More than 1,100 professionals and amateurs descended on Daytona Beach to compete in the Association of Pickleball Professionals Daytona Beach Open. The event was held at the massive Pictona at Holly Hill facility, a 49-court complex big enough to host such a huge tournament.
This event was the second APP pro tour event of the 2023 season and served as a “Golden Ticket” qualifier into USA Pickleball Nationals at Indian Wells in November.
The event also served as the kickoff for the new Super Senior Masters Pro divisions for the APP tour. The APP has always focused on the Senior Pros (50+), and now adds a 60+ pro division to further enhance their competition levels.
Let’s Recap the action.
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Men’s Pro Singles Recap:
No less than 58 players entered the Men’s Pro Singles draw; the top 28 qualified into the main draw and another 30 players vied for the four qualifier spots. Five of the top eight seeds advanced to the quarters, joined by surprise advancers #22 Ronan Camron and an under-seeded #28 Rob Nunnery, who took out #5 Jake Kusmider in the first round before retiring before his quarter final.
#3 Yates Johnson beat #8 Jhonnatan Alvarez Medina to avenge his loss in the Punta Gorda singles semis to advance to the winner’s bracket final. There, he faced his brother #1 Hunter Johnson, the champion in Punta Gorda, who topped #4 Ryler DeHeart in the other semi. In a sibling battle, Yates upset Hunter to guarantee a spot in the Gold Medal match.
In an amazing feat of endurance, qualifier Max Manthou, a 4-year tennis letterman from the University of Washington, won three matches to get into main draw, lost in the first round, then took seven straight consolation matches to make the Loser’s Bracket final/Bronze Medal match before falling to Hunter Johnson. Along the way, 32-year old Manthou topped multiple veteran pros in Sobek, Brown, DeHeart (who had beaten him earlier in the day), and then Daescu to really make a statement.
In the final, the two brothers battled again on championship Sunday. They couldn’t have played a closer match; Hunter won their “full” match in a tie-breaker, forcing a one-game playoff to 15, winner take all game, which he took 15-13. The #1 seed prevails in singles for the second tournament running.
Gold: Hunter Johnson. Silver: Yates Johnson. Bronze: Max Manthou.
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Women’s Pro Singles Recap:
Seven of the top eight seeded Women’s pros advanced to the singles quarter finals, with the only unseeded interloper being #21 Danielle Bauers, a former University of Iowa tennis player hailing from the Atlanta area. From there, the two top seeds advanced to the anticipated final, with #1 Salome Devidze taking out #3 Megan Fudge in one semi, and Punta Gorda’s triple crown winning #2 seed Parris Todd taking out #4 Alix Truong in the other. Devidze, who missed the season’s first event, sought the opportunity to make a statement against January’s big winner, but the winner’s bracket #1 vs #2 final was taken by Todd 8,9, guaranteeing her a Gold Medal match appearance.
Todd, who holds the title of “Best Pickleball Pro not to be playing in either PPA or MLP” right now, is looking for another opportunity to make up ground on Devidze for #1 on the APP. Todd is relatively new to Pro Pickleball and played roughly half the events that Devidze did in 2022, thus she still has some ground to make up, but another win against her top rival for the crown will only help.
Devidze rebounded in the consolation bracket final, topping Fudge 3,6 to relegate Megan to the Bronze medal and earn Salome another shot at the title. This win was not without controversy, as video circulated on social media of Devidze making a pretty questionable line call in the match. Devidze already has a well-earned reputation for poor line calls, and her opponent was none too pleased. As long as pro tours opt for a single Ref (who mainly calls the score and looks for kitchen violations), this will continue to happen.
In the Final, Todd dominated the baseline battle and cruised to victory 1,4. She may be #2 in the rankings, but so far in 2023 she’s the clear #1 on the APP.
Gold: Parris Todd. Silver: Salome Devidze. Bronze: Megan Fudge.
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Men’s Pro Doubles Recap:
It’s always going to be a fun event when a qualifier takes out a top 4 seed in the first round. That’s what happened when the qualifying Men’s Doubles team and #30 seeds Etienne Blaszkewycz & Kaden Seward upset the 3rd seeded team of Eden Lica & Rob Nunnery 7,10. They did not progress much further, losing their next two to exit early in the loser’s bracket.
From the top-half of the draw, the #2 seeded team of Stefan Auvergne & Brendon Long took advantage of the early upset to advance to the winner’s bracket final. In the bottom half, the #5 seeded twin brother team of Hunter & Yates Johnson upset the 4th seeds in the quarters, then the #1 seeded team of Andrei Daescu & Kyle Yates to get to the winner’s bracket final. There, they topped Auvergne/Long to guarantee a spot in the Gold Medal match, but the #1 seeds Daescu & Yates battled back from the Consolation draw to defeat the Johnson brothers twice to take gold.
Gold: Daescu/Yates. Silver: Johnson & Johnson. Bronze: Auvergne/Long.
(Fun fact: every time I type “Johnson & Johnson” on the Forbes platform, it attempts to tag the J&J NYSE ticker symbol).
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Women’s Pro Doubles Recap:
The top seeded team of Simone Jardim & Parris Todd stuck together from the APP’s first event of the season, and advanced to Sunday’s gold Medal match for their troubles without dropping a game. Meanwhile, the other top teams from Punta Gorda switched up partners and had varying results for their troubles. Megan Fudge teamed up with Susannah Barr this weekend and ended up in the Gold medal match again. Fudge’s medal-winning partner from last month Alix Troung teamed up with fellow Northern Virginian Monica Paolicelli but fell in the quarters. Last month’s bronze medalist Bobbi Oshiro teamed up with veteran Lee Whitwell and repeated as Bronze Medalists.
In the final, the #1 seeds won their second straight Women’s Pro Doubles title, dropping the first game 11-9 but then cruising to an (9),2,7 win over Fudge & Barr. The win gave Todd the second leg of a possible second consecutive triple crown, and gave the once-retired Jardim yet another title to go in her glittering trophy case.
Gold: Jardim/Todd. Silver: Fudge/Barr. Bronze: Oshiro/Whitwell.
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Mixed Pro Doubles Recap:
It may take the APP’s mixed doubles rankings a bit to shake out, as some top-ranked players have curiously low doubles rankings. The semis of the Mixed pro featured the top two seeded teams (#1 Jardim & Daescu and #2 Todd & Hunter Johnson), but were joined by the #8 and #17 seeded teams for some shock results.
The #8 seeds Oshiro & Long upset Todd & Johnson from the top half, putting a dent on Todd’s triple crown chances. #1 Jardim & Daescu held serve against the upstart #17 Ewa Radzikowska & Marshall Brown team, but could not overcome Oshiro & Long in the winner’s bracket final. They settled for the bronze.
In the gold Medal match, the cardiac kids Oshiro/Long lost in two straight to the top seeded Todd/Johnson team to force the one-game winner-take-all, but regrouped to cruise to a 15-6 win and the Gold Medal.
Gold: Oshiro/Long. Silver: Todd/Johnson. Bronze: Jardim/Daescu.
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Senior Pro Competition Quick Recap
· Men’s Senior Pro Singles: #1 Mark Palus fought back from a winner’s bracket final loss to take out #3 Lance Cowart for the gold and improve on his Silver from Punta Gorda.
· Men’s Senior Pro Doubles: Dr. Mircea Morariu teamed with Paul Olin and earned his second straight gold medal in Senior Pro Doubles.
· Women’s Senior Pro Singles: Aye Unnoppet, better known as “Pocket Doc” on tour, took the singles title as the #3 seed.
· Women’s Senior Pro Doubles: The #2 seeds Jenny Klitch & Eva Welsher took out the #1 seeds Mary Helen Atkins & Anna Shirley in the winner’s bracket final, but couldn’t beat them again for the Gold.
· Mixed Senior Pro Doubles: #1 Eva Welsher & Jaime Oncins De Oliveira ground out multiple tie-breakers to take the gold. Welsher won gold last month over Oncins De Oliveria, but teamed up with Jaime this month to form a powerhouse mixed team.
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Super Senior Pro Competition Quick Recap
The “Super Seniors” debuted on the APP this weekend, playing three 60+ pro doubles draws. Here’s the results:
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Next up on the APP Tour? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule … next week APP NextGen is at the San Antonio Chicken & Pickle with a youth-focused event. Next up on the pro pickleball calendar in general? The PPA is in Mesa, Arizona for the Carvana Grand Slam.
