Staksrud, ALW Dominate the Vegas Singles Scene While Tardio-Daescu Duo Keeps Rolling

The PPA Tour played pickleball in the "Royal Ballroom" at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas this weekend and the entertainment level matched the venue.

Before we get into the happenings in Vegas, please note that this coming weekend there is a break in pro pickleball. The next PPA Tour event is the CIBC Atlanta Slam, September 10-15.

Top plays from Vegas

First up, an insane point in men’s singles between No. 33 seed Noe Khlif and No. 2 seed Connor Garnett:

Gabe Tardio and Jessie Irvine play incredible defense against Quang Duong and Lauren Stratman and then turn the tables to win the point:

In the Round of 32, Riley Newman and Christian Alshon faced Eric Roddy and Casey Diamond. Diamond hits an ATP, and rather than hit it back into the court, Alshon goes straight back to Diamond with a body bag. Is this the new meta for defending ATPs?

Jack Sock is a walking highlight reel. How about a tweener drop into the kitchen to get his team back in position?

"Catherine and Anna Leigh have the most firepower on tour, they hit the ball the hardest ..." Well, their defense is also the best in women’s doubles. Check out this point:

Anna Leigh with two iconic moments in a row. She hits a defensive drop and then spins and follows it up with another one, then calmly hits a clean winner. Can we call this the loopty loop?

If Federico and Jaume play each other, there is 100 percent probability that at least one of their plays ends up on this list. Jaume didn’t disappoint with this angle:

Riley Newman hits a CRUCIAL ATP winner in the mixed doubles semifinal against Anna Bright and Christian Alshon:

I watched this match live and for the life of me, I have no idea why Andrei kept giving Tyler so many Erne opportunities, but he did. Count them down with the PPA Tour:

Top Upsets in Vegas

5. Men’s Doubles - (26) Rob Cassidy/Marshall Brown beat (5) Tyson McGuffin/Jaume Martinez Vich in the Round of 32, 11-7, 11-7

4. Mixed Doubles - (22) Zoey Wang/Pablo Tellez defeated (11) Hurricane Tyra Black/Dylan Frazier, 11-4, 1-11, 11-9.

Beating Dylan and Hurricane is a great feat in and of itself. The reason they made the top upset list is more the way they did it. Zoey and Pablo looked LOST in game two, losing 1-11 after an easy first game. Many teams would have folded at that point. Instead, they fought hard and battled, coming out with the victory by the slightest of margins. I would love to see this duo again sometime soon on the PPA Tour.

3. Women’s Doubles - (17) Alli Phillips/Genie Erokhina beat (3) Meghan Dizon/Etta Wright in the Round of 16

Phillips and Erokhina won 5-11, 11-8, 11-6. The No. 3 seed in Dizon/Wright have not been playing their best recently, but take nothing away from Phillips and Erokhina – they played with heart and determination. Alli has some great deception at the kitchen line, Erokhina can get big on the left side, and they get to the line consistently – this is a recipe for continued success.

2. Men’s Singles - (33) Noe Khlif beat (2) Connor Garnett and (19) Gabe Tardio

Khlif started out by beating Luke Wasson, 11-0, 11-1. Then he played Connor in the Round of 32, beating him 11-9, 8-11, 11-4. Connor was coming off his silver medal run in Utah.

Gabe Tardio has had some recent singles success, but Khlif was also able to beat him in the Round of 16, 11-5, 10-12, 11-9. Talk about a close match. Khlif is an elite mover with great passing shots. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him cracking the top 20 in terms of seeding very soon.

1. Women’s Singles - (17) Kate Fahey beat three previous PPA Tour winners on her way to a silver medal

Complete results for Fahey:

Round of 64 - Dodo Kong - 11-3, 11-3
Round of 32 - (9) Judit Castillo - 11-3, 11-1
Round of 16 - (5) Mary Brascia - 11-6, 11-7
Quarterfinal - (3) Lea Jansen - 11-3, 11-5
Semifinal - (12) Lacy Schneemann - 11-6, 11-9

Before the final against Anna Leigh, Fahey had gone a combined 110-46 for a 71 percent point win percentage.

Fahey played Anna Leigh Waters for the first time in the final and came up short, 11-0, 11-6.

Disclaimer – I refuse to put Kate Fahey in the "upsets" category anymore after this event, no matter what seed she is. The only time I will put her in an upset category is if she beats Anna Leigh Waters. Fahey is easily a top 10 singles talent on tour right now.

MLP Team Medal Count

New Jersey 5’s: 🥇🥇🥇🥈
LA Mad Drops: 🥇🥈
St. Louis Shock: 🥇🥈
AZ Drive: 🥇🥈
Orlando Squeeze: 🥇🥈
Carolina Pickleball Club: 🥇
Dallas Flash:🥈🥉🥉🥉
D.C. Pickleball Team: 🥈🥉
Columbus Sliders: 🥈🥉
Texas Ranchers: 🥉
Atlanta Bouncers: 🥉

Top takeaways from the event

The Fontainebleau Las Vegas

This was a very different venue from past PPA Tour stops. Actually, the closest thing to it was the previous week at the Utah Open. I am very confident the players like to play at venues where their accommodations are close – some weeks they have to drive upwards of 45 minutes just to get to the venue, depending on the location.

The good – The venue was indoors, had very good lighting, and was accessible to everyone staying in the hotel. Championship Court looked very cool visually as it was very dark, but it also had good lighting and the playing surface was up on a platform. Having all of the courts near each other was another plus – players didn’t have to walk half a mile just to find their court.

The bad – The platforms didn’t perform as expected. I am unsure exactly the materials and construction of the platforms, but from what I heard on the broadcast, they were made of wood. The PPA Tour then laid down the Acrytech pickleball flooring on top of that. There were many dead spots throughout the courts, especially grandstand and the outer courts. Players could be seen visibly frustrated with the bad bounces.

Additionally, the playing surface was too small. The boards were way too close to the courts on all sides, and this created some really tight spaces for the players.

I love that the PPA is innovating and finding new venues for events. These indoor "all-in-one" event venues are AWESOME for players/fans/staff, etc. However, I think testing the platforms ahead of time and ensuring a larger playing surface is necessary, especially at the pro level.

Anna Leigh Waters’ dominance

Anna Leigh got her 28th triple crown in Vegas, and it was her eighth this year. She is dominating in every event she participates. Here are some stats from Anna Leigh in Vegas:

Women’s Doubles (with Catherine Parenteau): 4 pickles, 11-0 in games, combined pts: 121-28 (81% win percentage)
Women’s Singles: 1 pickle, 10-0 in games, combined pts: 110-43 (72% win percentage)
Mixed Doubles (with Ben Johns): 1 pickle, 11-1 in games, combined pts: 123-59 (68% win percentage)
Entire Event: 6 pickles, 32-1 in games, combined pts: 354-130 = 73% win percentage

Additionally, Anna Leigh pickled every opponent in the finals that she played. Anna Leigh is by far the most dominant woman on tour right now, and second place isn’t even close.

Men’s doubles parity

Men’s Doubles is quickly getting to a place where singles was at the beginning of the year. Anyone can win any given match, even in the Round of 64.

In Vegas, No. 34 seed Rio Newcombe and Daniel Jensen beat Greg Dow and Anderson Scarpa. Two weeks ago in Bristol, Scarpa and Dow beat Tyson McGuffin and Jaume Martinez Vich, the No. 3 seed.

Here is a crazy stat from Vegas: In the men’s doubles quarterfinals, every winner was an underdog AND every match went to three games.

(9) Tardio/Daescu (eventual winners) beat (1) Frazier/Johnson - 7-11, 11-5, 11-3
(8) Loong/Garnett beat (3) Wright/Staksrud - 7-11, 11-9, 11-9
(6) Alshon/Newman beat (2) Johns/Johns - 11-5, 9-11, 12-10
(7) Navratil/Bar beat (4) Patriquin/Tellez - 12-10, 6-11, 11-9

The difference between winning and losing in men’s doubles is RAZOR thin. With more parity comes more drama. There are a group of 20-30 men who can team up with one another and find wins, no matter who they play against. The final three months of men’s doubles on the PPA Tour is going to be intense.

Fed’s consistency and dominance

Federico Staksrud has made every men’s singles final this year except one. Men’s singles is by far the most volatile event in the sport (more on that below). Regardless, Staksrud just keeps winning.

In his first-round matchup, Fed lost the first game to Hunter Johnson, 4-11. He then went on to beat Hunter, 11-8, and then pickled him in game 3, 11-0.

He then had to play Spartak Rahachou, who I had never seen play before – I doubt Fed had either. It didn’t look like Spartak skipped many gym days, but he couldn’t hang with Fed in singles, losing 11-4, 11-1.

Fed dropped a game to Jack Sock before beating him, 11-2, in the third game. Although entertaining, he made quick work of Jaume Martinez Vich, 11-4, 11-7.

He was clinical in the finals, beating Dylan Frazier, 11-3, 11-1.

Fed is mentally tough and doesn’t get too up or down. He consistently hits his ground strokes accurately, plays high-percentage pickleball, and takes care of his body so that he is one of the most athletic players on tour at every event.

The strength of the singles brackets means anything can happen

Noe Khlif (33), Spartak Rahachou (49), Mota Alhouni (34), Dave Bacalla (50), Anderson Scarpa (47), Alix Truong (21), Zoey Wang (15), Michelle Murphy (23), and Kate Fahey (17) ALL recorded upset wins this weekend.

The upsets on the PPA Tour are going to continue for a few different reasons:

The talent and level of athleticism continue to improve, especially further down the talent pool, where really talented players are in qualifiers - think Bacalla and Mota Alhouni
The seeding system makes it so that players who are new to the PPA Tour have to play a long time before being seeded appropriately according to their actual skill – think Kate Fahey, Hunter Johnson, and Noe Khlif

This is not an anomaly. The talent level in singles is closer than it's ever been from top to bottom.