Luca Mack might not be a name that a lot of pickleball fans are familiar with yet, but that could certainly change after the week he’s having in the Sunshine State.

The No. 41 seed is into his first career PPA Tour semifinal after a 7-11, 11-6, 11-8 victory over No. 12 seed Zane Ford.

After Ford got up 8-5 in the deciding game, Mack went on a run to get to 10-8.

On his first match point opportunity, Mack hit a volley close to the line that was eventually called out by Ford.

He took issue with the call, especially because it was made after the ball had already bounced twice, but the referee deemed that there was not enough evidence to overturn it.

“I don’t even think [Ford] really saw it because I think he wanted to get it and play, but at the end of the day it is what it is,” Mack said afterwards. “He made the call, and I had to accept it.”

The call didn’t end up impacting the outcome of the contest, as Mack would go on to close things out a few moments later to continue his career-defining run.

You may not have heard of the 25-year-old from Emmendingen, Germany before Wednesday, but he didn’t just come out of nowhere.

He’s played in multiple PPA Tour Challenger Series events throughout 2025, even claiming men’s singles gold at stops in Columbia, SC and Kissimmee, FL.

He used the wild card he earned for winning in Kissimmee to gain free entry into the main draw this week in Lakeland, a move that has certainly paid off so far.

In addition to Ford, he also beat Tom Protzek, Michael Loyd, and Tama Shimabukuro en route to the semifinals.

Before getting into pickleball, Mack had a highly successful collegiate tennis career at Valdosta State University, where he now serves as a graduate assistant for the men’s tennis team.

He will have the opportunity to earn another marquee victory on Semifinal Saturday when he faces No. 2 seed Hunter Johnson.

Here are the scores from the other men’s singles quarterfinals:

                  No. 13 Noe Khlif def. No. 18 Cason Campbell 11-8, 11-1.

                  No. 11 Roscoe Bellamy def. No. 3 Connor Garnett 11-0, 11-4.

                  No. 2 Hunter Johnson def. No. 6 Jack Sock 11-9, 0-11, 11-7.