PPA Tour Texas Open – Live Random Thoughts

The streaming could be challenging for some fans. Thursday and Saturday look fine (YT/Tennis Channel). Friday, PPA shows 2-5 CT on CBS Sports. Sunday can get very confusing. It starts on CBS Sports, moves to YT/Tennis Channel at 1 CT, then 4-5 CT on ESPN. The 1 hour on ESPN will be the MXD Gold match. Usually that 1 hour time slot means it is 2/3 instead of 3/5 and possibly played early morning and recorded. Grandstand court should be available for all days up to Sunday but we know that usually gets cut early. The weather may be a factor on Saturday and/or Sunday with possibility of thunderstorms.

Last year’s medal defenders:
MD: Johns brothers, Newman/Wright, Deakin/Ignatowich!
WD: ALW and Leigh, Irvine/Bright, Parenteau/Jansen
MXD: ALW/Ben, Parenteau/Newman, Etta Wright/Rettenmaier
WS: ALW, Jansen, Parenteau
MS: McGuffin, Ben, Julian Arnold

Championship Sunday, June 4rth

10:35 am EST (Waggish) – It’s not all championship today as we first need to finish off the WD SF games. AL/CP vs Lea/Jessie SF. Game 1 started up from where they left off and goes 13-11. Very close game 2 with AL/CP doing all they can to defeat the fierce fight coming from Lea/Jessie. AL/CP (11,7). Lucky for AL it didn’t go to 3 games as she’ll have a long day playing in the 3 championship matches.

12:20 pm EST (Waggish) – Dizon/Wright vs Bright/Schneemann SF. Game 1: Lacy and AB didn’t look like they were quite ready to fight. Dizon/Wright take game 1 because they were ready. Lacy isn’t known to have a strong backhand. Not stacking on receive hurts them when their score is odd and AB doesn’t have the chance to use her BH from right. Luckily in game 2, they don’t get stuck on an odd score and get a lead. Meghan not being given the opportunities. Lacy and AB clearly have woken up. Game 3, Etta targeted heavily. Meghan and Etta getting into the firefights. They have a small lead at end-change 6-3. Lacy’s 3rd shot drops can be surprisingly high for a pro. It gets tied at 8. Dizon/Wright (3,7-,8) Dizon has 2 prior Sundays in 2023: Gold at Red Rock with Etta against Lea/Allyce; Silver at Austin with V.David against AL/AB. Wright has the one Sunday.

1:25 pm EST (Waggish) – Johns vs Jaume Martinez Vich MS. In game 1, you get the feeling that Vich is just happy to be there. Game 2, Vich actually made Johns run at 85%+ on a few rallies. Not an easy feet! (see what I did there). Ben down 2-8 and fights back to make it 7-9. Game 3, Vich is feeling it but Ben isn’t going to let it happen. Collin is also there so an extra pair of eyes to help Ben make adjustments if needed. The point at 2-1 shows that even Ben can be surprised. 3-1, Ben looking winded with the running. If Vich can keep with the angles and cross-courts to force the running, he stands a chance. Ben is conserving energy and he probably hopes that Vich runs out of energy on his exertions first. Johns leads 6-2 at end-change. After training with Tyson, Vich doing a remarkable imitation of Tyson with the chest pumps and strut walking. We have the umbrella volunteers there today whose sole job is to raiser and lower the umbrella for the pros during breaks. Vich winning some rallies but not on his serve where he’d get the points. Congratulations to Vich for getting his first PPA Silver. (2,7-,5)

2:25 pm EST (Waggish) – AL/CP vs Etta/Meghan WD: Game 2, firefight at 2-0 for some entertainment value in an otherwise boring match. Lost end of game 2 while the stream got switched over to something or other. I was hoping game 2 would end with only 1 or 2 points and there’d be a rule that fans don’t have to suffer through a third game if a team only gets 3 points in the first 2 games. ha, ha. Game 3: Dizon/Wright have nothing to lose and go for it with 5-1 lead – already more points than games 1 and 2! Closer game 3 and gold goes to AL/CP (1,3,7)

3:45 pm EST (Waggish) – Johns vs Johnson/Frazier MD: Johns team mainly implementing the slow dinking to middle strategy until you have a ball you can attack. JW’s offensive lobs not finding the back line and go long in games 1 and 2. Dylan’s speed-ups are anticipated and countered by Ben. It hurts them that they won’t occasionally put JW in front of Ben. And we finally see it in game 3 for a few serves when they don’t stack. It takes them from 1 to 4. With Ben’s dominance and anticipation, JW and Dylan don’t win but hopefully get closer to figuring out the Johns each time. Watching Dylan getting attacked by Ben reminded me of his responses to Matt’s attacks before he figured out how to defend. (6,4,8)

5:05 pm EST (Waggish) – Lea’s new paddle (presume Perseus) is a weapon and she holds AL to only 3 points in game 1. Lea has a vision coach on her bench. Game 2: Wow! Down 3-7 and AL goes all the way to game point. Gets second chance at game point on 10-9. But goes into net. Ties at 10, 11, 12. Then AL reaches 14. Game 3: AL is playing smart and choosing her timing for her placements. But Lea leads at end-change 6-4. I’ve just never seen anything like this from Lea before. Ties and sticks at 8 for several side-outs. The crowds heads are on a swivel! Very funny on camera. Ties at 10! AL does it! (3-,12, 10) Lea hasn’t beaten AL since 2021 San Clemente Gold per announcers. 4rth stream switch for the day! I guess we don’t get the post game interview during the switch. AL will immediately go into her MXD.

6:10 pm EST (Waggish) – AL/Ben vs Newmans MXD 2/3 for the 1 hour slot on ESPN. Game 1: See 4-2 rally! And for some reason, Newmans aren’t targeting the tired AL during that rally. Great coverage from Newmans and Ben during that rally to keep it going. But AL gets involved in 5-2 highlight rally. Ben icing Riley and goes after Lindsey hard. Newmans playing well against the one-man Ben show but Ben dominating the finish of the point. Game 2: Riley playing left and Lindsey in front of Ben which is working well to get them the win. AL/Ben almost took their lead away with a run when Newmans had game point. Doesn’t look like AL likes the no tap. She went to net and reached her paddle out. Newman just ignored it and went to bench. Game 3: AL/Ben lead at end-change 6-4. See 7-4 rally! Crowd goes wild. Ben getting too many balls he can put away. They win. (2,8-,6). Double-triple.

Saturday, June 3rd – Doubles

12:30 pm EST (Waggish) – MD: 32 teams in MD, including the 8 from the Qualifier round. Qualifier showing 37 teams. Notable pairings: Texas players Hunter and Yates Johnson; Tardio and Newell; Loong and Koller again; Deakin and Scarpa; Weinbach and Morariu! Jay and Travis; Garnett and Pesa Teoni

Bracket: Quarter 1: (1)Johns, (9)Staksrud/Tellez, Bar/Dawson. Quarter 2: (5)Jay/Travis, (4)Koller/Loong Previously it showed Thomas Wilson with Brendon Long but they are not showing now. Quarter 3: (2)Newman/Wright, Arnold/Young, Garnett/Teoni, Patriquin/Smith, Quarter 4: (3)Frazier/Johnson v Johnson twins (round 2), (6)McGuffin/Ignatowich.

WD: 26 teams and no qualifier.Bright and Schneemann (MLP partners). Jorja is with Judit Castillo – new partnership. No Vivienne David.
Bracket: Quarter 1: (1)CP/AL, Stratman/Newman. Quarter 2: (5)Castillo/Johnson, (4)Irvine/Jansen. Quarter 3: (3)Bright/Schneemann, (6)Irina/Yana, Sarah David/Hessert. Quarter 4: (2)Smith/Kovalova, (7)Dizon/Wright

MD early round results: Smith/Hewett go down to DeLaRosa/Auvergne (9,8) in round 1. McGuffin/Ignatowich easily beat Vich/Tamaki (0,1). These teams face each other in round 2. Locklear/Goldberg beat Deakin/Scarpa in 3 (8,5-,10). Still no results for Bronze. Staksrud challenged James paddle. Then James taught them how to delam. James has a great sense of humor.

1:05 pm EST (Waggish) – Arnold/Young vs Patriquin/S.Smith (GS). Game 2 was a barn burner. Tied at 9 after Patriquin/S.Smith just kept creeping points on Arnold/Young from down at 5. Game 3, Patriquin/S.Smith lead at end-change 6-3 and can’t be caught. DJ and Julian were overcome by the speed of Hayden’s hands in some of those battles. (8-,9,4)

Newman/Wright vs Garnett/Teoni: Game 2, nice rally at 7-3. Then Riley and Matt both go after the ball and both miss. Funny reaction from Riley. See 8-3, Riley and Matt just go multiple times at Garnett’s chest and puts him back on his heels. He’ll learn how to defend something like that. (5,3) Garnett/Teoni should make a good run in the backdraw until they meet up with a very offensive-minded team. At interview, Newman says his paddle gives him much more power. His signature paddle will be out in July. Matt says he does cardio which was a surprise to hear (for me). Riley on paddle tap: Riley mentioned Matt’s hug of Ben after game 1 yesterday. Funny as some said it was a “dig” at Riley’s attitude. Matt cleared it up as a big joke when Ben reached out his arms for the hug.

QF line-up: Johns vs Staksrud/Tellez. S/T beat Bar/Dawson (7,4). Koller/Loong vs Jay and Travis. Newman/Wright vs Patriquin/S.Smith. McGuffin/Ignatowich vs a Johnson team. M/I beat DLR/Auvergne (9,6).

1:40 pm EST (Waggish) – Frazier/Johnson vs Johnsons: Game 1 was a quick 11-0. See 7-3 game 2. Nice little around the head scorpion from JW. JW got a little lazy with his hits and Johnsons get within 1 at 7-6 where both teams stagnate for several side-outs. F/J (0,8).

4:00 pm EST (Waggish) – (1)Johns vs (9)Staksrud/Tellez QF #1: See 4-5 rally with 2 ATPs in the rally. S/T get a 4 point lead! Sloppy mistakes by both Fed and Pablo at 4-8 to give Johns the serve back. Staksrud had a put-away at 5-8 to get the serve back but flubs it. Johns tie at 8 and still serving. Game 2: S/T get a small lead at 4-1. Ben taking every ball he can possibly reach. The lead extends to 6-1 and Tellez challenges an out ball as if “why not”. The ball was in! From 1-7, will Ben do what he did in game 1 and start their run? S/T staying strong though. Impressive playing from them. At 3-10, we get a rain delay!!! Oh, no. That is going to favor the Johns big time! After the rain delay, Johns pretty much concede game 2 to get to game 3. Their game plan is clear – dink, dink, dink – mainly to middle. They take a commanding lead as Staksrud/Tellez are not that good at speeding up off the bounce. Tellez tries but gets the ball too high multiple times. Crowd is really into this match! Staksrud playing the dinking game too much – no pressure on the Johns. (8,3-,3) Really bad break for S/T as the 3rd game might have been at least closer without the long break.

(4)Koller/Loong vs (5)Jay/Travis QF #2 (GS): Tight game 1 with no large leads. Jay and Travis don’t appear to be stacking. Jay argues with ref at 7-8 but I can’t hear what he’s saying other than “oh, my God”. This may be one of the closest games you’ll see today. Tied at 9 but AJ/Tyler get to 11 first. Game 2 starts close also but Jay and Travis slowly pull away. Rain delay at 4-6. See good rally to get to 5-6 after rain delay. Another good rally at 8-8! Game 3: Tyler playing out of his mind at 2-3!! Good play from AJ at 8-4. Controversy at 6-10 – presumably the ball as refs bring out the box of balls. Replay of serve gets Jay/Travis a point. Fun match! AJ/Tyler into semi against Johns. (9,9-,7)

4:21 pm EST (Waggish) – Newman/Wright vs Patriquin/S.Smith QF #3. Ambush in game 1 from Matt/Riley but Hayden and Spencer aren’t laying down and get a good lead in game 2. But the experience of Matt/Riley close it to tie 9 from 5. Ultimately, they win (1,9). Riley able to handle the quickness of Hayden.

4:40 pm EST (Waggish) – (6)James/Tyson vs (3)Dylan/JW: James falls down at 6-1 and Tyson covers the ball from there! It got them going for some points. Dylan felt pretty good about that OH opportunity from James at 6-4. James always talks about Dylan has no power on his overheads. Dylan playing extremely well! Interesting reaction from James at 4-10-2 down the middle from Dylan/JW. Possibly he thought Tyson should have taken it? Game 2: Tyson calls time-out at 2-1 which seems like an odd time to do it without a streak from the opponent’s. Then you see Tyson sitting all by himself on the opposite side of the court – not on the player’s bench! Very strange. Medical timeout pops up on screen so presumably he is struggling with the heat/humidity. For some reason, 2 refs are standing on that side too and you got to wonder what requires them to do that. Tyson must have had Jimmy’s paddle because AB comes over and grabs it. Forfeit due to James medical condition. (7,2) by Retirement. PPA didn’t say much – just that James had to retire because not feeling well. His prior fall might have been due to light-headedness. It had not looked like a trip from something on the court. CORRECTION: I forgot this was GS so no player’s benches. It was normal chairs which are on the court. So retract that “very strange” comment.

5:12 pm EST (Waggish) – Irvine/Jansen vs Castillo/J.Johnson: Judit clearly the target in this match. Good rally at 7-1 though Judit/Jorja need to learn how to return from baseline when they get pushed back like that. Lea and Jessie overwhelm the PPA newcomer. (2,2). They play AL/CP in SF.

5:50 pm EST (Waggish) – (2) Kovalova/Smith vs (7) Dizon/Wright. Despite the fire-engine red skirts of Kovalova/Smith, it is Etta and Meghan who are on fire in game 1. Game 2, both teams fighting and keeping it close. Meghan’s fire power get them to the SF (4,7).

MD backdraw: Garnett/Teoni meet up with Staksrud/Tellez and get knocked out (5). Jay/Travis get taken out by DLR/Auvergne (5). These teams play each other next to determine who gets to play for 5th place. Patriquin/Smith go down to Bar/Dawson (5) who then win against Tamaki/Vich (5) to play for 5th place.

6:45 pm EST (Waggish) – (3) AB/Lacy vs (6) Irina/Yana. Tight game 3 at 6-6. From the tie at 7, AB/Lacy get to game point. (5,6-,8) They play Dizon/Wright in SF.

Johns vs AJ/Tyler SF: It’s hard to look good against the Johns. But AJ and Tyler put up a strong showing in game 1 despite their loss. Game 2’s dinking may have lulled them to sleep as the Johns took a 6-1 lead. AJ highlight at 2-9. Johns (7,2).

7:20 pm EST (Waggish) – (2)Newman/Wright vs (3)Frazier/Johnson SF. Game 1. From down 2-7, N/W run to 5. Riley highlight at 4-7. Fun hands battle at 5-8. JW casual “day in the park” highlight at 9-5. Game 2. Dylan and JW are focused and alert to take advantage of any high ball. And not afraid of the firefights either. At 0-4, will Matt and Riley have an answer. Maybe not, the young guns make it 8-3. They are facing Johns on Sunday! (5,4) Post-interview, JW and Dylan couldn’t care less about the paddle tap. Either way is fine with them. Backdraw: Staksrud/Tellez over DLR/Auvergne (14) and win 5th place over Bar/Dawson (5).

8:05 pm EST (Waggish) – AL/CP vs Lea/Jessie SF. Close game 1. AL showing some OH power at 6-5. It gets to 10-9, wind is picking up. After a time-out, AL and CP line up to resume play. Lea complains about net. then Jessie shouts out at Connor to do something. So we have a long time-out to fix the strap on the net. Connor gets on the court to use his phone. I guess no one wants to donate their carabiner from their bag. They have removed the net and are bringing in a replacement! Buy your Selkirk nets now – only $4444. Net is ready. One team looks ready to go out on the court, the other looks pissed. Looks like we get a weather delay due to wind until 7:30 pm CT. 17 mph wind — hmmm. That is nothing for northern Texas.

9:10 pm EST (Waggish) – WD SF will be completed on Sunday, starting 9 CT, 10 ET. MD Bronze goes to Newman/Wright over Koller/Loong (2,10) (played despite wind). The WD 5th place goes to Buckner/Padegimaite over Castillo/Johnson (11). It looks like they played that despite the wind too.

Friday, June 2nd – Mixed

8:55 am EST (Waggish) – MXD: 48 teams in main draw with 8 qualifiers, 19 teams in qualifier. (27)Julie Johnson playing with Gabe Tardio! Dylan doesn’t have a steady MXD partner so this time he’s with Lauren Stratman. His sometime partner Callie is with Jay. Lindsey reunions with “no paddle tap mid-match” Riley, presumably playing with his new Takeya paddle. Dizon and Staksrud which sounds like a strong team. Don’t forget some of today’s stream will be on CBS Sports.
Bracket Highlights: Quarter #1: (1)AL/Ben, (16)Schneemann/Hewett, (8)Kovalova/Wright, (9)Stratman/Frazier, (40)Emmrich/Siljestrom
Quarter #2: (4)Bright/Ignatowich, (5)Smith/Devilliers, (12)Wright/Bar, (21)Buckner/Deakin, (13)Irina/Smith
Quarter #3: (2)Parenteau/McGuffin, (7)Johnson/Johnson, (10)Grechkina/Arnold, (15)Dizon/Staksrud
Quarter #4: (3)Newman/Newman, (14)Black/Loong, (11)Jansen/Rettenmaier, (6)Irvine/Koller

1:43 pm EST (Waggish) – First and second rounds are all as expected with some wide margin wins for the top seeds. Regina Goldberg/Patriquin had a perhaps unexpected win over Schneemann/Hewett (10-,9,6). They play AL/Ben next. Tereschenko/Smith vs Tavernier/Koszuta (9,7). Wright/Bar easy win over Buckner/Deakin (4,1). Castillo/Shick gave Smith/Devilliers a run in 2nd game (1,8). Parenteau/McGuffin over Rane/Tellez (6,7) but from what I saw they were dominant despite the score. Dizon/Staksrud went to 3 games over Oshiro-Dawson (9,9-,1). Irvine/Koller were pushed to 3 games by #38 seed Valdes/Pailet (4-,7,3). Yana and Julian over Collin Johns and Tina Pisnik in 3 (7-,7,7).

2:40 pm EST (Waggish) – Jansen/Rettenmaeir vs AJ and Jessie: I thought AJ played well in the second game despite the score. It is still very clear there is no chemistry between AJ and Jessie. AJ didn’t aggressively poach but he did work some points where Jessie just stood there – not prepping for a return or anything. Strange. Then the stacking really hurts them – not doing a full stack on the receive. Travis heavily targeted Jessie. Lea and Travis won mainly by driving a truck through the wide divide frequently between AJ/Jessie. It wasn’t an alley – it was a 6 lane highway. (3,3). AJ playing with a new paddle (used to use Joola). It might be Takeya or a Volair – couldn’t tell. What’s up with not getting another match immediately on GS. PPA has endless pro interviews between matches. Then they put a back draw match on CC. Newman/Newman over Black/Loong (10,4) to face Jansen/Rettenmaier in QF.

UPSET #2 seed! It was not streamed because you know gotta get those pro interviews in and the back-draw match. lol. Dizon/Staksrud over Parenteau/McGuffin (6,2). That’s a big point spread and hopefully we’ll find out what went on. NML is on record that Staksrud is underrated as a MXD player! D/S will face the Johnsons in the QF after their near flawless game against Grechkina/Arnold (0,5). Wright/Bar beat Smith/Devilliers with a crush in game 2 (7,0). They face Bright/Ignatowich in QF after their win over Tereschenko/Smith (4,2). Kovalova/Wright beat Stratman/Frazier (5,5). They play Waters/Johns in QF. Waters/Johns had an easy game 1 against Goldberg/Patriquin but G/P came alive in game 2. (0,9).

4:55 pm EST (Waggish) – Al/Ben defeat Lucy and Matt 6/3. They will play Bright/Ignatowich in SF after B/I defeat of Wright/Bar (7,2). Newmans are playing strong for their reunion with a defeat over Jansen/Rettenmaier (7,8).

5:15 pm EST (Waggish) – Johnsons vs Dizon/Staksrud. Game 1, the Johnsons caught up to tie with D/S at 8 but unable to get past that. Game 2, Interesting shot selection from the Johnsons in game 2 to Staksrud forehand. That was not a winning strategy. Easy to look strong when all you have to do is whip your forehand. Staksrud serve also gave them a little trouble. (8,2) D/S will face Newmans in SF.

7:15 pm EST (Waggish) – Newmans vs Dizon/ Staksrud: Both Newmans playing with the new Takeya paddle. (Next week seems to be a big release week for Selkirk, Joola, and Takeya). Game 2: 7-2 but D/S make a run to 5. Dizon was no match for Lindsey – easily fended her off. Staksrud big forehand and big serve no problem for Riley. Cleanest play by the Newmans that I’ve seen recently. Newmans meet AL/Ben on Sunday (4,6). AL/Ben defeated Bright/Ignatowich (4,5). PPA won’t stream the bronze but Dizon/Staksrud played so well today that I think they’ll get bronze. James has said that he takes the back-draw just as seriously as the main draw. So he and AB will be in the fight for that bronze. Stratman/Frazier has had a very impressive run in that back-draw and fighting for 5th place now.

9:15 pm EST (Waggish) – Stratman/Frazier 5th place over Yana and Julian (10). They also ran through Lea and Travis (6) and Johnsons (2). The team that gave them the most trouble was Oshiro/Dawson at 16-14. No results shown for the bronze.

11:03 pm EST – The most expected final teams with AL/Ben and the Newman’s. The Newman’s showed out with their Takeya paddles as Lindsey continues to ball out despite limited tournament reps. She knows exactly how to play with Riley and Josh Gartman continues to be a great follow on Twitter with the stats. 5 different Sunday appearances in mixed for Riley Newman this year. That’s really good stuff from someone we have perceived as struggling in 2023. They likely can’t do anything against AL/Ben, but it was a walk in the park relatively for them today.

Federico Staksrud is balling out in mixed. His results with Mary Brascia have been borderline shocking so it wasn’t actually shocking to see him in the semi-finals with Meghan Dizon as they crushed both Parenteau/McGuffin and the Johnson siblings. Tyson and Catherine may have both been hurting from singles yesterday but there’s not nearly as much reason for the Johnson’s to have struggled so much. Those are quality wins from Federico and it sounds like he tried to challenge a paddle of his opponent either Bright or Ignatowich after the bronze match, but the testing individual was unavailable. Classic PPA! That would indicate to us that Bright/Ignatowich took bronze, but no score posted on Pickleball Tournaments. It is interesting Dizon/Staksrud had the toughest time with Oshiro/Dawson before their semi-finals run.

AJ Koller keeps on with his terrible run of play. He’s going to be an interesting evaluation for season 2 of MLP. He looks like he really doesn’t care out there these days as he and Irvine barely beat Valdes/Erik Pailet before getting steamrolled by Jansen/Rettenmaier 3 and 3. Koller has been our biggest miss in evaluation in 2023 and it is brutal we missed this badly on him. Koller better figure something out soon or he could find himself out of Premier altogether with the way he’s playing, especially in mixed.

Thursday, June 1st – Singles

11:00 am EST – We noted it for the fantasy preview but it is hilarious and sad that the PPA appears to be punishing Travis Rettenmaier by making him play Ben Johns in the 2nd round of a singles draw for the second day in a row. This is what happens when you speak out against the PPA and why more players are fearful of doing so.

11:00 am EST (Waggish) – MS: 60 in qualifier! 32 in main draw with 8 qualifiers. Wilson is in the singles for the first time in a very, very long time. He is forced to play 2 brackets to earn his appearance fee. With no Vivienne David, he is not in MXD. Local Texans the Johnson twins are playing. Shick’s college term must be done because he’s listed too. Bracket: QF #1: Ben, Hunter vs Shick Round 1! Garnett plays winner, Travis. QF #2: Tyson, Tellez, JW possibly vs Ignatowich round 2. QF #3: Staksrud, Alshon, Wilson vs Sherry Round 1. QF #4: Jay vs either Vich or Yates J in round 2. Dylan vs Arnold or Tardio in round 2.

WS: Strong womens singles with 31 entries. Jorja playing for only the second time in 2023. She played WS at Desert Ridge beginning of February. She was 0-2 there. No Devidze entry. Bracket: QF #1: AL, Black, Grechkina, Hessert. QF #2: CP, Jorja, Buckner, Dizon. QF #3: Irina, Castillo, Schaefer QF #4: Lea, Stratman.

1:40 pm EST (Waggish) – Ben over Travis (4,8) to meet Hunter in QF after Hunter’s win over Garnett (3-,6,4). Pablo Tellez pushed Tyson to 3 games but Tyson wins (9,2-,2). Tyson plays JW in QF. JW wins over Ignatowich but lost big in the 2nd game (6,1-,5). Federico and Christian will play in QF. Christian’s first game against Sherry went to 17-15 – what a battle that must have been! Second game not close (11-2). Dylan has made it to QF after his win over Tardio (7,0). Vich over Jay to play Dylan. First game was tight with tie at 10. Second game started tight but then Vich pulled away and couldn’t be caught (10,6). With the heat, no one will be wanting to grind out the back-draw when they have 2-3 more days to play. It could be a walk in the park to 5th place for some lucky winner.

2:40 pm EST (Waggish) – Johns vs Johnson QF #1. Hunter is looking fresher than Ben in game 1. He takes the early lead 4-0. At 4-7, Hunter is outside the sideline and for some reason hits a ball also outside the sideline. Must have got caught up in the moment. He takes a time-out when Ben reaches 6. Parris on his bench (she’s not in the tournament). Tight to the finish. At 8-9, Ben completely fools Hunter into thinking he’ll go cross-court and goes down the line once all of Hunter’s momentum was carrying him towards the center, away from that sideline. But Hunter gets his revenge with a very wide cross-court that Ben saw coming but too wide for him to reach. Hunter tries it again at 9-9 but ball goes wide. Ben owns game 2. (9,7). In another QF, Staksrud has no trouble against Alshon (7,1).

3:25 pm EST (Waggish) – QF #3: Frazier gets a momentum run against Vich and takes game 1 after a tight start. But Vich quickly racks up 4 points before Dylan’s wise time-out. After a side-out, Vich gets another 3 points (7-0). Dylan can’t do anything right in this game! Finally gets two at 8-0. In game 3, Dylan has figured out how to keep balls in and gives Vich a better game. Vich (6-,2,8).

WS QF are lined up. Al vs Yana, CP vs Brooke. Brooke beat Jorja (5,6). I assume the Jorja vs Ava score is wrong on PT as it shows she won 3 games: (2,10,1). Ha, ha. Lea vs Lina. Lina beat Stratman (6,7). Irina vs Judit Castillo.

6:00 pm EST (Waggish) – McGuffin vs JW QF #4: JW looked like he’d win game 1 by having a small lead the entire game and game point at 10-8. But somehow Tyson sneaked by him and won! Game 2, JW started with a lead but Tyson demolished it. Tyson will play Ben in SF. (10,8). Nice to see JW in some color today. WS: AL vs Yana QF was not close (1,2). CP vs Brooke Buckner was close. Brooke gave CP a lot of trouble! But CP pulled it off to face AL in SF. (9,10-,9). In the other SF, Judit plays Lea. Neither had very close QF. Lea over Lina (7,2) and Judit over Irina (1,7).

7:33 pm EST – The singles days are unquestionably the craziest. Juame Martinez Vich is onto Championship Sunday following a huge underdog run. He beat Yates Johnson, Jay Devilliers, Dylan Frazier and then Federico Staksrud. There are no free wins in these draws anymore and Juame has been close to having some bigger days recently. He gave Ben Johns a run for his money earlier in the year, which prompted Ben’s tweet about the delaminated paddles. He has pushed Jay Devilliers to the brink. This is the breakthrough for Juame as Josh Gartman on Twitter noted that this is the 14^th different player to medal on the PPA tour this year. He’s playing the winner of McGuffin vs. Ben Johns. You want to talk about impressive? Tyson McGuffin went undrafted in our fantasy preview and he continues to beat good players. Pablo Tellez. JW Johnson. The grind don’t stop and he’s sort of hitting a backhand pass every once in a while. The staying power has been doubted but McGuffin continues to hang around for the time being. 

Hunter Johnson appears to be good at singles. He didn’t beat Ben Johns but he did get past Colin Schick and Connor Garnett. Johnson is playing with a less poppy Engage and still winning against some of the best. We have to wonder if he is mentally exhausted from playing these APPs as he was dominating earlier this year but has been close to losing, and last week in NYC lost to William Sobek. 

All chalk on the women’s side so far. Brooke Buckner gave CP another run for her money but fell short in a tight third game. Judit Castillo and Lea Jansen could be interesting. Also, it was noteworthy that Grechkina handled Hurricane Tyra Black in two games. Black does not have a traditional tennis playing style despite actually playing professional tennis and she’s clearly not there in singles at this time. 

8:40 pm EST (Waggish) – Staksrud vs Vich SF: In game 1, at 6-6, we get a fantastic singles ATP defense from Vich! But then we have a fanstastic chip shot from Staksrud a little later. Vich had “fire in his eyes” probably from not having to face Johns in early rounds like he has done many times. Game 2, Staksrud quickly got 7 points before Vich could get his first point. Staksrud took some time after game 2 due to elevated heart rate – possibly heat effect. Game 3, Staksrud stagnates at 5-1 and Vich gets the lead 6-5 at end-change! That’s a big momentum shift and Vich takes it all the way to match win! (6,4-,5). Vich is into his first PPA Championship Sunday!

Johns vs McGuffin SF: Game 1 is 11-1! Johns had a hard time finding the court with his ball and loved finding the net with it. And Tyson was like “what heat?” It’s only been 2 weeks since we last saw McGuffin and he looks like he dropped some middle which usually helps. But the main thing was Tyson wasn’t letting Ben dictate his cat and mouse game. The YT chat was all about PEDs with some pros being diplomatic. McGuffin is slowing down, even some of his overheads start looking weak. Ben gets to play the cat and mouse and wins game 2. Game 3, Ben leads 6-2 at end-change. Tyson has slowed down and can’t get to the angled balls that he easily reached in game 1. We have a dry spell but a good rally at 6-2. After absolutely forever, we finally move off 2-6 to 3-6! Is Ben’s yellow shirt a passive/aggressive statement against Tyson’s white paddle? That’s a joke! Though PPA is predicted to ban white paddles per a few podcasts. Tyson stages a comeback and gets it to 9-8. Johns (1-,6,8). That match was over an hour long! MS backdraw, Dylan gets 5th over JW! (16-14) Dylan also got past Yates J. (7) and Patriquin (13).

WS: AL vs CP SF. Despite the hard fight with Brooke, CP put up a fierce fight against AL. It was close but AL wins (9,8). In the backdraw, Hurricane Black gets 5th over Ava Ignatowich (1).

10:35 pm EST (Waggish) – Lea vs Judit SF: (4,4). That second game was very quick. Bronze goes to CP after defeating Judit (4,10). Men’s bronze goes to Tyson in 3 over Staksrud (10,7-,5).

11:27 pm EST – King stays king. Ben fends off a furious effort from Tyson. These two have been at the top for a long time and their combined staying power is tremendous considering all the new talent. What else can you say? Mr. McGuffin said on his most recent podcast he has “definitely have gained 10 to 15 pounds the last 3 months” by taking in 200 grams of protein per day. That protein doesn’t seem to be hurting. Tyson grinded for bronze too with Federico in a long 3-gamer and we’ll have to wonder if those two will be hurting tomorrow.

Lea and AL it is once again. Judit Castillo doesn’t appear to be at this level quite yet. Catherine Parenteau beat her in 2 fairly close games for bronze as well. So we get a full chalk women’s singles event.