Leigh Waters shines alongside daughter Anna Leigh in PPA Tour return
Last Edited
Dec 22 2024
Category
News
Leigh Waters put an exclamation point on her return to the PPA Tour on Sunday, securing the title in women’s doubles at the Daytona Beach Open with her daughter, Anna Leigh Waters.
The mother-daughter duo defeated Jorja Johnson and Tyra Black 7-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-4 in the gold medal match.
After dropping the first game to Dallas Flash teammates Johnson and Black, Leigh and Anna Leigh got down 1-7 in Game 2 before turning things around and cruising in Game 3 and Game 4.
“For the first game and a half, Jorja and Tyra were playing amazing, but we just weren’t having fun,” Anna Leigh said after the match. “We were putting too much pressure on ourselves, and then my mom looked at me and said, ‘Anna Leigh, you’re playing with your mom. Just have some fun out there.’ I had a couple scrappy points, mom had some good speedups, and then we felt pretty good the rest of the way through.”
It’s the first PPA Tour title for the Waters duo since the 2022 Texas Open. They also played in and won the U.S. Open earlier this year.
“I just wanted to have a blast out here with her and do this one more time,” said the 45-year-old Leigh, who has been Anna Leigh's coach this season. “I never expected to win the darn thing, but here we are. I couldn’t be happier.”
In other divisions Sunday:
CJ Klinger wins first PPA Tour title alongside Andrei Daescu
The 18-year-old Klinger teamed up with the veteran Daescu this weekend to nab his first gold medal on the PPA Tour, defeating Dekel Bar and Pablo Tellez 13-11, 11-2, 11-9 in the gold medal match.
Klinger and Daescu rallied from down 7-10 and saved six game points in Game 1 before stealing that one and cruising in Game 2.
“I told CJ coming in that they were gonna try and take it to us early, which they definitely did,” Daescu said. “They were driving-and-crashing very well, and so we just had to steady the waters a little bit and get comfortable at the kitchen line. Props to CJ — he dealt with the pressure really well and we were able to close out the first game, which kind of set the tone for the rest of the match.”
Bar and Tellez also took home silver at Worlds in November, so that pairing could be one to watch heading into 2025.
Kaitlyn Christian wins first PPA gold in women’s singles
Christian also made it to the top of the podium for the first time with an 11-3, 14-12 win over Dominique Schaefer in the women’s singles championship.
Christian, who had three silver medals on the year before breaking through Sunday, needed to save three game points in Game 2 before storming back to win that one – and the title.
Federico Staksrud wins ninth men’s singles title of season
Staksrud put the finishing touches on his impressive season with an 11-7, 11-3 win over No. 21 seed Zane Ford.
Ford had a breakout tournament with wins over Ross Whittaker, Grayson Goldin, Rafa Hewett, and Michael Loyd to make his first PPA final, but the top-seeded Staksrud was too much at the end.
Jorja Johnson, Hayden Patriquin take mixed title in first tournament together
It was a guarantee that a first-time partnership was going to come away with the mixed gold medal, with Tina Pisnik teaming up with Daescu for the first time as well and making the final.
But it was Johnson and Patriquin taking the win in three games, 11-8, 11-3, 11-8.
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