Anna Leigh Waters reached another historic milestone this weekend at the PPA Tour Chicago Cup, and we also saw several huge upsets on the men’s side throughout the tournament.

Waters won her 200th career PPA Tour title in the first match on Championship Sunday, a win in mixed doubles with Ben Johns over JW Johnson/Jorja Johnson — 11-4, 11-4.

“It’s been a crazy ride,” she said after the match. “I fought just as hard in this match as I did for my first ever one. Obviously the first gold’s the toughest to get, but I’m just going to keep working my butt off and hopefully get more milestones like this.”

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Johns, who is close behind with 188 gold medals on the PPA Tour (66 of those with Waters in mixed doubles), reflected on seeing Waters’ dominance in the sport up close.

“It’s been really cool not just to watch her dominate the sport and get better and better these past years, but it’s just been really cool to see her go from what I knew in the very beginning as just as kid to an amazing adult,” said Johns, who has known Waters since she was 11 years old (she’s now 19). “She always wants to win, and that’s just really, really great to play with and to see. It’s always inspiring, and a big congrats to her because it’s just remarkable for anyone to see. It’s a privilege to me, and I think it’s a privilege for everybody.”

Waters added to her total later in the day, also winning in women’s doubles and women’s singles for gold medals 201 and 202. She now has 45 Triple Crowns.

In women’s doubles, Waters and Anna Bright started very slow, dropping Game 1 to Tyra Black/Catherine Parenteau 11-2. They bounced back quickly, though, winning the next two games 11-3, 11-4 to take the title.

In the final match of the day, Waters put the finishing touches on her latest Triple Crown with an 11-1, 11-7 win over Kate Fahey.

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Men’s doubles chaos

Hayden Patriquin and Federico Staksrud celebrate after winning a match at the PPA Tour 2026 Chicago Cup.

The week started with a big surprise in men’s doubles as first-time partners Ben Johns/Jack Sock were knocked out in the Round of 32 by No. 27 seed Anouar Braham/Bruno Faletto — 8-11, 11-5, 11-3. Game 3 was never close, and Braham/Faletto looked like the better team for most of the match.

Johns has now gone three straight events without winning gold in men’s doubles. Johns/Federico Staksrud were beaten three weeks ago in the Round of 16 at the Arizona Open, then Johns and normal partner Gabe Tardio lost in the final last week at the Las Vegas Open.

Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin made the most of the opportunity with Johns out of the draw. They beat No. 14 seed Nico Acevedo/Jaume Martinez Vich 11-1, 11-6 in Sunday’s final for their fifth title together dating back to 2024.

Acevedo has now made it to the semifinals or finals in men’s doubles in three straight events — with two different partners. Acevedo/Yuta Funemizu also took silver at the Arizona Open, while Acevedo/Martinez Vich made the semifinals last week in Las Vegas.

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Roscoe Bellamy tops Chris Haworth in men’s singles final; Emilien Burnel makes big run from qualifying to semifinals

Roscoe Bellamy celebrates after winning a match at the PPA Tour 2026 Chicago Cup.

Pickleballers co-host Roscoe Bellamy earned his second PPA Tour title with an impressive 11-4, 11-5 win over Chris Haworth in Sunday’s men’s singles final.

It was the first time the two had played each other since 2024, and Bellamy got the best of the No. 1 seed this time around.

“Chris is one of my best friends on tour, and the guy’s an absolute beast, so to even get a win against him is huge,” Bellamy said after the win. “I hope to play him a lot more.”

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The other big storyline in men’s singles this week was the incredible run from the qualifying rounds to the semifinals by No. 55 seed Emilien (Emi) Burnel.

Burnel took down No. 3 seed Hunter Johnson in the Round of 64 — just two days after Johnson had won the title in Las Vegas. He then dominated Mota Alhouni in the Round of 32, pulled off a Game 3 comeback against JW Johnson in the Round of 16 and topped Cam Chaffin in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Burnel, who is from France and played tennis at the University of Texas — Rio Grande Valley, currently lives and trains in St. Louis and plans to play a full-time schedule in 2027.