PPA Tour Cincinnati Showcase mid-tournament update

Alex Lantz

Director of Content

Last Edited

Sep 11 2025

Women's doubles quarterfinal matchups

No. 1 Anna Leigh Waters/Anna Bright vs. No. 10 Kaitlyn Christian/Jessie Irvine
No. 3 Lea Jansen/Rachel Rohrabacher vs. No. 6 Jackie Kawamoto/Jade Kawamoto

No. 2 Parris Todd/Catherine Parenteau vs. No. 12 Brooke Buckner/Chao Yi Wang
No. 4 Tyra Black/Jorja Johnson vs. No. 7 Kate Fahey/Tina Pisnik

So far Buckner/Wang have the biggest upset on the women's side with a win over No. 5 Allyce Jones/Etta Tuionetoa in the Round of 16 (6-11, 11-5, 11-8). Top seed Waters/Bright have beaten their opponents 11-0, 11-1 and 11-1, 11-2, so they seem to be right back on track after a surprising loss in Las Vegas two weeks ago.

The team who beat them -- Black/Johnson -- have also been rolling right along, with wins of 11-5, 11-1 and 11-5, 11-5.

In what should be one of the more interesting matches on Friday, first-time partners Jansen/Rohrabacher will take on the Kawamotos, who have been playing together regularly for several years.

Men's doubles quarterfinal matchups

No. 1 Ben Johns/Gabe Tardio vs. No. 12 Rafa Hewett/Noe Khlif
No. 4 CJ Klinger/JW Johnson vs. No. 7 Jay Devilliers/Riley Newman

No. 2 Federico Staksrud/Hayden Patriquin vs. No. 5 Dylan Frazier/Jaume Martinez Vich
No. 3 Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu vs. No. 8 Hunter Johnson/Tyson McGuffin

Historically the players who have given Ben Johns trouble over the years have been those who play a little on the chaotic side. He also has said in the past that lefties sometimes trip him up because the patterns are different. Put those two things together and you get Rafa Hewett, who will be across the net from him on Friday. Johns/Tardio are favorites against anybody these days, but that match should at least be entertaining.

This is the third time Devilliers/Newman have played together and they are 3-for-3 making the quarterfinals. They also won a bronze at the Bristol Open, so they have been playing like a top 5 team in their short time together. They'll face a very tough Johnson/Klinger duo on Friday.

Staksrud/Patriquin survived a close match in the Round of 16 against Ryan Fu/Max Freeman to make it to this point. After rolling to an 11-0 win in Game 1, Fu/Freeman won Game 2 11-4, then Staksrud/Patriquin made a surprising change to put Staksrud on the right in Game 3 and went on to win 11-9. It will be interesting to see if we get anymore Right Side Fed this weekend -- they actually looked pretty good in that setup.

Mixed doubles quarterfinal matchups

No. 1 Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns vs. No. 8 Rachel Rohrabacher/Noe Khlif
No. 21 Milan Rane/Connor Garnett vs. No. 7 Jessie Irvine/Gabe Tardio

No. 2 Jorja Johnson/JW Johnson vs. No. 5 Etta Tuionetoa/Federico Staksrud
No. 4 Anna Bright/Andrei Daescu vs. No. 6 Tyra Black/Hayden Patriquin

Rane/Garnett pulled off a big upset over No. 3 Christian Alshon/Catherine Parenteau in the Round of 16 on Thursday, and it was never really in doubt -- they won 11-3, 11-6. Alshon and Parenteau have played several tournaments together this season and the results have been a bit all over the place -- they have a silver, a bronze, two fourth place finishes, a loss in the quarterfinals, a loss in the Round of 16 and a loss in the Round of 32.

The matchup between Bright/Daescu and Black/Patriquin could easily be a semifinal in any other tournament, but this week we're getting it in the quarterfinals. Black/Patriquin earned a silver in their first tournament together this season at the Walgreens Open in Las Vegas two weeks ago, but they will have to win two very tough matchups on Friday and Saturday in order to make it to their second-straight final.

Men's singles quarterfinal matchups

No. 1 Hunter Johnson vs. No. 28 Marshall Brown
No. 4 Jaume Martinez Vich vs. No. 6 Christian Alshon

No. 2 Federico Staksrud vs. No. 57 Chris Haworth
No. 3 Connor Garnett vs. No. 18 Adam Harvey

Marshall Brown (yes, Chef!) got a big win over Tyson McGuffin in the Round of 16 on Thursday -- 11-4, 10-12, 11-8. His reward is getting to play the No. 1 men's singles player in the world in Hunter Johnson, who looked very good in taking down Grayson Goldin on Thursday. Goldin got out to a 7-0 lead in Game 1, but Johnson outscored him 25-8 the rest of the way.

I think most would agree that No. 2 Staksrud vs. No. 57 Haworth is the best matchup in the men's singles on Friday. Haworth is a 57-seed on paper only -- because he recently signed with the PPA Tour, he doesn't have a ton of ranking points yet. But in terms of actual ability, he's likely a top 10 singles player, if not top 5. A win Friday would go a long way toward improving his seeding going forward.

Women's singles quarterfinal matchups

No. 1 Anna Leigh Waters vs. No. 11 Judit Castillo
No. 4 Parris Todd vs. No. 7 Catherine Parenteau

No. 2 Kate Fahey vs. No. 5 Brooke Buckner
No. 3 Kaitlyn Christian vs. No. 6 Lea Jansen

Waters was pushed in Game 2 on Thursday by No. 14 Liz Truluck, but advanced with an 11-5, 12-10 win. Castillo could be another tough out on Friday.

Each of the other three quarterfinals should be close, with a slight edge to the higher seed in each matchup. Even though Fahey is the No. 2 seed based on the 52-week rolling points standings, Christian is actually ahead of her in the 2025 "race" standings. But it's close in both instances. If those two advance to the semifinals on Saturday, that will be an important match for ranking purposes.

More news