The PPA Tour moves west again this upcoming week, with the Black Dersert Resort Red Rock Open from St. George, Utah. St. George may not be the biggest city on the PPA Tour, but it is a pickleball hotbed, so it should be a well-attended event. A few top players will be taking the week off (Ben Johns, Anna Bright, Gabe Tardio), but this creates a nice opportunity for other players to break through and make a deep run.

As always, there are some new and different partnerships that look interesting, but which ones will meet with success?

 

 

 

With Ben Johns taking the week off, Anna Leigh Waters decided to pass on mixed doubles at Red Rock. With Anna Bright also out, this creates two spots on the medal stand that are usually taken by those players. Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson get the #1 seed, and they have been playing well. At #2 is Christian Alshon/Catherine Parenteau and at #3 is Federico Staksrud/Etta Tuionetoa, and both are solid. I do like the #5 and #6 seeds, Hayden Patriquin/Rachel Rohrabacher and Dekel Bar/Parris Todd; they both have good draws and should be there toward the end. For a low seed with a chance, watch #22 CJ Klinger/Mari Humberg. They have a reasonable draw, so it just depends on whether they can play well and take advantage of it.

 

 

 

In women’s doubles, many of the top teams tend to stick together; not so in men’s doubles. We see that again in the Red Rock draw. Federico Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin get back together and earn the #1 seed. But, lurking at #2 is the powerful pair of Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu. Alshon/Deascu won back-to-back titles in Arizona, and they will be tough to beat in Utah. The #3 seed goes to a new pair of Dylan Frazier/Dekel Bar. Not sure who will play the left there. Bar has been playing very well, and Frazier has been adjusting to more play on the left, but so far Frazier has not enjoyed the same level of success he had with JW Johnson.

 

As always, the men’s doubles draw is so deep that there are great matches in the early rounds. In the round of 32, we have #10 Rafa Hewett/Julian Arnold v #20 DJ Young/Eric Oncins. This might be my favorite match to see of the whole tournament, and it comes in the round of 32. Hewett and Arnold can be entertainingly loud, in contrast to the very quiet Young/Oncins. But Oncins has been coming on as a left side power player and DJ Young is capable of very high level right side play. This should be a fun match to watch; count me in for a front row seat.

 

 

 

Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau are the #1 seed and are the favorites. With no Anna Bright, Rachel Rohrabacher teams up with Parris Todd as the #2 seed. They are playing well, but both are better suited for the right side, so that half of the draw is more open than usual. I really like the #3 seed Tyra Black/Jorja Johnson, but they are on the Waters/Parenteau side of the draw. I expect them to meet in the semifinal in what should be the best match of the draw. Both Black and Johnson are in the conversation for who is the second best woman player right now, and their pairing meshes well, with Black on the left and Johnson on the right. For challengers to Rohrabacher/Todd, look at #5 Lucy Kovalova/Lea Jansen and #7 Mari Humberg/Meghan Dizon.

 

 

 

The men’s and women’s singles draws look to be quite different. On the women’s side, with no Kate Fahey or Brooke Buckner, Waters looks poised to cruise to a gold. It is a small draw, and it looks like her only challenges will come in the semifinal (Lea Jansen) or final (Kaitlyn Christian or Parris Todd).

 

Conversely, on the men’s side, the deck is stacked. Just look at the gauntlet #1 Federico Staksrud would likely have to run to win: Noe Khlif in the round of 16, Jack Sock in the quarters, Connor Garnett or Christian Alshon in the semis, and Hunter Johnson or Jaume Martinez Vich in the final. Every match in the round of 16 in men’s singles will be a tough one. #4 Jaume Martinez Vich v #14 Zane Ford should be a particularly excellent match.

 

Watch out for those lower seeds in men’s singles. Every tournament, we tend to see one or two lower seeds make a run. At Red Rock, it could be #18 John Lucian Goins or #28 Max Freeman.

 

 

Let’s do the easy one first and pick Waters in women’s singles. I will pick Todd for silver.

In men’s singles, Staksrud is looking good, so I will pick him to outlast a tough field, over Ford in an upset to make the final.

For mixed doubles, I will take the Johnsons over Alshon/Parenteau.

In women’s doubles, I expect Black/Johnson to give Waters/Parenteau a very tough match; but, I have to pick Waters/Parenteau to win, and go on for gold, over Kovalova/Jansen, an upset pick for silver.

Finally, in men’s doubles, I like Alshon/Daescu to continue their domination, in a great five-game match against Staksrud/Patriquin.

 

The weather forecast for St. George is for sunny and warm days, but we could have some wind. As always, if it is windy, that helps the underdogs, so watch out for upsets. St. George will be the place to be in the pickleball world, but if you cannot make it there, catch all the action on Pickleballtv, FS1 and FOX.

 

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