Vizzy Atlanta Championship Sunday Preview, from the Stats Desk
| May 19, 2024
- Anna Leigh Waters earned a Triple Crown at this event last year. She has 24 career Triple Crowns and 100 titles.
- Ben Johns’ 20/60 vision: Ben Johns has at least one gold medal in each of his last 19 tournaments, a PPA record for male players. Ben Johns is playing in his 60th PPA tournament, and he has earned at least one medal in all 60.
- Easy as 1-2-3: Ben Johns has 123 PPA gold medals.
- Tied at the Top: Ben and Collin Johns have 31 PPA Men’s Doubles Titles together. Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters have 31 PPA Mixed Doubles titles together. Those are the top two totals (by far) for doubles teams.
=== MEN’S SINGLES ===
#1 Federico Staksrud is in his tenth straight final (four gold, five silver). The record is 13 straight, held by today’s opponent, Ben Johns. Staksrud beat Johns at the Cincinnati final last September, the same day Johns won his 100th career title.
#2 Ben Johns, in the unfamiliar spot of the #2 seed, sets his sights on the only other man to be the top ranked male player. Johns is 3-0 against Staksrud in finals this year. Johns beat Quang Duong in the quarters, avenging losses to him this year at Houston and Palm Springs.
Bronze: #5 Christian Alshon vs #4 Tyson McGuffin.
=== WOMEN’S SINGLES ===
#1 Anna Leigh Waters allowed only twelve points in eight games. Let that sink in. In eleven of those twelve games, she held her opponent to under three points. Waters is 25-0 in finals since her last silver medal, losing to Parris Todd in June of 2022.
#14 Parris Todd is the lowest seeded player in action today. Her four wins here included victories over seeds two, nine, and seven. Todd is the last player to beat Waters in a final; that was at the Orange County Cup in June of 2022.
Bronze: #4 Lea Jansen vs #3 Salome Devidze.
=== MIXED DOUBLES ===
#1 Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns have 31 titles together. This is their first tournament together since they beat Tina Pisnik and Dekel Bar for the gold medal at the North Carolina Cup in April.
#3 Anna Bright and James Ignatowich beat Waters/Johns in a round-robin match at the PPA Finals last December. They lost to Etta Wright and Ben Johns in the Red Rock Open two weeks ago.
Bronze: #4 JW Johnson/Jorja Johnson vs #9 Rachel Rohrabacher and Federico Staksrud.
=== MEN’S DOUBLES ===
#2 Dylan Frazier and JW Johnson are trying to win back-to-back tournaments for the second time. They did it last summer also. Their seven wins together is one behind two teams: Wright and Newman, and Wright and Ben Johns. Johnson’s 14 overall titles is fifth all-time among men.
#3 Federico Staksrud and Matt Wright, a new pairing, needed three games to win their Round of 32 match, then they got rolling, including an 11-5, 11-3 win over the top-seeded Johns brothers. Wright’s 20 gold medals are the third-most all-time among men. Staksrud is looking for his first gold medal outside of singles.
Wright is one of only five players to have won gold medals every year since the PPA started tracking results in 2020: Ben Johns, Lucy Kovalova, Tyson McGuffin, Riley Newman, Matt Wright. (bold: won in 2024)
Bronze: #1 Ben Johns/Collin Johns vs. #5 Dekel Bar/Tyson McGuffin.
=== WOMEN’S DOUBLES ===
#1 Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau are looking for their first title since winning eight in a row from August to February. They have 15 career titles together, the most in women’s doubles (Jardim and Kovalova had 13). Waters and Parenteau had a rare “double pickle” win in the round of 16.
#9 Jade Kawamoto and Andrea Koop won three three-game matches against higher seeds to reach the final, the last one being a tense victory over Lea Jansen and Callie Smith, 12-10 in the third, ending on a controversial line call. Koop has a 2022 women’s doubles gold medal playing with Vivienne David. Kawamoto is looking for her first PPA title.
Bronze: #4 Lea Jansen/Callie Smith vs. #3 Etta Wright/Meghan Dizon.
