The CIBC Texas Open presented by Fasenra survived some windy conditions to wrap up over the weekend. As with the windy conditions at the Cape Coral Open, the weather perhaps helped foster a few more upsets than normal. The big names dominated, but we also had some Cinderella runs by lower seeds.

 

 

We had all started to get used to seeing a women’s doubles final of Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau v Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher. But that rivalry had to be put on hold for at least one event, as #5 seed Callie Smith/Etta Tuionetoa took out the top seed in the quarters. While that led many to think it would be smooth sailing for the #2 seed, Bright/Rohrabacher lost in the semifinals to #3 Tyra Black/Parris Todd. The three seed went on to win it all, providing Black with her first women’s doubles gold on the two-year anniversary of her becoming a pickleball pro.

 

 

 

The men’s doubles event was filled with upsets, nice runs by lower seeds, and a great effort by Andrei Daescu to win what would have been an incredible fourth men’s doubles gold in a row. Where to start? Daescu was a #3 seed, paired with Dylan Frazier. They were almost upset in the round of 32 by #28 Zane Ford/Ivan Jakovljevic, but Daescu/Frazier prevailed in three games. Daescu/Frazier fell just short of the Daescu four-peat, losing in the semis to #2 seed Gabe Tardio/Ben Johns, in an epic three-game match, 12-10 in the third. Tardio/Johns went on to win it all, but boy did they have to work for it! Their matches in the round of 16, quarters and semis all went three games, and twice game three was 12-10. In the final, facing Christian Alshon/Federico Staksrud, the match again went the maximum, a five-game thriller.

 

 

The men’s doubles event was hotly contested every match of the way. In the round of 16, five of the eight matches went the full three games. Both semifinals went three games, and again the final went the full five games. The event proved again that the toughest gold to get is in men’s doubles, so hats off to Daescu for coining so close to four in a row.

 

 

In women’s singles, Anna Leigh Waters was back to her old tricks, not just winning gold, but doing so without dropping a single game. Kate Fahey did take her to 15-13 in the second game of the final, but Waters seems to always win the close ones. After a near upset in Florida, I thought this might be the week someone broke through against Waters, but it was not to be.

 

 

 

Christian Alshon was the #7 seed in men’s singles, coming off a gold in Florida. He kept the momentum going, winning back-to-back. This time, he defeated #1 seed Federico Staksrud in the final, 11-4, 11-7. We did see a great run by #17 Zane Ford, who beat #2  Ben Johns in the round of 16, then forced Alshon to a third game in the quarters before losing.

 

In the mixed doubles event, we saw both Cinderella and King Kong make an appearance. The Cinderella story was the #26 seed Eric Oncins/Alix Truong, who made a run all the way to the semifinals. Along the way, they took down #3 Christian Alshon/Catherine Parenteau and #6 Gabe Tardio/Jessie Irvine. At the opposite end, King Kong was represented by #1 seed Ben Johns/Anna Leigh Waters, who pretty much cruised to yet another gold medal. They lost only one game, and overcame one stiff test in the semis, defeating #4 Hayden Patriquin/Anna Bright 9-11, 11-6, 11-8. While men’s doubles remains the toughest event to predict a winner, mixed doubles and women’s singles retained their typical form.

 

 

 

It was a very mixed bag for my CIBC Texas Open predictions. I did correctly expect there would be some upsets. I hit on Black/Todd to beat Bright/Rohrabacher. My predicted breakout male player of 2025, Zane Ford, continued to make a lot of progress; beating Ben Johns at singles is certainly one way to get noticed. At the other end of the spectrum, my thought that Waters might finally lose a singles match went down in flames. My upset special in women’s singles, Salome Devidze, did have a good run to the semis, but could not quite seal the deal. I missed on men’s singles and doubles, but as always, those events are very hard to predict.

 

We are on to Utah next, for the Black Desert Resort Red Rock Open. That will begin March 26 from St. George, Utah. As always, it will be fun to see which up and coming players can make a deep run, and which stars can hold them off. Hope to see you there in person for what is always a well-attended event. If not, catch all the action on Pickleballtv.

 

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