Gabe Tardio and Ben Johns celebrating their title at the Veolia Cincinnati Showcase presented by Six Zero.
Gabe Tardio and Ben Johns celebrating their title at the Veolia Cincinnati Showcase presented by Six Zero. PPA Tour

Johns, Tardio cruise past Alshon, Daescu for fourth straight title

Ben Johns/Gabe Tardio secured their fourth consecutive PPA men’s doubles title with an 11-2, 11-6, 11-9 victory over No. 3 seeds Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu.

The top seeds seemed poised to close out the contest when they got up 10-3 in the third game, but Alshon/Daescu clawed their way back to get it to 9-10.

Not deterred, Johns/Tardio got the regained the serve and went on to end the encounter a few moments later at the seventh time of asking.

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Tardio spoke about what it took to stay sharp even as his opponents attempted to make a comeback towards the end.

“I think we got a little satisfied,” he told Pickleballtv’s Kamryn Blackwood and Matt Manasse. “I think we took the lead for granted and they came back a little bit, and I started to get a little tight. My drops started to get a little higher, but I just told myself to get the kitchen line and let Ben handle things.”

With this win, Johns/Tardio become the first team to win four straight PPA men’s doubles titles since Ben did so with his brother, Collin Johns.

Ben had nothing but good things to say he and Tardio’s performance on Sunday.

“I felt personally that this was probably our best performance in a final, level-wise,” he shared. “I was super satisfied with how we played in pretty much all respects in every game.”

On the other side, this result gives Alshon/Daescu their second straight silver medal after also falling to Johns/Tardio in the final of the Las Vegas Open a few weeks ago.

Daescu took a moment to appreciate the difficulty of making a final in an increasingly stacked men’s doubles field.

“It’s extremely challenging. There are a lot of really good teams out there, so making the final is a really good result,” he said. “Things didn’t go our way today, but props to Ben and Gabe. They played an amazing final.”

In the bronze medal match, No. 4 seeds JW Johnson/CJ Klinger defeated No. 2 seeds Federico Staksrud/Hayden Patriquin by an 8-11, 11-7, 11-4 score line.