The Arizona crowds were electric this weekend at the PPA Tour Mesa Cup, and they were treated to several great matches in every division.

So many, in fact, that it's hard to pick one that stands out.

In the women's doubles final, the best rivalry in the sport was renewed with another 5-game classic between Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher and Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau. In the teams' first two meetings this season -- at the Masters in January and at the Tucson Open earlier this month -- Waters and Parenteau looked to be widening the gap again after they were beaten multiple times toward the end of 2024.

In Tucson the cumulative score in the final was 33-6 in favor of Waters and Parenteau.

But Bright and Rohrabacher showed this time around that they're still the biggest challengers in this division, putting up a great fight before ultimately falling in five games. They had a lead late in Game 4 with an opportunity to close out the match, but Waters and Parenteau battled back to steal that game 11-8 and then cruised to an 11-1 win in Game 5.

On the men's side, Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio made their debut as a partnership, getting to Championship Sunday before falling to Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu in the final. It's the second win in a row for Alshon and Daescu, and they appear to be the best men's doubles duo going right now. More on that below.

And oh yeah, Johns and Waters were upset by Bright and Dekel Bar in the semifinals on Saturday -- in any other tournament that would have been the match of the week, but then Sunday happened.

PPA Mesa Cup results and storylines

Women's doubles

Gold: Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau def. Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher 4-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-8, 11-1.

Bronze: Jorja Johnson/Vivian Glozman def. Lacy Schneemann/Meghan Dizon 11-1, 11-5.

Men's doubles

Gold: Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu def. Ben Johns/Gabe Tardio 11-5, 11-1, 10-12, 5-11, 11-7.

Bronze: Pablo Tellez/Dylan Frazier def. Hayden Patriquin/Federico Staksrud 12-10, 10-4.

Mixed doubles

Gold: Jorja Johnson/JW Johnson def. Anna Bright/Dekel Bar 11-1, 9-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4.

Bronze: Ben Johns/Anna Leigh Waters def. Federico Staksrud/Catherine Parenteau 11-0, 11-1.

Women's singles

Gold: Anna Leigh Waters def. Brooke Buckner 4-11, 11-9, 11-5.

Bronze: Kate Fahey def. Kaitlyn Christian 11-5, 11-3.

Men's singles

Gold: Ben Johns def. Hunter Johnson 12-10, 11-1.

Bronze: Federico Staksrud def. Connor Garnett 2-11, 11-4, 11-9.

Is this the year mixed doubles gets competitive?

We saw it last year in women's doubles with the gap narrowing significantly between Waters/Parenteau at the top and the next best team in Bright and Rohrabacher. Similarly, other teams are making a run at the perennial champs Waters and Johns so far this year in mixed doubles.

Alshon and Tyra Black came painfully close to knocking them off in the semifinals at The Masters in January, failing to capitalize on multiple match points. Then two weeks ago at the Tucson Open, Daescu and Tina Pisnik gave them a serious challenge in the quarterfinals, with Waters and Johns ultimately prevailing 11-9, 9-11, 11-8.

Then this week Bright and Bar got over the hump, winning 12-10, 7-11, 11-9 in the semifinals on Saturday. That's three different teams that have either won or come very close to winning against Waters and Johns in three tournaments this year.

And they haven't even played the second-ranked team yet this year: Jorja and JW Johnson, who beat Bar and Bright in Sunday's mixed doubles final and are one of only six teams to ever beat Johns and Waters.

Watch this space, as mixed doubles could be up for grabs by the middle of the season.

Alshon/Daescu make a case for top spot in men's doubles

Alshon and Daescu have played three tournaments together to start the season and they've won two of them -- this week and two weeks ago at the Tucson Open.

Their only loss on the year was to the Johns brothers in the semifinals at The Masters, 11-5 in the third game. Notably, that match took place just a short time after Alshon's aforementioned defeat to Johns and Waters in mixed doubles, so it seems possible that heartbreaking ending impacted Alshon for the remainder of that day.

In any case, the only team they've lost to this year isn't playing together anymore (at least for now), and they've since beaten Johns and Patriquin (in the semifinals at Tucson) and Johns and Tardio in five games Sunday.

The Johns/Tardio experiment would still have to be considered a success in their first tournament together, though, and they both said after the match they see a lot of room for improvement as they play more together this year. They'll skip the next event -- Johns is playing with Daescu and Tardio is playing with Patriquin at the Cape Coral Open March 5-9 -- then be back together for the Texas Open March 12-16.

Waters showcases next-level mental toughness in Sunday finals

Even in a tournament where she was upset in mixed doubles in the semifinals, Waters found a way to remind everybody why she's still the best women's player in the game.

Her and Parenteau were in dire straights in Game 4 of Sunday's women's doubles final, down 8-6 and needing a win to force a Game 5. But they clawed to a win in that game, then dominated in Game 5 to take the title.

"The energy was great the whole match," Parenteau said of their comeback. "And there's something about AL's energy specifically that's so contagious."

It was a similar story in Waters' women's doubles final against Buckner, who came out on fire with an 11-4 win in the first game.

Buckner also built a 9-4 lead in Game 2, then Waters flipped the script, getting the crowd behind her and rattling off seven straight points to force a Game 3. She would win that one 11-5 to take the title.

Johns shows he's still the best singles player when he wants to be

Johns this week played his first singles event since the PPA Tour Finals in early December. The extra time off seems to have worked wonders, as we saw an engaged Johns take down Roscoe Bellamy, Alshon, Connor Garnett and Hunter Johnson on his way to the title.

Twice -- against Alshon and against Johnson in the final -- Johns fought off game points in the opening game. On Sunday, he escaped 12-10 in the first and then dominated Game 2 11-1.

Although he lost his No. 1 ranking to Staksrud last year, Johns made it clear this week that he can still be the best singles player in the world on any given day. 

Staksrud, meanwhile, has struggled the past two tournaments and this week found himself in the middle of on-court drama in his semifinals match against Johnson.

In Game 2 of that match, Staksrud called a ball out on game point for Johnson. Johnson challenged, and the replay referee ruled that the call would stand. Johnson appealed to head ref Don Stanley, who then ruled in favor of Johnson and overturned the original call, which sent the match to a third game.

Staksrud, clearly bothered by that sequence of events, was then issued two technical warnings in Game 3 for ball abuse and foul language, the second resulting in Johnson being given a point.

Staksrud then appealed to Stanley, who upheld the technical warning, which resulted in another technical warning and another point to Johnson.

Staksrud voiced his frustrations after the match.

"It's really difficult to win if I literally have to play against Hunter, and he's a great player, and I also have to beat the refs. The refs are literally against me the whole time, so it's tough. I don't know, I think I just pay the price of being the non-American on the court. Honestly, that's what it is," said Staksrud, who is Argentinian.