The PPA Tour Orange County Cup wrapped up Sunday from San Clemente, California, with multiple matchups between the top teams in the pro game right now.

Four divisions featured Championship Sunday matches between the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds.

Men's doubles: No. 1 Ben Johns/Gabe Tardio def. No. 2 Federico Staksrud/Hayden Patriquin 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 4-11, 11-3.

Mixed doubles: No. 1 Ben Johns/Anna Leigh Waters def. No. 2 JW Johnson/Jorja Johnson 11-4, 11-9, 11-5.

Women's doubles: No. 1 Anna Leigh Waters/Anna Bright def. No. 2 Catherine Parenteau/Rachel Rohrabacher 11-2, 11-8, 11-8.

Men's singles: No. 2 Hunter Johnson def. No. 1 Federico Staksrud 11-2, 11-5.

Women's singles was the only division that saw a player outside the top 2 seeds make the final, as No. 7-seed Parenteau upset No. 2 Kate Fahey and No. 5 Brooke Buckner on her way to Championship Sunday. She ultimately fell to Waters in the final, 11-6, 11-1, giving Waters her fourth triple crown this season and 35th of her career.

We'll dive more into the results from each division below, but first, a few key takeaways from this week's tournament -- which was one of the biggest of the season, offering 1,500 points to the winners.

1. There's a new top dog in men's singles: Hunter Johnson

Hunter Johnson went on a tear late last season to put himself on the radar as a player who could push for the No. 1 spot in men's singles this year. On Sunday he officially made it to the top of the mountain, winning his third gold of the year -- more than any other player in 2025.

It's an impressive feat in a division that has had unprecedented parity lately, with three other players winning twice this year (Ben Johns, Gabe Tardio and Christian Alshon), while Staksrud has one title in 2025.

Sunday's win tied Johnson at No. 1 with Staksrud in the season-long points standings, each with 6,800. Staksrud still has a healthy lead in the 12-month rolling points standings, which is what is used to determine seedings, but more and more of his wins from last year will start to fall off as we get into the second half of 2025, so I wouldn't be surprised if Johnson takes over as the No. 1 seed in the coming months if he can continue to have strong showings.

"That first win in Atlanta (last season) was the big turning point for me," Johnson said after his win Sunday. "That changed my mental capacity and my physical ability, knowing that I can outlast pretty much anyone on the court. Hoping to keep that going the rest of the year."

2. Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters set a mark that will likely never be broken

Sunday's win over the Johnson siblings was the 50th title as a team for Johns and Waters, and also the third year in a row they've won gold at the PPA Tour San Clemente stop.

Their 50 titles is a mark that might never be broken, as there aren't even any other active teams with more than 5 -- Johns and Simone Jardim are second on the list with 12 titles together, and Parenteau and Riley Newman have 5 titles together (but they don't regularly play together anymore).

I was curious whether Johns thinks that achievement will ever be topped, so I asked him: Will another mixed team ever get to 50 titles on the PPA Tour?

"Not as long as I'm playing with (Waters)," he said.

I suppose there is a world in which somebody else comes along after Johns and Waters both exit the pro stage, but it's hard to imagine anybody else dominating the way they have over the past three years.

3. Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio solidify position at the top in men's doubles

Like men's singles, men's doubles has had a lot of parity this season, with three active teams having won at least one gold medal in 2025: Andrei Daescu/Christian Alshon (x3), Ben Johns/Gabe Tardio (x3) and Johnson/Klinger (x1). Meanwhile, Federico Staksrud/Hayden Patriquin now have four silver medals together this year.

Even though Johns/Tardio and Daescu/Alshon are tied at the top with three golds each this season, I think it's clear that Johns/Tardio are now the team to beat going forward. They've played in 5 tournaments together, winning three golds and two silvers, and seem to be improving as a partnership heading into the second half of the season. On the other side, Daescu and Alshon haven't won since the Red Rock Open in March, and I wonder if that partnership is starting to get a little stale.

"I felt like early on even when we did have a loss, I still felt like we were going to be the best team," Johns said. "Thus far I think that's proven true. ... I feel like things are looking better and better for us."

Bonus takeaway: Qualifiers pull off big upsets

There were multiple qualifiers who made deep runs in San Clemente.

No. 61 seed Rafael Lenhard, a Brazilian tennis player playing in just his third pro pickleball tournament, made a big splash early in the week by taking down No. 4 seed Ben Johns, No. 37 seed Zane Navratil and No. 13 seed Noe Khlif before falling to No. 8 seed Christian Alshon in the quarterfinals.

“I thought (pickleball) was a second chance for me to live out my dream and be a pro athlete,” Lenhard told Pickleball.com. “And for the last year and a half, I’ve been working super hard every day on and off the court. It’s paying off, finally.”

In men's doubles, Riley Inn and Luke Williams made it to the quarterfinals after getting into the main draw via a "luckly loser" situation. They technically were eliminated from the tournament in pro qualifying on Monday, but since Dekel Bar had to withdraw from the tournament with an illness, Inn and Williams took the No. 5 seed that belonged to Bar and Dylan Frazier.

There wasn't much luck involved in their first couple wins, however, as they beat No. 31 seed Ross Whittaker/Mota Alhouni 11-4, 11-5 in the Round of 32, then beat No. 12 seed Spencer Smith and Tyler Loong 11-2, 11-9 in the Round of 16. Their run eventually came to an end when they lost to No. 2 seed Staksrud and Patriquin 11-4, 11-5 in the quarterfinals.

Another qualifier also made waves in men's doubles, as No. 41 seed Sammy Lee and Jonathan Truong got wins over No. 17 seed Rafa Hewett/Juan Benitez and No. 9 seed Matt Wright/Roscoe Bellamy (who has been dealing with a foot injury). Lee and Truong eventually lost to No. 6 seed Collin Johns/James Ignatowich in the Round of 16.

“Beating Rafa and Juan was a huge confidence boost,” Lee told Pickleball.com. “We found our groove late in both games but grinded it out. Then to come back the next day and take out Roscoe and Matt is a great feeling.”

In women's doubles, No. 36-seed Ting Chieh Wei and Yufei Long also made a surprise run to the quarterfinals. They beat No. 30 seed Audrey Adele Brown/Tatiana Ruhl (11-2, 11-0), No. 4 seed Jorja Johnson/Lacy Schneemann (12-10, 8-11, 11-5) and No. 14 seed Andrea Koop/Alix Truong (11-8, 13-11) before eventually falling to No. 10 seed Mari Humberg/Meghan Dizon (11-6, 11-3).

Long and Wei have been training at the Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Arizona, for the past several weeks with 10 of Asia’s other top emerging pickleball players as part of the UPA Asia Trailblazers Program.

PPA Tour Orange County Cup results

Men's doubles

Gold: Johns/Tardio def. Staksrud/Patriquin 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 4-11, 11-3.
Bronze: Johnson/Klinger def. Daescu/Alshon 11-3, 11-5.

If I had to rank these four teams right now, I'd put them in the order they finished in this tournament. Staksrud and Patriquin are the only ones without a gold medal this season, but they also have been super consistent and have now made four finals together in 2025.

Daescu and Alshon started the year very strong and I picked them to win this week, but they've seemingly fallen off a little in the past two months.

Mixed doubles

Gold: Johns/Waters def. Johnson/Johnson 11-4, 11-9, 11-5
Bronze: Bright/Patriquin def. Klinger/Humberg 11-3, 11-5

No. 28 seed CJ Klinger and Mari Humberg had a big week, taking down Christian Alshon and Etta Tuionetoa 11-8, 11-2 in the quarterfinals. It's the first time we've seen Klinger make a deep run in mixed doubles, evidence that he's only continuing to develop after seeing much success in men's doubles since the end of last year. Humberg seems to be a good partner for him, as she prefers to play the left.

"CJ has just developed a lot more shots in mixed and men's doubles," JW Johnson said after defeating Klinger and Humberg in the semifinals on Saturday. "I think they both have been improving exponentially."

Women's doubles

Gold: Waters/Bright def. Parenteau/Rohrabacher 11-2, 11-8, 11-8
Bronze: Black/Todd def. Humberg/Dizon 3-11, 11-3, 11-8

Waters and Bright have yet to drop a single game in two tournaments together this year. I expect that trend to continue the rest of the season.

Men's singles

Gold: Johnson def. Staksrud 11-2, 11-5
Bronze: Garnett def. Alshon 9-11, 11-4, 11-8

There's been a slight shift in strategy in men's singles this season, with more and more players staying back after the return and waiting for a good opportunity to come to the net. That has led to more extended baseline-to-baseline rallies, which seems to suit Johnson's game well, and why I think he'll continue to have strong results in the second half of the season.

“I have good groundstrokes, and I trust them," he said after Sunday's win over Staksrud. "When I stay low, I sometimes feel like I can hit it anywhere.”

Women's singles

Gold: Waters def. Parenteau 11-6, 11-1
Bronze: Judit Castillo def. Brooke Buckner 11-6, 9-11, 12-10

Waters continues to dominate this division, but the No. 2 spot is seemingly up for grabs every week.

We saw Kaitlyn Christian make a few finals earlier this year, but she was upset in the quarterfinals by Castillo this week. Kate Fahey, Buckner and Parris Todd have also all made finals this season, but only Buckner made the semifinals this week from that group.