BRISTOL, TN - Ben Johns avenged his earlier loss in the men’s doubles final and beat top-seeded Federico Staksrud 11-4, 11-9 to secure a gold in men’s singles.

Johns and Staksrud have nearly identical play styles in singles with both possessing an affinity for cat-and-mouse at the kitchen line, but the former was the sharper of two in their latest encounter.

Staksrud, to his credit, has had a memorable year in singles. The Argentinian has made it to the singles final in 14 of 16 PPA events and has even overtaken Johns to claim the top spot in the 52-week rankings.

But Johns has owned Staksrud recently in head-to-head matchups; with this triumph, he now holds a 5-0 advantage in the 2024 series.

And each one of those victories has come on Championship Sunday.

This is Johns’ first singles tournament since taking bronze at the Orange County Cup in June, and it doesn’t look like rust was an issue for the No. 2 seed.

“I haven’t played singles since June, so I’m glad to know that taking a month and a half off hasn’t affected the performance,” he said. “If anything, I feel better than ever. For summer training, Collin [Johns] and I worked on a number of great things, and it’s clearly paid off.”

The 25-year-old will go for his second title of the day when he and Anna Leigh Waters face off against Anna Bright and Christian Alshon in the mixed doubles final.