LIVE BLOG: The latest news and updates from the Veolia Atlanta Pickleball Championships presented by Ensure Max Protein
The Veolia Atlanta Pickleball Championships presented by Ensure Max Protein continue Thursday at Life Time Peachtree Corners, with quarterfinal matches being played in singles, mixed doubles, and gender doubles.
This is the second of four ‘slams’ on the 2025 PPA calendar, with 2000 ranking points awarded to the gold medalists in each discipline.
Live broadcast coverage is available on Pickleballtv and the pbtv app starting at 10am ET.
Stay tuned to this article for live updates throughout the day.
7:15pm ET: Men's doubles semifinal matchups set
Here are the two semifinal matchups in men's doubles that will be played on Saturday:
- No. 5 JW Johnson/CJ Klinger vs. No. 4 Dekel Bar/Dylan Frazier
- No. 2 Ben Johns/Gabe Tardio vs. No. 3 Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu
7:05pm ET: Late run lifts Johnson, Klinger into semifinals
JW Johnson/CJ Klinger claimed the last remaining spot in the men’s doubles semifinals with a thrilling 11-3, 6-11, 11-8 victory over top seeds Federico Staksrud/Hayden Patriquin in the day’s final match on Humana Championship Court.
After teams split the first two games, Johnson/Klinger jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the decider before Staksrud/Patriquin used a run of their own to get to 8-6.
Not backing down, the No. 5 seeds went on to score the final five points of the contest to earn the right to compete on Semifinal Saturday.
Staksrud/Patriquin cruised to an 11-5, 11-3 triumph in the only other meeting between these two teams earlier this year in Red Rock. Johnson says that film study made the difference on Friday.
“They beat us the last time we played them, so we just had to watch a lot of film to prepare and really go out and play our ‘A’ game,” he said.
No. 4 seeds Dekel Bar/Dylan Frazier await in the semifinals.
6:15pm ET: Women's doubles semifinal matchups set
With Kate Fahey/Tina Pisnik's 11-3, 11-9 victory over Jorja Johnson/Jade Kawamoto, the semifinal matchups in women's doubles are set:
- No. 1 Catherine Parenteau/Rachel Rohrabacher vs. No. 9 Kate Fahey/Tina Pisnik
- No. 2 Anna Leigh Waters/Anna Bright v. No. 3 Tyra Black/Parris Todd
5:50pm ET: Parenteau, Rohrabacher pass first test, outlast Irvine, Schneemann in three games
Catherine Parenteau/Rachel Rohrabacher advanced to the women’s doubles semifinals with an 11-4, 7-11, 11-2 victory over No. 6 seeds Jessie Irvine/Lacy Schneemann.
This marks the first time in their short time playing together that the top seeds were pushed to three games, and they certainly seemed to raise their level after dropping Game 2.
“Jessie was standing a little farther away from the kitchen line, so it was hard to find spots where we could attack her,” Parenteau explained. “If you go for the wrong spots, then you’re gonna eat it. We were really just looking to move the ball around. We saw there was a little bit of confusion in the middle, so we tried to hit as many balls in the middle as we could.”
5:30pm ET: Johns and Tardio, Alshon and Daescu set semifinal clash
Ben Johns/Gabe Tardio and Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu will do battle for the second time this year after both teams earned straight-game quarterfinal victories on Friday afternoon.
Johns/Tardio defeated Riley Newman/Matt Wright 11-3, 11-6, while Alshon/Daescu took down Jay Devilliers/Augie Ge 11-6, 11-4.
Alshon/Daescu won the only previous meeting between the two teams, which was a five-game epic in the finals of February's Carvana Mesa Cup.
Fans can expect to see another tightly contested battle on Saturday in the Georgia capital.
4:45pm ET: Waters and Bright, Black and Todd set semifinal clash
The pairings of Anna Leigh Waters/Anna Bright and Tyra Black/Parris Todd are set to face off on Semifinal Saturday after earning straight-game victories in the quarterfinals.
Waters/Bright, playing their first tournament together since 2023, defeated No. 10 seeds Etta Tuionetoa/Vivienne David 11-3, 11-1 in their best performance of the week so far.
Not long after that, Black/Todd closed out their 13-11, 11-0 victory over No. 12 seeds Chao Yi Wang/Brooke Buckner.
After saving four game points in the opening game, the No. 3 seeds dominated the second with a pickle.
That should give them plenty of confidence heading into Saturday's bout.
3:55pm ET: Mixed doubles semifinal matchups set
With Tina Pisnik/Andrei Daescu's 11-6, 7-11, 11-7 victory over Jade Kawamoto/Dylan Frazier, the semifinal matchups in mixed doubles are set:
- No. 1 Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns vs. No. 9 Tina Pisnik/Andrei Daescu
- No. 2 Jorja Johnson/JW Johnson v. No. 4 Etta Tuionetoa/Christian Alshon
3:30pm ET: Johnson siblings outlast Irvine, Tardio in three games
Jorja Johnson/JW Johnson became the third team to advance to the mixed doubles semifinals with an 11-3, 10-12, 11-1 victory over No. 8 seeds Jessie Irvine/Gabe Tardio.
The No. 2 seeds actually had match point at 10-7 in the second game, but Irvine/Tardio went on to score six points in a row to stay alive and force a decider.
Not deterred by squandering the earlier opportunity, the Johnson siblings rebounded strongly and dominated the final game to advance to Semifinal Saturday.
“I think we lost a little bit of focus in Game 2,” Jorja admitted. “We had that match point, and then we hit a couple out balls. They played really well at the end there, and we knew in Game 3 that we had to regroup and stick to what we were doing in the first game and the first half of the second game.”
No. 4 seeds Etta Tuionetoa/Christian Alshon await in the semifinals.
2:30pm ET: Waters and Johns, Tuionetoa and Alshon earn semifinal berths
The pairings of Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns and Etta Tuionetoa/Christian Alshon advanced to the mixed doubles semifinals with victories early Friday afternoon.
Waters and Johns—the top seeds—defeated No. 6 seeds Anna Bright/Quang Duong 11-3, 11-8 in a contest that saw Waters and Johns go toe-to-toe before playing together in women's doubles later in the day.
It looked like Bright/Duong would force a decider when they got up 8-7 in the second game, but Waters/Johns reeled off four points in a row to end the encounter in straight games.
On the other half of the draw, No. 4 seeds Tuionetoa/Alshon captured an 8-11, 11-8, 11-5 victory over No. 7 seeds Rachel Rohrabacher/Dekel Bar.
It was a battle featuring the top mixed doubles teams for the Texas Ranchers and Brooklyn Aces, with the tandem representing Texas prevailing in the end.
1:40pm ET: Men's singles semifinal matchups set
With Connor Garnett's 11-7, 13-11 victory over Jay Devilliers, the semifinal matchups in men's singles are set:
- No. 8 Dylan Frazier vs. No. 3 Connor Garnett
- No. 2 Hunter Johnson vs. No. 4 Ben Johns
12:50pm ET: Frazier stops Crum's run, advances to semifinals
Alexander Crum had won all three of his three-game matches this week coming into Friday, but that run stopped in the quarterfinals against Dylan Frazier.
Frazier advanced to the men's singles semifinal by way of a 12-10, 3-11, 11-3 victory, ending the No. 65 seed's supremely impressive outing in the Georgia capital.
The No. 8 seed will face either Connor Garnett or Jay Devilliers on Saturday.
12:35pm ET: Women's singles semifinal matchups set
With Kate Fahey's 11-3, 11-4 victory over Lea Jansen, the semifinal matchups in women's singles are set:
- No. 1 Anna Leigh Waters vs. No. 4 Parris Todd
- No. 2 Kate Fahey vs. No. 7 Catherine Parenteau
11:50am ET: Marathon Game 1 helps Johns defeat Alshon
Ben Johns took down No. 7 seed Christian Alshon 14-12, 11-8 to claim the third spot in the men's singles semifinals.
In the opening game, Alshon earned a 5-1 advantage and had his first game point at 10-7. Five of those game points came and went, however, as Johns methodically worked his way back into it with frequent displays of mastery of cat-and-mouse pickleball.
After 33 minutes, Johns closed it out to get on the board first.
The No. 4 seed then jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the second game. Alshon did bring it to 8-8 and threatened to force a decider, but Johns again raised his level down the stretch and closed out the encounter in straight games.
He will face No. 2 seed Hunter Johnson on Saturday.
11:20am ET: H. Johnson ousts MLP teammate Duong in straight games
Hunter Johnson is into the men's singles semifinals after an 11-3, 11-7 victory over No. 6 seed Quang Duong.
Johnson and Duong are very familiar with each other; they're teammates on the Los Angeles Mad Drops in Major League Pickleball and even played men's doubles together this week.
But only one could prevail on Friday, and that was Johnson.
The No. 2 seed will face either Ben Johns or Christian Alshon on Saturday.
10:40am ET: Waters, Parenteau surge into women’s singles semifinals
Former women’s doubles partners Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau booked their spots in the women’s singles semifinals with straight-game victories on Friday morning.
Waters did so with an 11-7, 11-5 victory over No. 5 seed Brooke Buckner, a distinct change from their three-game epic in Mesa that saw Waters come back to win after being down a game and 0-7.
The 18-year-spoke about the importance of strategy against an opponent as powerful from the baseline as Buckner.
“I was just really trying to focus on my strategy because against Brooke if you start playing into her game, then bad things can happen,” she said. “But it takes a lot of mental stability to be able to stick to the game plan because if you’re nervous and the game plan’s tough, sometimes you’ll just want to hit the easier shot and go away from the plan. So, it’s really just about being super focused.”
On the other side of the draw, Catherine Parenteau defeated No. 3 seed Kaitlyn Christian by an 11-6, 11-7 score line.
The No. 7 seed had lost her last two matches against Christian, but she got back in the win column to move on in the Georgia capital.
Top Storylines
Check out this video to see my top five storylines ahead of the PPA’s return to the Peach State:
Order of Play released
Here is Thursday's Order of Play:
Related articles
Order of play for Championship Sunday at Select Medical Orange County Cup
It all comes down to this.
2 hours ago
-Pickleball.com Staff
Waters and Johns, Johnson siblings to battle for mixed doubles crown in rematch of 2024 epic
The top two seeds gave fans a mixed doubles masterclass when they faced off in San Clemente in 2024. Will they deliver again on Sunday?
14 hours ago
-Will Daughton
Waters, Parenteau set to clash in singles for first time since split
Sunday's women's singles final between Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau will have more on the line than just a gold medal.
18 hours ago
-Will Daughton
Order of play for semifinals at Select Medical Orange County Cup
It's a big day of pickleball at Life Time Rancho San Clemente.
1 day ago
-Pickleball.com Staff
