The PPA Tour makes a stop at the Los Cab Sports Village in Fountain Valley, California, for the 2023 Takeya Showcase Presented by Best Day Brewing. Starting today, over 1,000 pickleball players will compete in the weekend-long tournament, with the pro main draws filled with pickleball’s top athletes!
All eyes remain on Anna Leigh Waters, who is on her way to setting a PPA Tour record with a seventh straight triple crown. Will anyone be able to topple ALW and put an end to her reign over the PPA? Let’s take a look at who might have a shot at taking the throne!
Men’s Singles
Will this be Jay Devillier’s week to come out on top? Did we just want to embed this incredible Instagram Reel he made? Both seem like a good reason to talk about pickleball’s beloved Frenchman!
Jay’s got a tough road ahead of him, though, with one of the best main draws we’ve seen this season. On his side of the bracket, he’ll probably have to face the likes of Collin Shick, Jaume Martinez Vich, JW Johnson, Dylan Frazier, and Federico Staksrud to name just a few!
On the other side of the competition, we’ve got Ben Johns leading the pack as the 1-seed, and Tyson Mcguffin will likely push to the semis against him as the 4-seed. We also like Christian Alshon and Connor Garnett, who have both had recent standout performances against Johns on the PPA Tour, so keep your eyes on them this weekend!
Women’s Singles
Women’s singles returns to a larger main draw after the Seattle Open’s strange 17-player draw. Catherine Parenteau is still taking time off, and Lea Jansen just announced her singles retirement, so it’s anybody’s ballgame for facing off against Anna Leigh Waters on Championship Sunday!
Yes, it goes without question that ALW will be making an appearance in the finals, with the exception of when she took time off, she hasn’t missed one all year. While 5-seed Callie Jo Smith and 4-seed Judit Castillo will likely make a stand in the semis, our money is still on seeing ALW in the finals match.
On the other side of the court, we see Irina Tereschenko as the 2-seed and Mary Brascia as the 3-seed. Brascia’s been proving herself in singles this year, so we’d love to see an appearance on Sunday at her home court of Los Cab. However, it’ll be a tough matchup in the semifinals against Tereschenko, who will now likely be holding onto that 2-seed for the rest of the year with Jansen’s absence.
Mixed Doubles
Someone’s gotta tell Ben Johns to stop eating the trophies, it surprises ALW every time it seems. We see this trophy pose Every. Single. Weekend. But will this be the weekend to break the mold?
A couple of our favorite teams include the Newman siblings, Riley and Lindsey, and Matt Wright and Lucy Kovalova. Kovalova and Wright made it all the way to the finals at the PPA Denver Open, but now that they’re on the same side of the bracket as Johns and Waters, we hope to see a rematch go down in the semifinals.
On the other side of the bracket, we would like to see Anna Bright and James Ignatowich, who are the 2-seeds, make a run for the finals again. The couple are always fun to watch, and will absolutely be looking for their second gold medal on the year.
Women’s Doubles
Mary and Maggie Brascia have home-field advantage this weekend in So Cal, but they’ve got an intense women’s doubles bracket to fight through if they want to hit Championship Sunday! On their side, they’ll be competing with the likes of Jessie Irvine and Lea Jansen, who will be an absolute force now that Jansen’s gone all in with doubles, and the duo of Lucy Kovalova and Callie Smith, two of the top-ranked doubles players on the PPA right now.
Jorja Johnson and Vivienne David will likely meet up with Anna Bright and Anna Leigh Waters in the semifinals on their side of the bracket. Jorja turned up at the Beer City Open, taking home three medals, and David was in the finals last weekend alongside Jackie Kawamoto.
Men’s Doubles
The Takeya Boys themselves, AJ Koller and Riley Newman, are hitting the court together for a debut performance at the Takeya Showcase, so it’d be fitting for them to make a finals appearance, right? We see them pushing through to the semifinals, where they’ll have to make a stand against JW Johnson and Dylan Frazier who just won in Seattle.
Brendon Long and Tyson McGuffin are back together, and they’ve already won gold this season at the PPA Red Rock Open. Though this time around, Collin Johns will be paired up with his brother, Ben. We’d love to see this matchup in the semis – a Koller/Newman vs. McGuffin/Long finals match would be wild!
