PPA Tour 2026 Greater Zion Cup: Draws, schedule, TV information and analysis

Alex Lantz

Director of Content

Last Edited

Mar 23 2026

Mixed Doubles

After Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin's convincing upset of Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns at the Mesa Cup in February, fans and pundits wondered whether the top spot in mixed doubles would be up for grabs this season. In the two events since, Bright/Patriquin have been eliminated in the quarterfinals (Newport Beach Open) and lost in the final at the Texas Open. Johns/Waters won both of those events, and if they win again this week, that Mesa Cup result starts to look a lot more like a blip than a trend.

Here are some other teams likely to be in the mix this week:

No. 2 Jorja Johnson/JW Johnson: The sibling duo is still the No. 2 seed on points, but Bright/Patriquin are catching up quickly because the Johnsons have had a down year so far in 2026 (by their standards). In five events together this year, they have yet to make a final and have been eliminated before the semifinals in three of those tournaments. That's very uncharacteristic considering they made 10 finals in 2025 and won four gold medals. Is it time to sound the alarm on this partnership?

No. 4 Christian Alshon/Rachel Rohrabacher: They've played together twice this year. At the Cape Coral Open they won bronze after losing a close semifinal match to Johns/Waters (12-10, 7-11, 7-11). Then at the Mesa Cup they lost in the quarterfinals to Andrei Daescu/Tyra Black (11-8, 4-11, 4-11). I expect them to be in the mix toward the end of the week/on the weekend.

No. 5 Parris Todd/Andrei Daescu: The Columbus Sliders teammates have played in three events together in 2026, with two bronze medals and a fourth-place finish. But they have a very tough draw this week -- if seeding holds, they would face Johns/Waters in the quarterfinals.

No. 6 Catherine Parenteau/Gabe Tardio: They're coming off of their best tournament to date -- a fourth-place finish at the Texas Open earlier this month. For those who are interested in what paddles the pros are using: Parenteau's Selkirk contract is up, and she was using a JOOLA Scorpeus Pro V in Texas, and made the semifinals in both mixed doubles and women's doubles.

No. 7 Dylan Frazier/Tyra Black: Frazier hasn't made it past the Round of 16 in mixed doubles so far in 2026, but Black is the best partner he's played with in a while. They played together in several tournaments in 2024, but that was before Black was a top 5 doubles player.

No. 8 Eric Oncins/Tina Pisnik: The former Texas Ranchers teammates have played together the last two tournaments and had drastically different results. At the Newport Beach Open they made the final, losing to Johns/Waters in 3 games. Then at the Texas Open they were beaten by Max Freeman/Mari Humberg in the Round of 32.

Men's doubles

The last time Ben Johns/Gabe Tardio lost together was at the World Championships in Dallas in November. They've won six straight titles since then, and we have yet to see them pushed to a deciding Game 5 in a final this year.

Here are the three main challengers:

No. 2 Hayden Patriquin/Christian Alshon: This has been the team that has been the closest to Johns/Tardio this year. They've met in three finals, with two of those matches going to a Game 4.

No. 3 Federico Staksrud/Andrei Daescu: They're coming off of their best result of the year -- a silver at the Texas Open -- and have made the semifinals in every event they've played together in 2026. But they're 0-4 against the top seeds this year and have yet to take a game off of Johns/Tardio.

No. 4 JW Johnson/CJ Klinger: They have one silver medal and one bronze medal so far in 2026. They're a very good team, but it's getting hard to see them winning gold at this point.

Women's doubles

It's now been six months since Anna Leigh Waters/Anna Bright have lost a match, and in most tournaments they are blowing out their opponents. They've only dropped three games so far in 2026.

No. 2 Jorja Johnson/Tyra Black: They were one of two teams to beat Waters/Bright in 2025, but they haven't been able to replicate that success so far in 2026 -- they've made one final this year and are coming off of a quarterfinal loss to Mari Humberg/Milan Rane at the Texas Open.

No. 3 Catherine Parenteau/Rachel Rohrabacher: They're coming off of their best result together so far in 2026 -- a bronze at the Texas Open. After a couple early exits earlier this year, this could be a team that's starting to gel and play their best pickleball.

No. 4 Parris Todd/Kate Fahey: In their lone event together this year, they were beaten in the quarterfinals by Tina Pisnik and Lacy Schneemann. Can they make a deeper run this time around?

Men's singles

The top three players in the men's singles points standings -- Hunter Johnson, Federico Staksrud and Chris Haworth -- have been passing the baton back and forth so far this year. In six events, they each have two titles and nobody has gone back-to-back. Staksrud got the win in Texas and will be the one going for two in a row this week.

Women's singles

Anna Leigh Waters is coming up on two full years since her last loss in women's singles. Behind her, Kate Fahey now has a solid hold on the No. 2 ranking ahead of Kaitlyn Christian. Those two were very close in the points standings throughout 2025, but Fahey has emerged as the clear No. 2 at this point.

No. 4 Brooke Buckner and No. 5 Lea Jansen are both having solid seasons in singles and could meet in the quarterfinals this week. When they last faced each other, Jansen came away with a narrow win, 13-11, 9-11, 11-9.

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