The PPA Tour made its way to the gulf coast of Florida for the first time in Cape Coral, Florida.
The Lake Kennedy Racquet Center hosted the tournament and the crowds brought the energy! It looked like the seats were sold out all weekend long!
Let’s get into the action!
Top 10 Plays/Moments
16-year-old John Lucian Goins beat Ben Johns in the quarterfinals for a huge upset
Lea Jansen looked dominant on her way to Championship Sunday against Kaitlyn Christian
Hayden Patriquin hitting all the angles in mixed doubles with Jorja Johnson on their way to a bronze medal match
Martin Emmrich displayed his athleticism at the age of 40, with an ATP defended, into a tweener defense and then overhead put away
A crazy hands battle to start the men’s quarterfinals match between Riley Newman/Dylan Frazier and Andrei Daescu/Ben Johns
Up and comers Zane Ford and James Delgado upset Quang Duong and Pablo Tellez
Dylan Frazier, along with others, trolled Dave Fleming into pronouncing his name as “Die-lyn” for an entire match
Jack Sock displaying his ferocious forehand (new nickname?) against Quang Duong. Sock won the match 11-5 in the third
Nothing like hitting a clean winner on a ball you thought your partner was hitting, right Rachel?
A men’s doubles point that had it all
Top Storylines
Anna Leigh Waters continues to dominate the competition with her 33rd Triple Crown
Anna Leigh's dominance cannot be overlooked.
Does it get boring sometimes hearing about Anna Leigh winning another event? Sure. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't admire the GOAT while she continues to rack up triple crowns.
Anna Leigh is proving that she is a once in a lifetime generational talent in pro pickleball at the age of 18.
In Cape Coral, she dominated singles, beating all five of her opponents in two games. She won a combined 110-37. Her opponents averaged 3.7 points against her per match.
In mixed doubles, Ben and Anna Leigh cruised to the finals. In fact, the most difficult matchup outside the finals proved to be their Round of 64 match against qualifiers. They beat Jalina Ingram and James Kaoma 11-2, 7-11, 11-2. After that, they didn't lose a game until the finals against Anna Bright and JW Johnson.
In women's doubles, Catherine and Anna Leigh were back to their dominating ways. They didn't lose a single game all weekend. In their first round matchup, they DOUBLE PICKLED qualifiers Bobbi Oshiro and Katerina Stewart.
Overall, Catherine and Anna Leigh beat their opponents 123-58 in their five matches, having never lost a game in Cape Coral.
I will leave you with this stat about Anna Leigh Waters: The last time Anna Leigh played in an event and didn't win a medal was June 2, 2024, when she lost to Salome in singles in the semis and didn't play in the bronze medal match against Catherine.
Since then? 39 medals in a row.
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John Lucian Goins earns his first medal on the PPA Tour while taking down #1 seed Ben Johns
The youngster won bronze all the way from men’s singles qualifiers. Here is a list of Goins opponents this week:
Qualifiers
- W - Justin Graham - 11-3, 11-2
- W - Nejc Star - 11-4, 11-4
- W - Jemere Plummer - 11-2, 11-4
Goins beat his qualifier opponents by a score of 66-19.
Headed into the main draw, Goins earned the 40 seed out of the qualifiers, with a big uphill climb to make it out of the first couple of rounds, let along a bronze medal.
Main Draw
- Rd64 - W - (32) Brandon French - 11-0, 11-6
- Rd32 - W - (8) Dylan Frazier - 13-11, 11-8
- Rd16 - W - (41) Ammar Wazir - 11-0, 11-7
- QF - W - (1) Ben Johns - 8-11, 11-1, 11-7
- SF - L - (6) Jaume Martinez Vich - 3-11, 10-12
- Bronze - W - (38) Max Freeman - 11-6, 9-11, 11-2
Goins is a 16-year-old star in the making, and he is a junior in high school in Brandenton, Florida. He turns 17 later this month.
In addition to the above wins, Goins has had wins over Yates Johnson, Pablo Tellez, and Grayson Goldin within the last year.
It will be interesting to see what Goins does with his future. He is a five-star tennis recruit and will probably garner numerous NCAA D1 tennis offers in addition to his potential in pro pickleball.
Ben and Anna Leigh get pushed again, but win gold
Is the gap closing in mixed doubles? That is the million-dollar question.
Inarguably, the gap has officially closed in men’s doubles. I think there are anywhere between 5-10 men who could win a men’s doubles tournament nowadays and no one would be surprised.
However, in mixed, Ben and Anna Leigh are the golden standard. Sure, they lost to Anna Bright and Dekel Bar in the semis of the PPA Mesa Cup, but that is not the norm.
In their last 35 events together, Ben and Anna Leigh are 33-2 in terms of championships.
While I do believe the gap is slightly closing on them, I don’t see a team that is going to consistently push them and/or beat them.
Part of that reason is because the second best mixed woman (Anna Bright) and the second best mixed man (Christian Alshon) are playing this season with multiple partners and may not enjoy enough continuity to really push Ben and AL.
Ben and Anna Leigh are going to win the majority of mixed doubles events through the remainder of 2025, unless something drastic changes.
There is a LARGE gap between the top two women’s teams and the rest of the field
Speaking of gaps between the top of the field and the rest of the rest of the field… see women’s doubles.
In events where both Anna Leigh/Catherine and Rachel/Anna Bright play, they have both made the finals in the last ten straight events.
Yes, other teams have made the finals and/or won, but on those occasions, either Anna Leigh and Catherine, or Rachel and Anna didn’t play in that event.
Said another way, when the field is at full strength, the top two teams make the finals religiously. The last time they didn’t was the Select Medical Orange County Cup in late June, 2024. This marks OVER NINE MONTHS of dominance from these two teams.
Now, with that being said, there is a gap from Anna Leigh and Catherine down to Rachel and Anna Bright. They have the majority of the wins, while Rachel and Anna Bright have three wins over the top team to their name.
However, the gap between "The Girlies" and the rest of the field is huge - no one else is consistently pushing for that second spot.
The Cape Coral event was a little closer than the scoreline of 13-11, 11-7, 11-5 would suggest.
Two questions stand out to me in the world of women’s doubles:
- Can “The Girlies” beat CP/ALW at least three times this year?
- Can another team take a leap forward and insert themselves into this current two horse race?
Andrei Daescu win his third straight gold medal in men’s doubles
Three golds in a row is impressive. Doing it with two different partners AGAINST both partners is even more impressive. Here is a run-down of the last three events for Andrei Daescu in men’s doubles:
- PPA Tucson - Partnered w/ Christian Alshon - GOLD - Finals against JW Johnson and Gabe Tardio
- PPA Mesa Cup - Partnered w/ Christian Alshon - GOLD - Finals against Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio
- PPA Cape Coral - Partnered w/ Ben Johns - GOLD - Finals against Christian Alshon and Federico Staksrud
In terms of finals appearances, Ben Johns, Christian Alshon, Gabe Tardio, and Andrei Daescu have made at least two out of the last three finals appearances.
Daescu is in a league of his own right now, having played with both Christian and Ben, and beaten both of them with the other player. Daescu’s hands seem a little quicker with his new Proton Flamingo (this paddle has been out for a month and has 22x "5-star" reviews out of 27 total), and he is even driving and crashing more than I have seen him.
All of this is on top of the world-class positive partner communication that he is known for.
Andrei is playing the CIBC Texas Open next week with Dylan Frazier, so can he make it four golds in a row with THREE partners?
Christian Alshon earns his first gold medal in singles
The fact that this is Alshon’s first ever singles title is shocking to me. He has been known as being a top 5-10 guy in singles for the past two years. To go this long without a win is crazy.
Alshon definitely earned this one, beating Jaume Martinez Vich, 11-6, in the third game.
Alshon is playing some of the best pickleball of his career right now. He has really stepped up in these last three events:
PPA Tucson
- M Doubles - Partnered w/ Andrei Daescu - GOLD
- MXD Doubles - Partnered w/ Hurricane Tyra Black - SILVER
- Singles - SILVER
PPA Mesa Cup
- M Doubles - Partnered w/ Andrei Daescu - GOLD
- MXD Doubles - QF Loss to ALW/Ben Johns
- Singles - QF Loss to Ben Johns
PPA Cape Coral
- M Doubles - Partnered w/ Federico Staksrud - SILVER
- MXD Doubles - Partnered w/ Catherine Parenteau - BRONZE
- Singles - GOLD
So he has earned seven medals in nine chances in the last three events. The only two times he didn’t earn a medal it was because he lost to Ben Johns in a quarterfinal.
Alshon is making a name for himself as the best overall guy in pickleball. That race right now is between Ben Johns, Federico Staksrud, and Christian Alshon. Time will tell which player will take over 2025 as the best player in the world.
Full Results
Women’s Singles
🥇 Anna Leigh Waters
🥈 Lea Jansen
🥉 Kate Fahey
Men’s Singles
🥇 Christian Alshon
🥈 Jaume Martinez Vich
🥉 John Lucian Goins
Mixed Doubles
🥇 Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns
🥈 Anna Bright/JW Johnson
🥉 Catherine Parenteau/Christian Alshon
Women’s Doubles
🥇 Catherine Parenteau/Anna Leigh Waters
🥈 Rachel Rohrabacher/Anna Bright
🥉 Allyce Jones/Hurricane Tyra Black
Men’s Doubles
🥇 Andrei Daescu/Ben Johns
🥈 Christian Alshon/Federico Staksrud
🥉 CJ Klinger/JW Johnson
