Simone Captures another Triple Crown Men’s Doubles Sees Surprises in Tampa
| July 11, 2023
Results from the Simone Florida Grand Slam
The Simone Florida Grand Slam featured continued dominance from the tournament host, Simone Jardim, as she captured her second triple crown of the season (Single’s Gold, Double’s Gold, Mixed Gold). Also with a triple crown was Julie Johnson for the Senior Women.
The tournament, a Tier 3 PPA Tournament, had three days of professional play, starting with Singles Friday, Gender Doubles Saturday, and finishing with Mixed Doubles on Sunday.
Singles Day: More of the Same for Men; New Faces for Women
Men’s Singles Results
Ben Johns dropped a game to Ryan Sherry, who seemed to be playing his best pickleball before being slowed by an injury while playing Zane Navratil. Zane fought to dethrone Johns but came up short 6-11, 5-11 in the gold medal match. Zane took a game from Ben in Phoenix, but the heat and humidity seemed to take the sting out of Zane’s serve in Tampa.
Ben Johns
Zane Navratil
Jay Devilliers
Women’s Singles
Women’s Single’s brought new faces to the podium for 2021 in silver and bronze, but a familiar Brazilian smile captured another gold. Catherine Parenteau had an early upset over Irina Tereschenko and an even bigger upset of Simone Jardim in the winner’s bracket. Callie Smith defeated Irina Tereschenko in a close match 15-13 only to fall to Simone in the medal match to capture a well-deserved bronze. Parenteau couldn’t repeat her earlier match results with Simone as she fell 7-11, 6-11, and 4-15.
Simone Jardim
Catherine Parenteau
Callie Smith
Senior Men’s Singles
Mircea Morariu found himself with a familiar color around his neck after beating familiar foe Scott Moore for Gold. Todd Fisher showed up as a new name and face in Todd Fisher. Fisher found himself blanking Dan Granot 15-0 before falling to Scott Moore in the medal match.
Mircea Morariu
Scott Moore
Todd Fisher
Senior Women’s Singles
“Pocket Doc Unnoppet” was not only a fabulous name heard over the PA; it was a name heard throughout the day. Pocket Doc fell to Sue Johnston in the first round 11-9, 11-2 before climbing through the opportunity bracket to get revenge over Sure to capture silver. Julie Johnson, the #1 seed, cruised to gold as she only gave up 4.5 average points per game.
Julie Johnson
Pocket Doc Unnopet
Sue Johnston
Surprises in Men’s Doubles While Women’s Doubles Competition Heats Up
Women’s Doubles Results
The Water’s continued to round out their form after taking 2020 off to fall in a nail bitter to Irvine-Tereschenko 18-16 late in the opportunity bracket. Callie Smith and Catherine Parenteau continued to look the part as they beat Irvine and Tereschenko to punch their ticket to the gold match against Lucy Kovalova and Simone Jardim. And in the Women’s draw, all you need to hear are Simone Jardim and Lucky Kovalova. Period.
Simone Jardmin
Lucy Kovalova
Callie Smith
Catherine Parenteau
Jessie Irvine
Irina Tereschenko
Men’s Doubles Results
Matt Wright surely deserves a relaxing soak in the tub after getting on the same page with Steve Deakin as the Johns brothers surprisingly fall in the medal match. Tyson McGuffin and Riley Newman fell just short of the podium as they lost 19-17 to Ben and Collin Johns. Wright and Deakin only dropped one game on their path to gold as Dekel Bar and Adam Stone stole game 2 before falling 11-6, 6-11, 11-3 in the winner’s bracket final. The men’s bracket surprise came as Bar and Stone lost game one to Ben and Collin Johns before winning games 2 and 3 (6-11, 13-11, 11-5). The Johns brothers fell again to Bar and Stone in the medal match 11-9, 11-7.
Steve Deakin
Matt Wright
Dekel Bar
Adam Stone
Ben Johns
Collin Johns
Senior Men’s Doubles
Familiar results rounded out the men’s senior draw as John Sperling and Scott Moore never lost a game and bested Mircea Morariu and Brian Staub 14-12, 11-9 to capture gold.
John Sperling
Scott Moore
Mircea Morariu
Brian Staub
Scott Crandall
Rob Schmick
Senior Women’s Doubles
Julie Johnson continued to dominate the Women’s Senior draw with Kelly Stroble’s help as they beat Pam Gilbert and Sue Johnston in an exciting gold medal match. Johnson and Stroble came back from being on the ropes to win convincingly 15-0 after dropping the first part of the match 3-11, 11-6, 7-11
Julie Johnson
Kelley Stroble
Pam Gilbert
Sue Johnston
Pocket Doc Unnoppet
Kris Harris
Simone Completes the Triple Crown as Waters and McGuffin Show Promise in Mixed Doubles
Mixed Doubles
Tyson McGuffin and Leigh Waters defeated an upbeat Corrine Carr and Joey Farias 15-4 before running into Matt Wright and Lucy Kovalova. Matt and Lucy fought hard in their quest to beat Ben Johns and Simone Jardim in mixed doubles but fall to their familiar foe once again
Simone Jardim
Ben Johns
Lucy Kovalova
Matt Wright
Leigh Waters
Tyson McGuffin
Senior Mixed Doubles
Julie Johnson completes the Triple Crown with the help of Mircea Morariu as Scott Moore and Eva Welsher fall just short of their comeback from the opportunity bracket.
Julie Johnson
Mircea Morariu
Eva Welsher
Scott Moore
Mary Helen Atkins
Rick Witsken
Junior PPA Continues to Grow
The Junior Professional Pickleball Association continues to grow with the help of Tyler Loong and Laurie Lambert. Thanks to their efforts, there will be over 50 juniors representing the future of the PPA at the Red Rock Open in St. George, Utah, March 10-13.
