IHG RESORTS & HOTELS BRISTOL OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY PREVIEW, FROM THE STATS DESK

=== MEN’S SINGLES ===

#1 FEDERICO STAKSRUD:

• Raised eyebrows by putting a “double pickle” on number five seed Quong Duong in the semis. This year Duong has beaten Ben Johns twice, and has earned silver and bronze medals. 
• Has earned a medal in every tournament this year except last week. (5 gold, 7 silver, and one bronze)
• His nine career men’s singles titles are second only to Ben Johns.
• His nine career titles have come in finals against nine different players.

#2 BEN JOHNS:

• Has five titles this year and 38 career.
• His last title was in Dallas, June 2.
• 4-0 in title matches against Staksrud this year. (Mesa, Austin, North Carolina, Atlanta)

Bronze: 

#5 Quang Duong.

• Notable low points: Federico Staksrud beat him with “double pickle” in the semis. On Friday he was knocked out of the Mixed Doubles with another “pickle” game sending him packing. Can he recover from that one-two punch?
• Notable high points: Duong has beaten Ben Johns twice this year, and has earned silver and bronze medals. 

#3 Tyson McGuffin.

• Was on the receiving end of a rare “golden pickle” by Connor Garnett in the final last week in Kansas City.
• Silver last week in Kansas City against Connor Garnett.
• His last title was nearly a year ago, at the Tournament of Champions, coincidentally against Garnett.
• His six career gold medals is third all-time behind Johns and Staksrud.
• Needs a title of any kind this year to join Ben Johns and Matt Wright with at least one title every year since 2020 (Lucy Kovalova and Riley Newman are the only other players who can do this)

=== WOMEN’S SINGLES ===

Note: Top seed Anna Leigh Waters withdrew from Singles.

#5 BROOKE BUCKNER: 

• Trying to become the first back-to-back champion other that Anna Leigh Waters since Catherine Parenteau did it in February and March of 2023.
• Won her second career title in Kansas City against Kate Fahey.
• Won the Los Angeles Open in April, her first PPA title.
• Beat number two seed Catherine Parenteau in the quarterfinals.
• Was ranked 11th to start the year, now number five.

#6 KAITLYN CHRISTIAN:

• Has one silver medal this year (Austin Open final against Judit Castillo.)
• Has three bronzes this year.
• Started the year outside of the Top 20, now number seven.

Bronze: 

#4 Salome Devidze.

• This year: Gold at the Indoor Championships (her second career title), Silver in Texas, Bronze in Atlanta.
• Gave Anna Leigh Waters her only loss this year, in a semifinal in Dallas in June, in a late match under the lights.

#14 Chao Yi Wang.

• Looking for her first career medal.
• Beat number three seed Lea Jansen in the round of 16. Jansen has four Singles titles, including two this year.
• Beat number eight seed Judit Castillo in the quarterfinals. Castillo won the Austin Open in March.
• Lost to Kaitlyn Christian in the semis.

=== MIXED DOUBLES ===

#1 ANNA LEIGH WATERS and BEN JOHNS

• Have 36 titles together. (Waters, 38 overall; Johns, 51 overall)
• They have nine titles this year, including the last five tournaments.
  They won eight consecutive tournaments from last August through February of this year.

#2 ANNA BRIGHT and CHRISTIAN ALSHON

• Bright has one Mixed Doubles gold (with Andrei Daescu) and six silvers this year (five with Ignatowich, one with Ben Johns)
• Alshon won a Mixed Doubles silver with Catherine Parenteau at the Orange County Cup in June. That was his first career Mixed Doubles final.

Bronze: 

#4: Tina Pisnik/Dekel Bar:

• Took back-to-back silver medals at North Carolina and Houston earlier this year. Anna Leigh and Ben put a “walk-off pickle” on them in Game Three of the final in North Carolina.

#14: Jackie Kawamoto/Jaume Martinez Vich:

• Kawamoto won a Mixed Doubles bronze medal with Christian Alshon at the Houston Open this year.
• Martinez Vich has medals this year in Singles and Doubles, trying to break through in Mixed.

=== MEN’S DOUBLES ===

#2 BEN JOHNS and COLLIN JOHNS: 

• They have five titles together this year, and 31 together overall.
• Are they vulnerable? They did not reach a final in their last five tournaments together (Red Rock, Atlanta, Dallas, Orange County, Kansas City), and twice earlier this year (Mesa, Austin). 
• In title matches,17-1 since the start of 2023, and 31-6 overall.

#8 CHRISTIAN ALSHON and QUANG DUONG:

• First time PPA partners, but play together in MLP.
• Alshon is playing in two finals in the same day for the first time.
• Alshon has a gold, silver and bronze this year with three different partners, most recently a bronze last week with Hayden Patriquin.
• Duong is earning his first Doubles medal. 
• Duong this year has a silver and bronze in Singles, and has beaten Ben Johns twice.

Bronze:   

#6 Jay Devilliers and Pablo Tellez.

• Devilliers looking for his first medal this year, (singles, doubles or mixed)
• Devilliers’ last Men’s Doubles medal was a bronze at the Hertz National Championships in December 2022.
• Tellez split up with partner Federico Staksrud after earning a silver in Houston in April. 
• Tellez won a silver with Hayden Patriquin at the Orange County Cup in June.
  

#7 Andrei Daescu and James Ignatowich.

• Daescu has a gold with Matt Wright at the Austin Open, and a silver with Gabe Tardio at the Red Rock Open.
• Ignatowich has five silver medals in Mixed this year, but this would be his first Men’s Doubles medal since earning a bronze with Matt Wright at the PPA Finals last December.

=== WOMEN’S DOUBLES ===

#1 ANNA LEIGH WATERS and CATHERINE PARENTEAU

• Have 20 titles together, including nine this year. 
• Have won five straight tournaments.
• Their overall match record is 102-1 coming into this Final.

#2 ANNA BRIGHT and RACHEL ROHRABACHER:

• They won four titles together during a five-tournament run in March and April. 
• Beat Parenteau and Waters in four games for the Austin Open title in March. In that match, they had more “clean winners,” by a 19-to-8 margin.
• Lost to Parenteau and Waters in three games in the Sacramento Open final in June.

Bronze: 

#14 Judit Castillo and Ewa Radzikowska.

• Castillo has a gold and a bronze in Singles this year.
• First PPA medal opportunity for Radzikowska.
• Radzikowska is 44 years old and six-foot tall.

#7 Vivian Glozman and Jorja Johnson.

• Glozman won a silver medal at the LA Open with Lacy Schneemann.
• Johnson has bronze medals on two of the last three tournaments, and another one earlier this year.