APP Tour Chicago Open – Live Blog

Mixed Friday, Gender Doubles on Saturday and Singles on Sunday. Get it in you with Boxcar Productions streaming live all weekend for the APP as usual and Dominic Catalano and Lauren McLaughlin calling games.

You can check our fantasy draft preview here to see how we did.

Sunday, September 5th – Singles

8:59 pm EST (Gritty) – Jay wins in 3 over Zane and I’m shook that I worried about his health. Should not have taken Zane over him.

Kawamoto wins easily over Charity.

We’ll have more takeaways after the weekend from a very good weekend of pickle in Chi Town!

6:03 pm EST (Gritty) – Another big singles day for Dylan Frazier as he is playing in the bronze against Zane right now. JW lost to Jack Foster, which is a bit suprising but unfortunately for Foster it’s another 4th place finish. It is tough to be consistent.

Jade Kawamoto is through to the gold after taking down Lauren Stratman in 2 straights. Cannot be overly shocked with that in this field without any top singles female players. Stratman withdrew so we get Charity and Kawamoto in the final after she squeaked by Alix Troung 16-14.

3:20 pm EST (Gritty) – After being down 7-2 in the third to Dylan Frazier, Zane pulled it out against him winning 11-8 in the third. Zane and Jay are currently in game 1 of their winners bracket final.

JW not surprisingly is making his way through the losers bracket and I have to expect we’ll see him in that bronze.

1:41 pm EST (Gritty) – Huge win for Dylan Frazier over JW Johnson. Incredible when he’s barely played singles and JW has been on a tear. It was a super close match but it is that consistency that makes the top players the top players. JW could still make it through the back draw for gold but a much longer road.

Jack Foster also wins a close one over John Cincola, which should help him get closer to that consistent 4th place.

Saturday, September 4th – Gender Doubles

10:06 pm EST (Gritty) – Have a weekend Susannah Barr. She is clearly the rising player on the pro scene along with Jillian Braverman. I would say Stratman is firmly established as a higher end female pro at this point even though she is relatively new and newer than Barr to pickleball. That’s a great win for both of them in a tight field.

9:37 pm EST (Gritty) – Heartbreaker for Devilliers and Stone, and glory for Navratil and Merchant. I am very, very surprised by this result but all credit to them. They were clearly steady all day. 19-17 in the third after being up big in the game to 15 after a rain delay. You have to wonder what that lighting does for players as it does not look pleasant to play in.

7:57 pm EST (Gritty) – Surprising that we’re going to 15 in the men’s gold after Devilliers and Stone went 11-1 in game 1. I was basically out on the Zane/Altaf partnership but this is an impressive showing. That game to 15 could go either way.

Another solid day for the Kawamoto’s who do end up sneaking into bronze with a 15-13 win over Esquivel and Ansboury, and they played Koop and Carr to 3. These 2 will be podium presences if they keep playing more.

5:38 pm EST (Gritty) – Barr and Stratman comr back from 7-3 down in the third to win 11-9 over Koop and Carr. Huge weekend for Barr and good win for the new duo.

5:24 pm EST (Gritty) – A really nice day for Zane and Altaf who beat JW and Johnny Goldberg after losing in New Jersey then they take down the formidable Gridley/Barrientos duo. Those two were up 7-5 on Koller and Cassidy in 3 and it’s funny how these days go. Koller and Cassidy lose a tight one to the top team and then are playing in the bronze while Austin and Mario are done for the day.

Susannah Barr continues her strong run with Lauren Stratman as they are currently in the winners bracket final against Koop and Carr.

12:26 pm EST (Gritty) – Another big win for Austin and Mario. Would not have expected this win but it is not shocking either. A couple of weird guys to play as well. It also appears Frazier’s partner, Jeff Pope, probably is not that good at least for this level right now. Gabriel Tordio looks gold after seeing him play against Lica and Daescu recently, and Klinger is getting better, but I would never expect Frazier to lose to them typically.

10:48am EST (Gritty) – Cincola and Hewett lose to Gridley and Barrientos after having a bye. This partnership can’t last that much longer as the two don’t seem to be getting results. Rafa only seems to get results in mixed and I’m curious to see Cincola in a different mid-tier looking partnership . This Goldberg/JW vs. Gridley/Barrientos match is one I’d like to be able to watch.

Friday, September 3rd – Mixed Doubles

9:32 pm EST (Gritty) – What a day for Barr and Navratil as the mixed results keep on coming for Barr. They roll through Frazier and Stratman then sneak through in 2 in the gold 14-12 in game 2, then just a spanking in the game to 15 giving up only 2 points. There’s no doubt in this field they had a chance to win a gold as there was no dominant team in this field but very impressive fashion.

6:45 pm EST (Gritty) –Stratman and Frazier lose a very close one to JW and Esquivel, and what a nice day for the pair who weren’t even supposed to play. Barr and Navratil will play the bronze against Stratman and Frazier so they get another crack at them.

2:58 pm EST (Gritty) – We are in a rain delay. The winners bracket final is set as JW and Esquivel won over Rafa and Sarah in 3. JW continuing to assert his standing as a force on the tour.

12:14 pm EST (Gritty) – I still had Koop/Devilliers as my #2 overall big board team but I was surprised when Slim wanted the second choice in the draft. They haven’t had good enough results for me to feel great about them and in this field most of the teams are too close to expect auto golds or silvers. Stratman/Frazier take down Koop/Devilliers in 2 after being down 6-0 in the second.

Even these mixed APPs are tough as Sheehan-Dizon and Morgan Evans go 2 and out. Gotta think people are getting used to that Morgan serve as we already saw Roditi and Chou deal with it satisfactorily in Cali last weekend after both massively struggling with it at previous tournaments.

11:22 am EST (Gritty) – I was interested to see how it went and Stratman/Frazier do beat Barr/Navratil in 3. The first two games went 12-10 but game 3 went 11-2 to the team I thought was slightly better going into the weekend. Esquivel and JW have played a couple of tight matches in 3 games against both Kawamoto sisters and expectedly pulled them out.

The big news is Rafa Hewett and Sarah Ansboury winning in 2 over Adam and Corrine. This pairing continues to win legit matches in mixed while the relationship partnership with Adam and Corrine continues to decline.

8:23 am EST (Gritty) – First thing to note about the draw is that JW Johnson is now playing with Michelle Esquivel. Michelle was previously set to play with Rob Nunnery so I’ll be curious to see whether this is health related for Nunnery or something else.