Big Runs in Men’s Singles Draw
| July 11, 2023
After a pair of weeks with a lot of eyes on pickleball, the PPA Tour got back into the second half of its season in Utah at the John A. Gullo Tournament of Champions in Brigham City,
Not an invitational. Not a made-for-TV event. Just pro pickleball. No frills.
Guess what? Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters are still at the top of their games.
Johns advanced to Saturday’s final in the men’s singles draw and Waters will be in the Saturday singles final on the women’s side after an impressive run Wednesday in Utah.
Johns, the No. 2-seed, gave up more than four points in a game just once on Thursday and Waters, who came into the tourney as the No. 1-seed, gave up just 11 total points while progressing through the rounds leading up to the final.
“The time off gave me an opportunity to train, and I feel better than ever. I’ve been on the road for like a month now and that gets a little wearing, but I still feel good. I played well enough today. Not bad, but not extraordinary. And I’m okay with that. Making sure there are no dips in quality or concentration is a focus for me.”
– Ben Johns on the eight-week break between pro tournaments.
Meanwhile, Johns will take on Dylan Frazier in the final after Frazier made a run through a bracket that opened up when No. 1-seed Tyson McGuffin suffered an upset in the second round to the No. 16-seed Hunter Johnson.
“I’m super excited to play Ben in the finals,” Frazier said. “He’s obviously at the top of the game, and I’m always up for a challenge. I think it will be fun.”
In the quarterfinals, Frazier beat groundstroke-cracking Hunter Johnson whose upset of the tournament over McGuffin went to three games: 8-11, 11-4, 11-7. That opened the door a bit for Frazier, who was then able to take down Johnson, 8-11, 11-4, 11-7 before sweeping by James Ignatowich 12-10, 11-5 and earning his spot in Saturday’s final against Johns.
“Yeah, I was expecting to see [Tyson McGuffin] at some point. But I also knew that Hunter Johnson was going to have a great shot at taking him down. He’s been playing very well recently and is making huge strides. It just shows how the depth of the draws is increasing. There are not as many walk-through matches anymore.”
– Dylan Frazier
Frazier is right about Johnson. While many didn’t expect to see the eighth-seeded Frazier in the final, certainly no one could have foreseen what Johnson was able to do. After the No. 16-seed took out McGuffin in the second round, he went on to win his first match in the consolation draw, then beat No. 4-seed Ryan Sherry in a 16-14 thriller. Johnson then earned a shot at the bronze medal with a 15-11 victory against Federico Staksrud.
Then, in the medal round, Johnson took down Jay Devilliers, 7-11, 11-5, 11-0. It was an incredible run for Johnson, who came away with the bronze after beating the No 1, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6 seeds in the tournament.
On the women’s side, Lea Jansen advanced to the final with an 11-7, 11-7 victory over Salome Devidze, who had earned her spot in the quarters by beating the second seed, Catherine Parenteau. Jansen is the No. 3-seed.
On her half of the draw, AL Waters defeated Irina Tereschenko 11-4, 11-3 to head to Championship Saturday. Tereschenko, undeterred, fought her way to a bronze medal by blazing through Catherine Parenteau and Salome Devidze in the backdraw. Devidze was a surprise face in the bronze medal match and played well, but was ultimately outmatched by the Russian Tereschenko and lost 11-5, 11-5.
“Today was definitely the start of the second half of the year for me [despite playing the last two weeks in PPA Invitational events]. I was so excited to get out there and play some singles. Although I feel like I didn’t play my best, I was getting used to the conditions. Because I live in Florida, I don’t get to practice in altitude or dry air. I feel like today’s singles was a good test for the rest of the tournament. I can’t wait to compete in both doubles events coming up.”
– Anna Leigh Waters
Mixed doubles is on the schedule today and there’s a full field, including Waters and Johns as the No. 2-seed. Matt Wright and Lucy Kovalova are the top-seeded duo. There are 30 teams in the field. Action starts at 9 a.m. Mountain Standard time.
