The PPA Tour moves to Sacramento for the Fasenra Sacramento Open presented by Zimmer Biomet. The big story is that Anna Leigh Waters is sitting out, creating an opportunity for players to grab a gold medal. All five events look to be wide open and unpredictable, so it should be a very fun week of pickleball.

 

 

Waters has been so dominant in women’s singles for so long, her absence in Sacramento has all the other players excited for a chance at a rare gold medal. Kate Fahey and Kaitlyn Christian are the top two seeds, but are by no means a lock to meet in the finals. Fahey has tough competition on her side of the draw from #4 Catherine Parenteau and #6 Kiora Kunimoto. In the bottom half of the draw, challengers include #3 Lea Jansen, #5 Judit Castillo, #7 Isabelle Dunlap, and #9 Jalina Ingram. Kunimoto and Dunlap have played very well in recent PPA events, and Ingram just won gold in a PPA Challenger, so look for all three of those newer players to play well in Sacramento. Jansen and Parenteau, as veterans of the PPA Tour, will recognize the opportunity of this Waters-less draw and will no doubt be fired up. Expect a hotly competitive draw.

 

For an interesting early round contest, check out the Round of 32 match between #16 Chloe Igleski and #23 Elsie Hendershot. Both teenagers will bring a lot of energy.

 

 

 

With Waters absent from Sacramento, Ben Johns decided to skip mixed doubles. Hayden Patriquin and Anna Bright are also absent, so we will definitely see some different faces in the medal rounds. The #1 seed goes to Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson. Top teams on their side of the draw are #3 Rachel Rohrabacher/Gabe Tardio, #5 Kate Fahey/Federico Staksrud, and #8 Meghan Dizon/Noe Khlif. The #2 seed is Parris Todd/Andrei Daescu. Joining them in the bottom half of the draw are #4 Tyra Black/Eric Oncins, #6 Jessie Irvine/Jonathan Truong, and #7 Tina Pisnik/Dekel Bar. 

 

This situation seems to set up well for a veteran team like Pisnik and Bar. I look forward to them having a good week and making the medal rounds—and they may even win the gold.

 

A fun Round of 64 match will happen between #17 Callie Smith/Roscoe Bellamy against #46 Naomi Nguyen/Clayton Powell. This is one of those matches between a veteran team playing an up and coming team. Can Nguyen and Powell notch a win against a much higher seed and build confidence going forward?

 

 

 

With Waters and Bright on the sidelines, Jorja Johnson and Tyra Black take the top seed. But, they have struggled a bit lately and thus are far from overwhelming favorites to win it all. They will be challenged on their side of the draw by #3 Catherine Parenteau/Meghan Dizon and #7 Allyce Jones/Jamie Wei. The #2 seed goes to Rachel Rohrabacher/Parris Todd, who have been playing well together lately. Also in the bottom half of the draw are #4 Kate Fahey/Lacy Schneemann, #5 Tina Pisnik/Cailyn Campbell, and #5 Callie Smith/Lea Jansen. 

 

The Pisnik/Campbell team is an interesting one. Pisnik has been steady as always, and Campbell is starting to get better results, in line with her potential. The talent is there for this team to do well in Sacramento, and they have a favorable draw.

 

 

 

 

 

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Chris Haworth is coming off his gold medal in Utah and has moved up to the #1 ranking in men’s singles. But, #1 ranked men’s singles players have struggled to win gold medals. Sacramento will be no different, as Haworth has a lot of competition. He will have to work his way through #3 Hunter Johnson, #6 Jack Sock, #7 Gabe Joseph, and #10 Ben Johns, all of whom are in the top half of the draw. 

 

In the bottom half, the #2 seed goes to Federico Staksrud. The bottom half looks like the easier side, but it is no walk in the park. The bottom half includes #4 Connor Garnett, #5 Roscoe Bellamy, and #8 Dylan Frazier.

 

There are a number of intriguing early round matches. In the Round of 32, #26 Matt Barlow is lined up to play #7 Gabe Joseph. Barlow is much better than a #26 seed, so the draw has done no favors for Joseph this week. Another Round of 32 match has #10 Ben Johns playing #23 JW Johnson. While both are best known for their top five doubles play, they can also play well at singles, as Johnson’s win in Utah over Hunter Johnson showed. Should Johns prevail in that match over JW Johnson, he then will likely face Jack Sock. Talk about a must see match!

 

 

The one event that has a heavy favorite is men’s doubles, as #1 seed Gabe Tardio/Ben Johns have been on a roll. They have a good draw in Sacramento, and they do not appear to have a tough match until the semifinals where they are likely to play #3 Andrei Daescu/Federico Staksrud. In the bottom half of the draw, #2 seed JW Johnson/CJ Klinger also have a good draw to make the semifinals. #4 seed Dylan Frazier/Eric Oncins caught a big break as it looks like #6 seed Armaan Bhatia/Riley Newman will have to withdraw, as Bhatia reportedly is not able to get back to the US from India in time to play. That is very unfortunate, as Bhatia/Newman played very well together in Utah and had a good opportunity with their draw in Sacramento to make a deep run. #10 seed Pablo Tellez/Jack Sock look to be in best position to take advantage of Bhatia’s absence and perhaps get to the semifinals.

 

The early round match I want to see in this event is the Round of 32 match between #17 Tyler Loong/Tom Protzek against #17 Tama Shimabukuro/Yuta Funemizu. Both Shimabukuro and Funemizu have somewhat unusual play styles and thus are always entertaining to watch.

 

 

Sacramento is a good tournament for predictions, as the usual big favorites are missing from several events. I will go with some big upsets.

In women’s singles, Kiora Kunimoto over Isabelle Dunlap.

In mixed doubles, Tina Pisnik/Dekel Bar over Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson.

In women’s doubles, Jorja Johnson/Tyra Black over Tina Pisnik/Cailyn Campbell.

In men’s singles, Hunter Johnson over Federico Staksrud.

Finally, in men’s doubles, I have to take a favorite, so Tardio/Johns over Oncins/Frazier.

 

All the matches will be on Pickleballtv. First round action begins Tuesday, April 14.

 

Enjoy the tournament!

 

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