Mesa Tournament wrap-up
| February 26, 2024
A quick look at who won and how from the five championship matches Sunday at the Arizona Cup in Mesa, Ariz.
Women’s Doubles
Winners: Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau
Well, that’s 64 matches in a row without a loss for the pair as they tore through the bracket without even losing a game. Now golden in eight tournaments in a row, these two have never lost a match together.
They beat the fourth-seeded team of Meghan Dizon and Etta Wright in the final, 11-3, 12-10, 12-10, Jorja Johnson and Mari Humberg, the 12th-seeded team earned bronze with an upset win against the second-seeded team of Vivienne David and Anna Bright, 11-8, 11-7.
Mixed Doubles
Winners: Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters
That’s eight in a row for Johns and Waters as the two beat Thomas Wilson and Vivienne David in the final, 11-4, 11-1, 11-9 Johns and Waters have never lost a gold medal match since they joined up at the beginning of the 2023 season. They won all 16 gold medal matches they played in last year and have won all three this year.
The biggest question isn’t about whether these two will lose, it’s about who’s next. What mixed doubles team can give this pair a challenge?
Jorja Johnson and J.W. Johnson earned the bronze when James Ignatowich and Anna Bright had to withdraw because of Ignaowich’s injury.
Women’s Singles
Winner: Anna Leigh Waters.
Triple crown for Waters as she beat Mary Brascia in the final, 11-0, 11-8. It’s the second tournament in a row Waters has beaten Brascia in the final and Waters has won the past eight tournaments she has entered, including all three this year.
Like mixed doubles and women’s doubles, there doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut No. 2 out there for Waters. She has lost to Tyra Black and she has lost to Parris Todd, but those losses are in the distant past. Waters is so clearly dominant, it’s hard to conceive who could beat her at this point.
Salome Devidze withdrew from the bronze medal match. Lea Jansen earns bronze.
Men’s Singles
Winner: Ben Johns
It feels like there may have been some slippage from Johns this year, but he regained his grip on the top with a convincing run to gold in Mesa, beating No. 2-seeded Federico Staksrud, 11-8, 11-4.
Despite winning the last two tournaments of 2023, Johns hadn’t medaled in the two previous tournaments in 2024, so there have been some questions about where his game is. No question Sunday as he blasted the second-best player in singles.
Men’s singles has been a fun, unpredictable bracket so far in 2024. Seven players have earned a medal in the three tournaments so far, making the field deep and packed with possibilities.
Connor Garnett beat Jack Sock in the bronze final, 11-2, 11-3 Sunday.
This year, Johns, Staksrud, Garnett, Sock, Dylan Frazier, Jaume Martinez Vich and Jay Devilliers have all medaled.
Men’s Doubles
Winners: J.W. Johnson and Dylan Frazier
Now this pair is fun to watch. The second-seeded duo beat upstarts Gabe Tardio and Andrei Daescu Sunday, 11-3, 11-8, 11-9, earning their first gold of the year and their first medal of the year as well.
Frazier and Johnson are prolific winners. They earned five golds in 2023 and six silvers as well.
Meanwhile, Tardio and Daescu were the surprise of the tournament. Coming in as the 16th-seeded team, they earned their first medal together. They had an upset against the top-seeded Johns brothers in the round of 16 and followed it up with wins against higher-seeded teams Devilliers and Pat Smith and then Riley Newman and Thomas Wilson in the semis.
Igrnatowich was injured, and he and his partner Matt Wright had to withdraw from the bronze medal match. That means Newman and Wilson earn bronze for the second time in three 2024 tournaments.
