Familiar Looks for Singles Day in Desert Ridge
| July 11, 2023
The second stop of the 2023 PPA Tour takes place at the gorgeous JW Marriott Desert Ridge resort in Phoenix, Arizona. Singles day was buzzing with plenty of excitement, some upsets, and insane pickleball.
Fifty men battled it out in the qualifier draw for the precious 8 slots available in the main draw made up of 32 players.
Tyson McGuffin withdrew from the tournament due to a foot injury, which opened the field for some new match-ups. The only upset in a first round match was No. 22 Travis Rettenmaier over No. 11 Jake Kusmider 11-8, 11-8. Rettenmaier then went on to shake up the draw with yet another upset by beating No. 6 seed Dylan Frazier 11-9, 11-7, but was ultimately knocked out in the quarterfinals by No. 3 Federico Staksrud in a thrilling two-gamer 13-11, 11-4.
No. 1 Ben Johns progressed to the semifinals without dropping a game, where he then faced off against No. 5 Julian Arnold. Arnold, just recently named MVP at the MLP event played last weekend, came into the semifinals with all the energy and enthusiasm that fans would expect. He proceeded to almost achieve the upset of the tournament. In the first game, Arnold went up 8-3, leading Johns to call a very unusual timeout. It was clear Johns was frustrated as he went on to miss a number of serves and returns, as well as commit an uncharacteristic amount of unforced errors. After winning the first game, Arnold, fully in control of the match, went into the second game with all the momentum. However, the upset was not to be, as Johns, recognizing that his game wasn’t where he wanted it to be, changed tactics in game two. This allowed him to take the second game and then the third and deciding game with a final score of 5-11, 11-5, 11-2.
“Your game is just not always firing on all cylinders,” Ben admitted. “I don’t think either of us played the cleanest match of our careers. It’s not always going to be the best, but I got the job done.”
Johns will meet Federico Staksrud on Championship Sunday. The two will play a repeat of the final at the Hyundai Masters just a few weeks ago in January. Like Johns, Staksrud did not lose a single game until his semifinal matchup against No. 2 Jay Devilliers. Staksrud took a commanding lead in the first game, but Devilliers came back on fire in the second game, putting his beautiful backhand passing shots and incredible speed and agility on display. However, Stakrud came away with the win and a final score of 11-3, 5-11, 11-3.
“I got momentum going into the 3rd set and knew I could finish it,” Staksrud said after the match.
Staksrud also touched on facing Ben Johns on Championship Sunday. “I try to have a game plan and try to execute. I just try to do my best.”
The bronze medal match was won by Julian Arnold over Jay Devilliers 11-4, 11-5 with Arnold proving yet again that he is a force to be reckoned with.
The ladies singles draw was made up of seventeen women with the top four seeds all making it to the semifinals. Anna Leigh Waters, the No. 1 woman in the world, made it to the semis without dropping a game. No. 4 Lea Jansen gave Anna Leigh a tough battle in their first game and it looked like a major upset might be imminent. Jansen put the pressure on Waters in game one with big serves and smooth passes, but ultimately did not remain consistent enough. Waters went on to beat Jansen 11-9, 11-5.
“I think the whole match I was playing iffy and Lea was playing really well,” Waters said. “In singles when I’m losing, it’s usually because I’m messing myself up by doing stupid stuff. I go over to my mom and say, ‘what stupid stuff am I doing right now?’ and she says, ‘get your head in gear and get out there.’”
No. Catherine Parenteau beat her MLP teammate, No. 3 Irina Tereschenko in the other semifinal match, 11-1, 11-9. Tereschenko played a hard-fought second game, not making it easy for Parenteau to close it out.
“Yeah, I finally moved forward,” Parenteau said. “I think she was doing a good job of dropping the ball short, so it was a little hard to adjust at first but then I realized that she kept doing it, so I just adjusted pretty well.”
Jansen beat Tereschenko in the backdraw 6-11, 11-5, 11-8 in a tight three games to win the ladies bronze medal.
