Federico Staksrud became the first player to book his spot in a singles final in the Sunshine State with an 11-5, 11-4 victory over No. 10 seed Mohaned Alhouni.

Alhouni was making his first career appearance in a PPA semifinal after impressive victories over Anderson Scarpa, Aanik Lohani, and Adam Harvey on Thursday, but Staksrud was able to dictate a majority of points against the lengthy lefty.

One of the keys for the top seed was varying his shot placement when trying to pass Alhouni at the kitchen line.

“[Mo] likes his forehand, and he cheats a lot by moving to his backhand side so that he can hit more forehands,” Staksrud explained. “I knew I wanted to go to his backhand, but I had to keep him honest and hit some shots to his forehand side as well.”

This semifinal win, of course, guarantees that the Argentinian will leave Central Florida with either a gold or silver medal in singles. That’s significant because it extends his streak of earning at least one medal in every PPA tournament of 2024.

Staksrud will face either No. 2 seed Michael Loyd or No. 21 seed Zane Ford in the final.