
Rock City Rally PPA Challenger Recap: Lenhard captures two golds, Dunlap snags first Challenger title
The PPA Challenger Series powered by JOOLA held its eleventh event of the year over the weekend with the Rock City Rally PPA Challenger in Little Rock, AR.
Rafael Lenhard had a particularly strong showing, earning two titles.
He kicked off the weekend by taking men’s singles gold with a 5-11, 12-10, 11-1 victory over Tristan Dussault in the final.
Lenhard isn’t too far removed from a deep run at the Orange County Cup earlier this summer, where he beat Ben Johns, Zane Navratil, and Noe Khlif en route to a quarterfinal finish.
“I’ve been getting good wins, so it feels very rewarding to back it up with a win here,” he mentioned afterwards.
Lenhard followed up his singles triumph with a gold medal performance in men’s doubles the very next day alongside Troy Akin, defeating Tom Protzek/Anouar Braham 13-11, 11-8 in the final.
On the women’s side, Isabella Dunlap struck gold in women’s singles with an 11-8, 9-11, 11-3 victory over Zoey Weil to secure her first PPA Challenger title.
The former collegiate tennis player out of Iowa State University discussed afterwards the crucial role that her support system plays in her success.
“It shows me that it takes a team. I’m only out here being successful because I have the help of my fiancée, and Andre [Mercado, Dunlap’s mixed doubles partner] out here helping as well,” she said. “It means a lot to have that support and to be able to make it through with it.”
Zoey Weil also had a stellar weekend with podium finishes in all three events. In addition to her silver medal in singles, she took home the mixed doubles title alongside Brandon French and earned bronze in women’s doubles with Zoeya Khan.
Lenhard, Weil, and Dunlap will all be back in action next week at the Rate Vegas Cup, set to run Oct. 20-26 at Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas, NV.
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