Irvine, Tardio sweep Bright, Ignatowich for first title together
Jessie Irvine and Gabriel Tardio completed their massively impressive run in Salt Lake City with a 12-10, 11-9, 11-8 victory over Anna Bright and James Ignatowich.
Tardio continued to wreak havoc on the opposition with his extremely active left side play, but the X-factor in Sunday’s bout was Irvine.
She consistently found success attacking different spots with her forehand speedups off the bounce from the right side, winning rallies by going straight at Ignatowich, crosscourt at Bright, or through the middle.
The top seeds showed signs of life when they cut a 4-9 deficit in the third game down to 8-9, but it proved to be too little, too late as Irvine and Tardio closed out the match a few minutes later.
Sunday’s triumph is a big one for both Irvine and Tardio.
For Irvine, this marks her ninth career PPA Tour title and her first since 2022.
“I don’t think there are any words to describe it,” she said. “I can’t believe we’re here, and I can’t believe we did it in three. I’m happy I did this with Gabe. I love playing with him, and we’ve got a lot more for the rest of the year, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Tardio, not to be outdone, locked up both his first PPA mixed doubles title and his second gold of the day; he and Andrei Daescu took home the men’s doubles crown a few hours earlier.
The tandem is set to run it back at the Las Vegas Pickleball Cup beginning on Tuesday.
In the bronze medal match, Mary Brascia and Jaume Martinez Vich defeated Mari Humberg and Pablo Tellez 8-11, 11-8, 12-10 to secure their first podium finish as a partnership.
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