The PPA Tour moves across the country to Florida for the Veolia Cape Coral Open presented by Proton this week. All of the usual suspects will be there, but some of the partnerships are not the usual ones, especially on the men’s side. New partnerships are always interesting, with fans waiting to see if the new teams gel.

 

 

 

Let’s dive right in with what will be the most interesting event this week, men’s doubles. We start right at the top, with Ben Johns and Andrei Daescu as the #1 seed. Both are dominant left side players, so something has to give. I expect we will see Daescu on the right, but maybe we at least may have a glimpse at times of Johns on the right. I am not at all sure this combination will work well. At #2, we have the new pairing of Christian Alshon and Federico Staksrud. This new pair looks strong. Alshon is the best on the right currently, with the best drive and best right side crash in the game. The #3 seed goes to Hayden Patriquin and Gabe Tardio. The teenager duo should mesh well but they face a difficult draw. They are likely to play #6 JW Johnson/CJ Klinger, with Johns/Daescu potentially awaiting the winner. The bottom half of the draw is a bit easier, with #8 Quang Duong/Pablo Tellez and #4 Tyson McGuffin/Dekel Bar standing in the way of Alshon/Staksrud.

 

The overall men’s doubles draw is tough as always. Likely round of 16 matchups include #5 Riley Newman/Dylan Frazier v #9 Matt Wright/Zane Navratil (must see pickleball), and #7 Collin Johns/Noe Khlif v #11 Connor Garnett/James Ignatowich. Likely round of 32 matches include #10 Jaume Martinez Vich/Augie Ge v #22 Jack Sock/Eric Roddy, #13 Jay Devilliers/Patrick Smith v #21 Todd Fought/Michael Loyd and #15 Rafa Hewett/Eric Oncins v. #18 Ryan Fu/DJ Young.

 

 

The women’s draw is fairly standard. #1 Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau look to be headed to another showdown with #2 Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher. The #3 seed goes to Tyra Black/Allyce Jones, but the biggest threat to another Waters/Parenteau v Bright/Rohrabacher matchup appears to be #4 seed Jorja Johnson/Parris Todd. The Johnson/Todd pair is two strong players, but both are better on the right. I expect we will see mostly Todd on the left, which is a mistake. Johnson should be left side all the way for that pair. An interesting likely round of 16 matchup is #5 Lea Jansen/Lucy Kovalova v #11 Callie Smith/Victoria DiMuzio. DiMuzio has the potential of a future star, but pairing with a fellow left side player is not the best setup for her. Oddly, they would be playing two right side players, so that will be an interesting one to watch.

 

 

 

Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns are the #1 seed, coming off a rare loss in Mesa. Chasing them will be new/rare partnerships consisting of #2 Anna Bright/JW Johnson and #3 Catherine Parenteau/Christian Alshon. The #4 seed is another new one with Jorja Johnson pairing with Hayden Patriquin. They have a favorable draw and should make the semis. Somehow the team of CJ Klinger/Mari Humberg got seeded #32; they are likely to face #7 Gabe Tardio/Jessie Irvine in the round of 32. That match, among others, is why it is worth watching each day from start to finish. Great matches happen all day long. Watch out for the #13 seed, Tyra Black/Augie Ge. They have played well together before and are a well-matched team.

 

 

Ben Johns gets the #1 seed coming off his gold medal win in Mesa. Federico Staksrud takes the day off, so the #2 seed goes to Connor Garnett. #3 goes to Hunter Johnson and a likely semifinal showdown with Johns. This draw is filled with potential upsets and interesting matchups. In the round of 16. #8 Dylan Frazier is likely to see #10 Michael Loyd, while Johnson has to get by #15 Noe Khlif (how is he a 15 seed?), and #5 Quang Duong takes on #9 Jack Sock. My sleeper in this one is #16 Zane Ford. It is just a matter of time before Ford has a breakthrough event and makes the semis.

 

 

The #1 seed is Anna Leigh Waters. She did not play up to her standards in Mesa, but that did not stop her from winning. The other side of the draw may well have another #2/#3 matchup of Kaitlyn Christian v Brooke Buckner. But, to get there, Buckner will have to get past #8 Zoey Wang. The likely match to watch for is a quarterfinal square off between #4 Kate Fahey and #7 Salome Devidze. Devidze is one of the few who can hang with Fahey from the baseline, so that one will be a real battle. Parris Todd is at #5 and Lea Jansen #6. Todd has been playing well, but is on the Waters side of the draw, while Jansen just has not been doing very well at singles.

 

 

 

Men’s Doubles: I will take the new pair of Staksrud/Alshon to defeat Patriquin/Tardio in the final. I’m not convinced Johns/Daescu will have chemistry the first time out. Daescu is going to get a lot of forehand dinks, which is unusual for him and it is not his best shot.

 

Women’s Doubles: Waters/Parenteau over Bright/Rohrabacher. I don’t see many threats for either. Todd/Johnson is a talented pair, but I think they will misplay Todd on the left too much to beat either of the top teams.

 

Mixed Doubles: Seems like a bounce back week for Waters/Johns, so I will take them over Alshon/Parenteau.

 

Men’s Singles: I will take an upset here, with H. Johnson over Garnett.

 

Women’s Singles: I’m really tempted here to pick Devidze. She is the only one who can consistency threaten Waters from the baseline, when she is in form. But, I have not seen Devidze play yet this year, so I’m not confident she is at 100%. So, I have to go with Waters for a home state triple. Give me a silver for Wang, in an upset.

 

The tournament starts Wednesday, March 5. Come on out to the Lake Kennedy Racquet Center or watch the action on Pickleballtv.

 

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