Mesa Arizona Cup Championship Sunday Preview, from the Stats Desk
| February 25, 2024
(all stats and records reflect PPA Tour events only)
Anna Leigh Waters: 22 PPA Triple Crowns (three consecutive), 94 tour wins. (34 S, 29 D, 31 MX) Title #100 should come in March. The next tournament is the Indoor Championships, which Waters skipped last year.
Ben Johns: 20 PPA Triple Crowns, 113 tour wins. (33 S, 38 D, 42 MX)
Most Consecutive Doubles Titles while playing together:
15: Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns (March 2023-current)
13: Catherine Parenteau and Anna Leigh Waters (Dec. 2022-current)
12: Simone Jardim and Lucy Kovalova (2020-2021)
11: Simone Jardim and Ben Johns (2020-2021)
7: Anna Bright and Anna Leigh Waters (Jan 2023-Aug. 2023)
6: Ben Johns and Collin Johns (Dec. 2022-March 2023)
=== MEN’S SINGLES ===
#1 BEN JOHNS is in his first 2024 final after winning eleven titles last year. He has 33 career singles titles, while no other male player has that many titles, altogether. After serving with an open stance at Desert Ridge, Ben has returned to a closed stance, but with a lower release point.
#2 FEDERICO STAKSRUD continues his hot start to 2024. He won the Desert Ridge Open and took a silver at the Masters. Last year Staksrud beat Johns for the title in Cincinnati, but he lost their four prior gold medal matches. However, Staksrud kept Johns off the medal stand here last year.
Bronze: #4 Connor Garnett vs #17 Jack Sock. Sock beat third-seed Tyson McGuffin in the Round of 16. He also earned a bronze medal at the Masters this year.
=== WOMEN’S SINGLES ===
#1 ANNA LEIGH WATERS allowed only 14 points in six games to reach the final. Waters won 14 titles last year, including this one.
#4 MARY BRASCIA won six straight games to reach the final. Brascia lost to in the finals to Waters earlier this month at Desert Ridge, and also last May in Atlanta.
Bronze: #3 Lea Jansen vs #5 Salome Devidze.
=== MIXED DOUBLES ===
#1 ANNA LEIGH WATERS and BEN JOHNS avenged one of their two losses last year by beating the Johnsons, 11-1, 11-3. That loss was at this tournament in the quarterfinals. The other was in pool play in December. This team has won 15 straight tournaments playing together.
#3 VIVIENNE DAVID and THOMAS WILSON survived a wild quarterfinal, beating Jackie Kawamoto and Riley Newman 15-13 in the third game. This team has been consistently competitive, winners of bronze medals in four of the last five tournaments.
Bronze: #4 Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson vs #2 Anna Bright and James Ignatowich.
=== MEN’S DOUBLES ===
#16 GABE TARDIO and ANDREI DAESCU, dubbed “The Giant Killers” by Dave Fleming, are both making their Championship Sunday debuts. They used an “aggressive but smart” style to beat the Johns brothers in the Round of 16, and the #4 seeds, Riley Newman and Thomas Wilson, in the semis.
#2 DYLAN FRAZIER and JW JOHNSON allowed only 21 points in their six wins. This team is back on the podium after winning five gold, five silver, and five bronze medals last year.
Bronze: #4 Riley Newman and Thomas Wilson vs #3 James Ignatowich and Matt Wright.
(NOTE: The Top-seeded Johns brothers lost to Gabe Tardio and Andrei Daescu in the Round of 16.
=== WOMEN’S DOUBLES ===
#1 CATHERINE PARENTEAU and ANNA LEIGH WATERS cruised to the finals without losing a game. This team had won 13 straight PPA titles while playing together. A win for Waters would be her 30th, and put her in the 30/30/30 Club. (singles, doubles, mixed)
#4 MEGHAN DIZON and ETTA WRIGHT saved seven match points in the quarterfinals against the Brascia sisters. Dizon and Wright earned a silver medal at Desert Ridge against Parenteau and Waters, and they also lost to them at the Texas Open final last summer. Their 2023 gold medal was at Red Rock against Lea Jansen and Allyce Jones.
Bronze: #2 Anna Bright and Vivie
