Elliott Schupp and Kiora Kunimoto competing at the Veolia Arizona Open.
Elliott Schupp and Kiora Kunimoto competing at the Veolia Arizona Open. PPA Tour

Kunimoto, Schupp bringing PPA Challenger success to Mesa

Kiora Kunimoto and Elliott Schupp are into the mixed doubles quarterfinals at the Veolia Arizona Open.

The talented teenagers—who are aged 18 and 19, respectively—accomplished the feat by taking down No. 22 seeds Etta Tuionetoa/Will Howells on Tuesday, No. 9 seeds Kaitlyn Christian/Connor Garnett on Wednesday, and No. 25 seeds Meghan Dizon/John Lucin Goins on Thursday.

 

But this run isn’t random, nor is this week the first time that Kunimoto and Schupp have shared the court.

Their other two tournaments together came on the PPA Challenger Series in August; they took sixth place at the Seattle Challenger before taking gold at the Atlanta Challenger series two weeks later.

They compiled an 11-2 record together across those two events, a mark that has only improved this week in the Arizona desert.

Kunimoto and Schupp’s run is just the latest piece of evidence demonstrating just how effective the PPA Challenger Series has been at developing talent that can compete on the PPA Tour.

It’s a great thing for the challenger program at large as it continues to establish itself as the primary pipeline for the next crop of PPA pros.