Chris Haworth may have the number 57 next to his name in the draw this week, but that hasn’t stopped him from continuing to reassert himself as one of the top men’s singles players on the PPA Tour.

Playing in his second tournament since signing with the tour in August, Haworth is into the semifinals after an 11-6, 9-11, 11-7 victory over No. 2 seed Federico Staksrud.

It looked like he would take the win in straight games when he had a 9-8 lead in the second, but Staksrud scored three in a row to force a decider.

Not deterred, Haworth earned a 7-3 advantage in Game 3 and went on to close out the contest a few moments later for his fourth consecutive win over the Argentine.

He spoke about what it took mentally to rebound in Game 3 after having a lead late in the second.

“I felt like I kind of gave up that second game. At 9-8, I hit two out balls in one point that were going to be like ten feet out, so I was a little disappointed,” he told Pickleballtv’s Kamryn Blackwood and Matt Manasse. “But I was happy mentally that I could come back in the third.”

Though Haworth is by far the lowest seed remaining in any draw in Cincinnati, he is no stranger to success on the PPA Tour. Just over a year ago, he struck gold at the 2024 Orange County Cup by beating Ben Johns and Staksrud in back-to-back rounds.

The Oklahoma State University tennis product spoke about the confidence he has in his game having made another deep run.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t feel like I could beat everyone, so I just try to play with confidence” he said. “I know everyone can beat me too, so it just depends on the day. But you have to go into each match with a lot of belief.”

Haworth will face No. 3 seed Connor Garnett in Saturday’s semifinal.