Christian Alshon made the finals in all three divisions for the first time in his career.
Thanks to a late January event cancellation due to wildfires in California, it had been nearly a month since the full Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) field was in action. But the tour came together in Tucson for the 2025 Proton Tucson Open held at the Tucson Racquet & Fitness center. This 1000-level event was hot on the heels of the PPA’s first foray internationally, and a number of players came into Arizona jet lagged from the long flights from Melbourne.
Click here for the Pickleballtournaments.com home page for the event, where you can get tournament details, draw sheets, and results.
Let’s recap the action.
Men’s Pro Singles Recap
Hunter Johnson survived the deep singles draw to win.
One of the bigger sponsorship deals we’ve had in the sport was announced since we last had the full tour in action, as current No. 1 ranked singles and doubles male Federico Staksrud signed with adidas and began playing with their new signature paddle. The Tucson Open was the first time Staksrud was using his new paddle, and all eyes were on him and the equipment to see how it would look in battle. Answer? Not good; Staksrud faced off against newly-signed Australian pro Tom Evans in his opener round of 32 match, and was shockingly upset 2,(5),8. Reports were that his new paddle “hit like a truck” and that he struggled to control the ball, a key factor to winning in singles where ground stroke placement is so key. There have been rumblings in the industry for years that Joola (Fed’s prior paddle) were so powerful that they artificially elevated players’ games, and this shocking loss won’t dispel that myth when it comes to Stak’s meteoric rise. That being said, all credit to Evans, who is a solid player and a nightmare round of 32 match for any top pro right now.
With Staksrud out of the top half of the draw, No. 6 Christian Alshon took full advantage, crushing opponents all the way to his securing a spot in the gold medal match. Alshon absolutely terrorized the upper half of the draw, giving up a combined 14 points in four matches, including a 1,3 domination of No. 8 Jack Sock in the semis to earn the Sunday spot.
From the bottom half, another missed singles event from Ben Johns gave the No. 2 seed to Connor Garnett. One has to wonder, with Johns purposely skipping singles in both the Masters and here, if he’s making a specific decision to abandon singles on tour altogether. I have no information one way or the other of course, but dozens of top players on the PPA are now eschewing singles to focus on their doubles games and save the wear and tear on their bodies. Johns really only needs results in a handful of singles events to ensure his spot in the tour finals, so perhaps that’s the strategy for 2025.
Garnett couldn’t get past No. 7 Dylan Frazier in the quarters, but No. 3 seed Hunter Johnson was fairly unstoppable at this event, downing top singles players Noe Khlif, Quang Duong, and then Frazier to reach the gold medal match for the fifth time since September.
In the final, Hunter spoiled Alshon’s bid for a triple crown with a dominant 7,2 win. Johnson wins his 4th PPA singles title since September and continues to put pressure on the two players ranked above him (Johns & Garnett) in his push for the No. 2 ranking on tour.
Gold: Hunter Johnson. Silver: Christian Alshon. Bronze: Dylan Frazier.
Women’s Pro Singles Recap
Parris Todd beat all three top seeds to take the singles title.
The Women’s singles draw was thinned of several top competitors at this event, with No. 1 Waters, No. 5 Parenteau, and No. 8 Devidze all missing the tournament, which gave the well-traveled Kaitlyn Christian the top seed. She shook off the 16-hour flight jetlag from her win last weekend in Melbourne to cruise into the semis with little trouble. There, she played an epic battle against the player many have anointed as “the next big thing” in Women’s pickleball, No. 4 Kate Fahey. The two baselining specialists played a back and forth affair, with Christian coming out on top 7,(1),5 to secure a spot in the gold medal match for the fourth PPA event running.
The bottom half of the draw was stacked, with singles specialists Buckner, Todd, Jansen, Wang, and the improving Bouchard all vying for the final. In an especially brutal quarter final, No. 5 Parris Todd (fresh off her Michelob ultra commercial spots) crushed No. 2 Lea Jansen 3,1 to get a statement win. Her work was not done yet though, as she had to face off against No. 3 Buckner in the semis. The pair played one of the more grueling matches we’ve seen in a while, with Todd outlasting Buckner 2,(12),9 to earn a spot in the final against the top seed.
In the final, Todd made a statement to the tour with a 2,3 blowout of Christian for the win. Amazingly, its Parris’ first PPA singles win since June 2022, where she shocked ALW in the final of the San Clemente event to announce herself formally to pro pickleball’s biggest stage. Christian may have gotten the win over new singles darling Fahey, but Todd won this event by taking out the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 seeds in order, often in dominant fashion. She should jump a couple of her rivals to rise to No. 3 on tour after this result.
Gold: Parris Todd. Silver: Kaitlyn Christian. Bronze: Kate Fahey.
Mixed Pro Doubles Recap
Waters & Johns remain unstoppable in Mixed
With both members of the No. 1 Mixed team opting out of Singles, Anna Leigh Waters & Ben Johns both took the floor for the first time this weekend in the Mixed draw. The pair ran their way through a relatively tough draw, starting with No. 28 Hewett & Humberg in the round of 32. From there, they cruised past Devilliers & Callie Smith in the 16s, then ground out a tough win against No. 6 Daescu & Pisnik in the quarters. In the semis they faced the surprising No. 16 team of Dylan Frazier & Kate Fahey, who had continued the “new paddle jitters” by ousting the No. 3 seeds Staksrud & Parenteau early. Johns & Waters were just too much for the error-prone upstarts, who had some periods of positivity throughout the match, but never long enough to withstand the onslaught of power from Waters’ backhand. Johns & Waters win 3,7 to move into the final from the upper-half.
Meanwhile, whatever Alshon is drinking this week, sign me up for some as well. Christian teamed up Hurricane Tyra Black, with whom he took a Bronze earlier this year at the Masters in Mixed, and cruised to the final as the No. 4 seeds. After surviving a mental lapse in the round of 32, they cruised past Michelob Ultra super bowl ad stars Hunter Johnson & Parris Todd in the 16s, crushed Patriquin & Rohrabacher 1,4 in the quarters, and then eased past JW Johnson & Maggie Brascia 5,9 in the semis.
In the final, Johns & Waters put an end to the Alshon & Black freight train, but not without some solid pickleball. The long-time No. 1 pair won the gold medal 8,8,5 but many walked away with more of an impression of Black than of anyone else on the court that day. Nonetheless, the two top players win their astounding 45th career Mixed Pro Doubles title together to continue their reign of dominance in the genre.
Gold: Johns & Waters. Silver: Black & Alshon. Bronze: Frazier & Fahey
Men’s Pro Doubles Recap
There were some fun storylines in the Men’s doubles draw in Tucson. Current No. 1 ranked Staksrud was only seeded 5th in this event by virtue of playing with the under-seeded CJ Klinger (his regular partner as of late Patriquin got a date with the big man Ben Johns this weekend), and their event was over before it started. The team withdrew with something that was reportedly injury related, but perhaps was more mental given the new paddle jitters Federico exhibited in the first two days of this event with his new adidas gear. In the “never say never” category, long-time partners with a fairly acrimonious breakup Matt Wright & Riley Newman paired together this week, and made a run to the quarters before falling to the top seeds handily.
Ben Johns teamed with Hayden Patriquin to form a dangerous-sounding pair for this weekend; Johns is top dog on the left side, and Patriquin is one of the best aggressive right-side players who had more than shown his ability to win with multiple left-sided partners. However, the team ran into the weekend’s hottest player Christian Alshon, already in two gold medal matches by the time the pairs met in the semis on Saturday Afternoon. Alshon & partner Andrei Daescu dismantled the No. 1 team in game one and was projecting to a two game blow-out before a frantic comeback forced game three. However, the consistency of Daescu and the error-prone aggressiveness of Patriquin on the day was their downfall: Alshon & Daescu won 6,(10),5 to get to the gold medal match.
Ben’s supposed “new partner” Tardio was instead playing with his long-time training partner JW Johnson, and as the No. 2 seeds cruised into the final from the lower half without much trouble, perhaps making both players wonder what could be if they committed to each other. When Johnson parted ways with Frazier last winter, the odds-on assumption in the industry was that JW (a pure left-side doubles player) would team with Tardio (the best of breed of the new aggressive right-siders) and would move forward in an attempt to take over No. 1. Frazier, now working on becoming a leading-man left-sider, teamed with lefty Pablo Tellez as the No. 3 seed, projecting to a juicy semis match of former teammates, but Frazier & Tellez were shocked in the 16s by another player to keep an eye on, Noe Khlif, who paired with veteran lefty Hewett to engineer this upset and make a solid run to the semis before falling. JW & Gabe took out Noe & Rafa to secure the Sunday final with an 8,5 win late on Saturday afternoon.
In the final, Alshon & Daescu won a close game one, then blew out the South Florida pair to secure Alshon his 3rd career Men’s Doubles title and Daescu his 5th.
Gold: Alshon & Daescu. Silver: Johnson & Tardio. Bronze: Johns & Patriquin.
Women’s Pro Doubles Recap
The Women’s pro doubles competition on the PPA is quickly turning into a running competition between the sports’ two top teams, No. 1 ranked Anna Leigh Waters & Catherine Parenteau and No. 2 ranked Anna Bright & Rachel Rohrabacher. There’s now nearly an 8,000 point gap between the four women who comprise the sport’s two top teams and the rest of the tour. More importantly, the Tucson Open final was the 8th straight gold medal final between the teams when all four players were present, dating back to mid-August 2024.
The bulk of the Saturday draw went according to teams’ seeds, with just two minor upsets in the round of 32 marring a perfectly seeded competition. All eight top seeds advanced to the quarters, and all four top seeds advanced to the semis. However, no one is topping the two top teams right now from their inevitable meeting in the final. The tour used its ESPN2 Sunday broadcast slot for this final, hoping for a rematch worthy of last year’s “match of the season” final between the two in Vegas.
However, fate intervened this weekend, as the top seeds absolutely blasted Bright & Rohrabacher 0,2,4 to make a statement. Bright & Rohrabacher may have a couple of head-2-head wins over Waters & Parenteau, but they have a long ways before presenting a week-in, week-out threat.
Gold: Waters & Parenteau. Silver: Bright & Rohrabacher. Bronze: Todd & Black.
Senior Open Competition Quick Recap
As has become more and more frequent, there were not enough Senior women signed up to even hold Women’s or Mixed senior divisions. Here’s quick recaps of the two men’s divisions held.
- Men’s Senior Open Singles: Joshua Cooperman won his 10th career PPA senior singles title with a dominant performance, which included handing out a double-pickle 11-0, 11-0 win in the final.
- Men’s Senior Open Doubles: Joshua Cooperman teamed with Michael Moon to take the Senior Open doubles round robin competition and secure the double for Cooperman on the weekend.
The Pro Pickleball Medal Tracker has now been updated with these results; check out this link online for a complete pro medal history for all tours and all pro events dating to the beginnings of all the major pro tours, plus pro events that predated 2020.
Next up on the Pickleball Calendar? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule, we have a slew of non-tour related events this coming weekend, including a key MLP transaction window, two big Pickleball Celebrity events, the completion of the Indian Open team and individual competitions, and the NCPA Nationals in Vegas.
Next up for the PPA? The tour heads back to Arizona for the 2025 Mesa Open in two weeks’ time.
