Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin celebrating winning the mixed doubles title at the Rate Las Vegas Open presented by JOOLA.
Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin celebrating winning the mixed doubles title at the Rate Las Vegas Open presented by JOOLA. PPA Tour

Bright, Patriquin spoil Waters’ bid for 200th career PPA title

One of the biggest storylines coming into this week’s Rate Las Vegas Open presented by JOOLA was Anna Leigh Waters’ opportunity to earn her 200th career title on the PPA Tour.

Waters began Carvana Championship Sunday by capturing title number 199: a women’s doubles gold with Anna Bright, by way of a thrilling 11-8, 10-12, 11-5 victory over No. 2 seeds Hurricane Tyra Black/Catherine Parenteau.

 

After that contest, Waters and Bright went from teammates to competitors as they prepared to face off in the mixed doubles final in the last match of the weekend at Darling Tennis Center.

But the milestone moment wasn’t meant for Sunday, as Bright/Hayden Patriquin notched their second-ever win over Waters/Ben Johns 11-9, 11-7 to secure their second title in three tournaments.

Bright/Patriquin had been pushed to three games in each of their three previous rounds, but they defeated the top seeds in straight games on Sunday with the gold medal in sight.

 

“It’s really exciting to see a lot of the things that you’ve been working on translate into a big match,” said Bright, who became the fourth player all-time to earn 40 career PPA Tour titles with two on Sunday. “The satisfaction is definitely really high.”

This win caps what was also a memorable week for Patriquin, who celebrated his 21st birthday in Las Vegas a few days before the tournament.

“It feels amazing, especially to do it in Vegas and to win here,” he mentioned. “But we keep working hard. We have a tournament next week, so we’ll have a little fun tonight and then on Monday will get back to it.”

The loss closed out what was a tough day at the office for Johns, who leaves Las Vegas with ‘triple silver’ after losing in the men’s singles, men’s doubles, and mixed doubles finals.

Notably, his streak of 58 straight PPA Tour tournaments winning at least one title has to come to an end.

All four players will be back in just two days at the Veolia Chicago Cup.

Main draw action from the Windy City begins Tuesday on Pickleballtv.