be interesting to see if they have enough gas left for the gold medal match.
8:30 pm EST (Slim) – Andrea Koop and Callie Smith, take gold in dominant fashion 11-1, 11-1, going into the day they looked like the dominant team and they proved to be that.
7:45 pm EST (Slim) – Devilliers/Smith squeak by Deakin/Stone, 12-10 in the third game to advance to the gold medal match. It was an entertaining and competitive match, but it felt like neither team every really full caught their rhythm. Deakin/Stone will now play Nunnery/Cassidy in the bronze medal match, after Nunnery/Cassidy squeaked by Koller/Frazier 15-13 to get to the bronze. After a tough 3 set loss it will be interesting to see if Deakin and Stone can quickly recover mentally and physically for the bronze medal match.
On the women’s side, Stratman/Ansboury beat Esquivel/Remynse in three games to advance to the gold medal match.
6:25 pm EST (Slim) – Andrea Koop and Callie Smith advance to the gold medal match, beating Lauren Stratman and Sarah Ansboury in three games, after losing the first game 11-9, after falling behind early in that game, they cruised through the second and third games 11-3, 11-3. In the bronze medal match, Lauren and Sarah will face off against Maggie Remynse and Michelle Esquivel. Maggie and Michelle advanced to the bronze medal match by avenging their winner’s side loss to Vivienne David and Corrine Carr.
On the men’s side, Nunnery/Cassidy will face off versus Frazier/Koller in the match to go to bronze, which I anticipate should be a very competitive match. Frazier/Koller knocked out the birthday boy Johnny Goldberg and JW Johnson to get there. NML wishes Johnny who had a good run today, a happy birthday!
5:15 pm EST (Slim) – The men’s and women’s winner’s brackets finals are set. On the men’s side you have Stone/Deakin vs Smith/Devilliers and on the women’s side you have Koop/Smith vs. Stratman/Ansboury, so it has been a very chalky day on the winner’s side today, with none of the teams in the winner’s bracket finals having dropped a game yet today. I would expect the men’s winners final to be very competitive, on the women’s side I’ll be interested to see if Stratman/Ansboury can make Koop/Smith have to work, I tend to think they will.
3:39 PM EST (Slim) – the women’s semi-finals are set with Koop/Smith set to take on Whitwell/Kochli and Ansboury/Stratman taking on Carr/David. Carr/David played three games against Esquivel/Remynse, otherwise these teams have rolled into the semi’s.
On the men’s side Smith/Devilliers are taking on Frazier/Koller in one semi final and Stone/Deakin will play the winner of Nunnery/Cassidy vs Goldberg/Johnson in the other
12:00 pm EST (Slim) – The men’s doubles is just getting started and the women’s doubles is just about to get started. I have to say one of the things that I have generally really enjoyed about the APP Tour event is them having two reliable streams all day at the tournaments, but this is the second event lately which has only had one stream and I have to say that is disappointing. I will notice it particularly today where between the men’s and women’s brackets there will be more matches that I want to watch, but even yesterday I think the stream only had one back draw match and no Senior Pro matches, and it is always nice when the Senior Pros can get some love and play with the second stream. I understand it is each tournament owners decision, but I am hoping this does not become a regular thing.
Friday, July 9 – Mixed Doubles
9:11 pm EST (Slim) – the back draw king, does it again, Jay Devilliers and Andrea Koop come through the back draw, and take the game to 15 to take gold at Andrea’s tournament.
6:33 pm EST (Slim) – Deakin/Smith take down Smith/Whitwell in straight games, 11-8, 11-1 to advance to the gold medal match. After jumping out to a big early early lead in game 1, Smith/Whitwell really seemed to lose their rhythm, and gave a lot of easy points to Deakin/Smith. In the bronze medal match, Smith/Whitwell will see Koop/Devilliers, in a rematch of their semi-final match earlier today. Koop/Devilliers defeated Stratman/Frazier, who had been looking strong all day to advance to the bronze medal match.
5:11 pm EST (Slim) – The second semi-final, was full of cray momentum swings, as Smith/Whitwell took down Koop/Devilliers, in three games 11-9, 0-11, 12-10. It’s a big win for Smith/Whitwell, who are now guaranteed a podium sport. Koop also seemed to be pretty gassed towards the end of the match, which is something to monitor as she and Devilliers attempt to work their way through the loser’s bracket now.
4:15 pm EST (Slim) – in the first semi-final Deakin/Smith squeak by Stratman/Frazier, in three hard fought sets, 11-2,10-12,11-9. I am still not convinced that Deakin is healthy, he does not appear, to me, to be generating the same power on some of his shots, especially on his forehand. Still an impressive fight from Stratman/Frazier after dropping the first game 11-2, and falling behind early in game 2.
1:35 pm EST (Gritty) – Stratman/Frazier took down Carr/Stone. Shout out to Papa Frazier for the stream. I liked Lauren and Dylan going into the weekend, but I still had Carr/Stone ahead of them. Stratman/Frazier simply looked like the better team and in game 2 Dylan was just speeding up Carr all over the place. The downward trend continues for Carr/Stone.
11:23 am EST (Gritty) – There’s an argument to be made that the top half of this draw features 4 of the top 5 mixed teams in this tournament. I actually had Whitwell/Smith slightly ahead of Esquivel/Cassidy but Slim had them flipped. So it’s a much tougher road for either Smith/Deakin or Carr/Stone as potential gold medal teams. Koop/Devilliers have a relatively easy path, although the Ansboury/Hewett pairing has shown the ability to knock off top seeds.
