Next up on the PPA Tour, we head back to Las Vegas for the Rate Championships. This will be a standard draw tournament, beginning with the qualifier draws on Wednesday. The tournament will be held at the Darling Tennis Center, a great spot for pickleball, with an excellent center court for fans. This is one of the last tournaments before the PPA Championships, so every match matters for points standings.

 

 

The top seed is, of course, Anna Leigh Waters. As usual she will be hard to beat, but she has a difficult draw. #6 Kaitlyn Christian is likely to face #9 Kate Fahey in the Round of 16, with the winner likely to play Waters in the quarters. Lea Jansen gets the #3 seed, and a reasonable draw that may well lead her to playing Waters in the semis. Another interesting expected Round of 16 matchup has #5 Mary Brascia going against the hot hand of #10 Zoey Wang; the winner of that match is likely to play #2 seed Catherine Parenteau in the quarters. The #4 seed goes to Brooke Buckner, coming off a great performance in Virginia Beach. She has a good draw and is a favorite to make a deep run. Another good Round of 16 match has #7 Judit Castillo likely to play #10 Jorja Johnson; both players are right on/near the cut line to qualify for the PPA Championships, so that expected match will be important to both players.

 

 

 

Federico Staksrud is the top seed, coming off a rare non-appearance in the Virginia Beach finals. Once again, the draw gives him no time to breathe easy, as he is likely to face #31 Ryan Fu in the Round of 32, #13 Collin Shick in the Round of 16, #7 Jaume Martinez Vich in the quarters, and #3 Connor Garnett in the semis, a very tough road. Ben Johns is the second seed, coming off his win in Virginia Beach. He will get a big test in the quarters, as he is likely to play the winner of #8 Quang Duong v #9 Hunter Johnson. A couple of longshots to watch out for are #17 Gabe Tardio and #24 Noe Khlif. Khlif in particular has a favorable draw and could make a solid run. The expected H. Johnson v Duong match will be one to watch, as both players are fighting for a spot in the PPA Championships.

 

 

 

Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns take the top seed and will look to continue their run of golds. The #2 seed goes to Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson, who continue to have success against everyone but the top seed. At the #3 seed, Anna Bright tries mixed doubles this time with Hayden Patriquin. Patriquin is coming off a gold in men’s doubles from Virginia Beach, and will now have a top partner to try to win one in mixed. Bright has struggled a little bit to find the right partner in mixed, after breaking with James Ignatowich; will Patriquin be the one? Mixed doubles is so deep that the Round of 32 matches in Las Vegas will be medal round quality. #13 Andrei Daescu/Meghan Dizon are likely to play #17 Jaume Martinez Vich/Parris Todd; #5 Etta Wright/Christian Alshon v #28 Rafa Hewett/Zoey Wang; and, #12 Jackie Kawamoto/Riley Newman v #22 Kate Fahey/Dylan Frazier. The Johnsons may be the second seed, but they are on the easier side of the draw. They are probably going to run into the hot duo of #8 Jessie Irvine/Gabe Tardio in the quarters. For a lower seed, keep an eye on #10 Dekel Bar/Vivian Glozman. They are MLP teammates and have a good draw; a deep run is quite possible.

 

 

 

The top seed goes to Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau; they will be hard to beat, but once again there are a lot of early round matches that will be very high quality. In the expected Round of 16, we have #6 Tyra Black/Allyce Jones v #9 Vivian Glozman/Lacy Schneemann, #3 Etta Wright/Meghan Dizon v #15 Brooke Buckner/Zoey Wang, and #8 Jackie Kawamoto and Jade Kawamoto v #10 Mari Humberg/Jorja Johnson. Anna Bright and Rachel Rohrabacher get the #2 seed and have the easier side of the draw. They could face competition from the new pairing of #11 seed Tina Pisnik/Kate Fahey or #12 Mary Brascia and Maggie Brascia, who have a favorable draw.

 

 

 

Ben Johns and Collin Johns get the top seed, coming off their difficult loss on the Virginia Beach final. They are probably going to face a stiff test in the quarters from the new pair of #7 Gabe Tardio/Riley Newman. JW Johnson/Dylan Frazier get the second seed. For the #3 seed, Federico Staksrud goes back to Matt Wright. Staksrud won with Hayden Patriquin, can he do it with Wright? There are a number of new and/or notable pairs in this draw. At the #4 seed, we have Dekel Bar/Pablo Tellez, at #6 Christian Alshon plays with Patriquin, at #8 James Ignatowich pairs with Andrei Daescu, at #10 we have Julian Arnold with Augie Ge, and at #16 CJ Klinger and Quang Duong will play together. Some big names like Newman, Connor Garnett, James Ignatowich, and Tyler Loong are fighting for the last couple spots for the PPA Championships.

 

 

 

Ben Johns/Collin Johns over Christian Alshon/Hayden Patriquin

Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau over Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher

Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns over JW Johnson/Jorja Johnson

Anna Leigh Waters over Brooke Buckner

Ben Johns over Federico Staksrud

 

I’m going with the double triple, where both Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters win everything. It has not happened for quite awhile, but I think they have the right draws to make it happen again. Hope to see you at the courts in Vegas!

 

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