Predictions and storylines heading into PPA Tour Mesa Cup

Alex Lantz

Director of Written Content

Last Edited

Feb 17 2025

PPA Tour Mesa Cup predictions and storylines

Men's doubles

Notable partnerships

Ben Johns/Gabe Tardio (No. 2 seed)
Federico Staksrud/Hayden Patriquin (No. 1)
Pablo Tellez/Dylan Frazier (No. 3)
Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu (No. 4)
JW Johnson/Noe Khlif (No. 6)
AJ Koller/Collin Johns (No. 7)
James Ignatowich/Riley Newman (No. 8)
Jaume Martinez Vich/Augie Ge (No. 9)
Eric Oncins/Matt Wright (No. 10)
CJ Klinger/Quang Duong (No. 12)

Note: Tyson McGuffin has withdrawn from all three divisions for this event, citing a lingering injury that he sustained at the PPA Tour Australian Pickleball Open a few weeks ago.

Picks

Semifinals

Alshon/Daescu def. Staksrud/Patriquin
Johns/Tardio def. Ignatowich/Newman

Finals

Alshon/Daescu def. Johns/Tardio

I think there's a strong argument to be made that Alshon and Daescu are currently the best men's doubles team on tour. At The Masters in January, they lost in three games to the Johns brothers in the semifinals before taking bronze, then two weeks ago at the Tucson Open they took down Johns and Patriquin in the semifinals and rolled against Johnson and Tardio in the final.

It's certainly possible that Johns and Tardio will end up being the best team in men's doubles this year, but I think it will take a couple events before that partnership reaches its full potential.

It will also be interesting to see how Staksrud plays after a disappointing week in Tucson, where he lost in the first round of singles, lost in the second round in mixed doubles and then withdrew from men's doubles.

Women's doubles

Notable partnerships

Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau (No. 1 seed)
Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher (No. 2)
Tyra Black/Parris Todd (No. 3)
Lacy Schneeman/Meghan Dizon (No. 4)
Jorja Johnson/Vivian Glozman (No. 6)
Jackie Kawamoto/Jade Kawamoto (No. 9)

Picks

Semifinals

Waters/Parenteau def. Kawamoto/Kawamoto
Bright/Rohrabacher def. Johnson/Glozman

Finals

Waters/Parenteau def. Bright/Rohrabacher

After seriously challenging and even beating Waters and Parenteau on multiple occasions late last season, Bright and Rohrabacher were blown out in these teams' last meeting two weeks ago in Tucson.

It seems Waters and Parenteau have adjusted to whatever was giving them trouble in the fall and have reesteblished themselves as the best women's doubles team by a wide margin. But Bright and Rohrabacher are still the clear-cut second-best team, so it's a safe bet that we will see a familiar women's doubles final this week.

Mixed doubles

Notable partnerships

Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns (No. 1 seed)
Jorja Johnson/JW Johnson (No. 2 seed)
Anna Bright/Dekel Bar (No. 3)
Federico Staksrud/Catherine Parenteau (No. 4)
Tyra Black/Christian Alshon (No. 5)
Gabe Tardio/Jessie Irvine (No. 6)
Tina Pisnik/Dekel Bar (No. 7)
Hayden Patriquin/Rachel Rohrabacher (No. 8)
Lea Jansen/Riley Newman (No. 11)
Dylan Frazier/Kate Fahey (No. 14)
Jaume Martinez Vich/Vivian Glozman (No. 16)

Picks

Semifinals

Waters/Johns def. Bright/Bar
Johnson/Johnson def. Pisnik/Daescu

Finals

Waters/Johns def. Johnson/Johnson

It's been nearly a year since Waters and Johns have lost a match on the PPA Tour, and while there have been close matches here and there in that timeframe, they always pull it out. Their biggest hurdle in this tournament could come in the quarterfinals, where they are likely to play Alshon and Black, who are making a case for themselves as the second-best team despite their No. 5 seed.

Alshon and Black lost a heartbreaker in three games in the semifinals to Johns and Waters at The Masters, then bounced back to make the final in Tucson, but lost 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 to Waters and Johns there. In terms of their chances to beat the top seeds, Alshon and Black are probably better off facing them in a 2-out-of-3 situation rather than a best 3-out-of-5. But it's a tall task either way.

Women's singles

Notable entries

Anna Leigh Waters (No. 1 seed)
Kaitlyn Christian (No. 2)
Brooke Buckner (No. 3)
Parris Todd (No. 5)
Kate Fahey (No. 6)
Catherine Parenteau (No. 7)
Mary Brascia (No. 8)

Picks

Semifinals

Waters def. Fahey
Todd def. Buckner

Finals

Waters def. Todd

While Waters remains the heavy favorite in this division, there is a real battle going on for the No. 2 spot. It looked like Christian was starting to have a firm grip on that distinction, with a silver at The Masters and a gold in Australia. Then Todd won gold in Tucson with a convincing 11-2, 11-3 win over Christian in the final.

The question is: Should we throw out that performance from Christian in Tucson and chalk it up to fatigue after a long week of travel getting from Australia to Arizona, or is Todd gaining ground on the field, aided by a new Franklin paddle that is a noticeable improvement from their previous model?

I'm going with the latter.

Men's singles

Notable entries

Federico Staksrud (No. 1 seed)
Ben Johns (No. 2)
Connor Garnett (No. 3)
Hunter Johnson (No. 4)
Quang Duong (No. 6)
Jaume Martinez Vich (No. 7)
Christian Alshon (No. 8)
Dylan Frazier (No. 9)
Jack Sock (No. 10)

Picks

Semifinals

Johnson def. Staksrud
Alshon def. Martinez Vich

Finals

Johnson def. Alshon

There's no shortage of killers in men's singles in 2025. Good luck.

It's especially notable that we see Ben Johns in a singles draw for the first time since the PPA Tour Finals in early December. Will we get an engaged and motivated Johns after that significant break? Even if we do get that version, he'll likely face Alshon in the quarterfinals. That matchup is appointment viewing at this point -- give me Alshon in a close one.

And will we see a better performance from Staksrud after a first-round loss to Tom Evans in Tucson? I'm thinking so, and he got some help on his side of the draw with the McGuffin withdrawal. But even if he makes it to the semifinals, he'll face either Johnson, who won two weeks ago in Tucson, Duong, who can beat anybody on his best day, or Sock, who had his own strong showing in making it to the semis in Tucson.

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