Johns brothers go out on top at wildly entertaining PPA Tour Masters
Last Edited
Jan 12 2025
Category
News
The most iconic tournament on the PPA Tour calendar delivered several iconic moments and matches this week, from Ben Johns sending a warning shot high and hard at Quang Duong to Jericho Grollman letting everyone in Palm Springs know how he really feels about James Ignatowich.
But the story of The Masters on Sunday was Ben and Collin Johns taking gold in men’s doubles in their final tournament together (for now). They captured the first Slam of the season – and the 2,000 ranking points that come with it – with an 11-5, 12-10, 11-3 sweep over No. 2 seeds Federico Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin to secure their 34th title as teammates.
The brothers had announced they would be splitting up last month, but weren’t able to secure partners on short notice for this event, so they ultimately decided to give it one last run before switching to other partners for the remainder of the PPA Tour season.
“I don’t really think I felt the weight of the moment until the match finished, but it does feel a little different now that it’s all over,” Collin said after the match. “It’s definitely a good feeling.”
It was a vintage run through the bracket for Ben and Collin, who won all of their matches handily except their semifinal vs. Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu, which went three games. The Johns brothers ultimately won that one 11-5 in the third.
Alshon and Daescu bounced back Sunday to win bronze 9-11, 11-9, 11-5 over Augie Ge and Jaume Martinez Vich.
In other divisions Sunday:
Women’s doubles
Gold: Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau def. Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher 11-4, 11-6, 5-11, 12-10
Bronze: Jorja Johnson/Tyra Black def. Vivian Glozman/Jackie Kawamoto 12-10, 11-7
Mixed doubles
Gold: Ben Johns/Anna Leigh Waters def. Federico Staksrud/Catherine Parenteau 10-12, 11-5, 11-3, 11-3
Bronze: Christian Alshon/Tyra Black def. James Ignatowich/Rachel Rohrabacher (withdrawal)
Men’s singles
Gold: Federico Staksrud def. Jaume Martinez Vich 11-7, 11-2
Bronze: Tyson McGuffin def. Connor Garnett 9-11, 11-5, 11-8
Women’s singles
Gold: Anna Leigh Waters def. Kaitlyn Christian 11-0, 11-6
Bronze: Catherine Parenteau def. Parris Todd (forfeit)
Key takeaways from the week:
Ben Johns isn’t playing around in 2025
Johns put the whole field on notice Friday when he took a ball off the bounce at the kitchen line and fired it as hard as he could at Quang Duong. The shot clipped the tape and went out, but the message was delivered loud and clear that he was tired of Duong’s aggressive play style.
The Johns brothers went on to win that match 11-0, 11-3 over Duong and Matt Wright, and Ben said afterward that the shot was meant as a warning to Duong and others who in the past year have started attacking high and hard off the bounce.
It was clear throughout the week in both men’s doubles and mixed doubles that Johns was on a mission to remind the pickleball world that he’s still No. 1 – mission accomplished this weekend.
Semifinal Saturdays are becoming must-watch TV
As PPA Tour commissioner Connor Pardoe said on X Saturday night: “Today very well might have been the most entertaining day in tour history.”
Saturday started with a singles slugfest between Federico Staksrud and Tyson McGuffin in a semifinal that could have gone either way. Staksrud executed a few crucial passing shots toward the end of Game 3 to win 11-4, 7-11, 11-8 on his way to the title.
That led into possibly the match of the tournament that saw Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters storm back from down 10-4 in Game 3 against Christian Alshon and Tyra Black in mixed doubles. They snuck away with a 12-10 win in the deciding game and then took care of business on Sunday.
All four semifinals in men’s and women’s doubles also went three games, proving that almost every division currently has as much depth as we’ve ever seen. That essentially guarantees close matches in the late stages of the tournament.
For the remaining Slams and Cups on the season, Semifinal Saturday will be appointment viewing for pickleball fans.
New year, new Jaume Martinez Vich
Martinez Vich showed this week that he’s a serious contender in both men’s singles and men’s doubles going forward. In singles, he posted wins over Michael Loyd and Connor Garnett on his way to the final, where he lost to Staksrud.
And in men’s doubles, Martinez Vich and Augie Ge pushed Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin to the brink on Saturday night, losing a 13-11 heartbreaker in Game 3. Even so, it was a strong week for Martinez Vich and it will be interesting to see if he can sustain that level throughout the season.
Is Anna Leigh Waters the comeback kid?
We covered Waters' incredible comeback with Johns in mixed above, but she was at it again in Sunday's women's doubles final.
Waters and Parenteau took Games 1 and 2 against Anna Bright and Rachel Rohrabacher, but Bright and Rohrabacher won Game 3 handily and built a 10-5 lead in Game 4.
Waters and Parenteau turned it on, however, and rattled off seven straight points to steal the game and match 12-10.
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