SXY Newport Beach Open

Yeah, that’s “sexy” Newport Beach Open (courtesy of the PPA’s newest clothing sponsor, SXY.com), appropriate for the company with roots in the beach tennis scene. (Who knew that was a thing?)

Anyway, about pickleball… The Tennis Center at Newport Beach is open for PPA’s fifth event of the 2025-2026 season. Wednesday wrapped up round of 32, and we’re here to catch you up on what you’ve missed so far.

Brackets & Storylines

• One of the biggest surprises so far came from Connor Mogle, a Michigan native who secured a PPA contract after winning a Challenger event last November. He has upset opponents in men’s dubs (alongside Andre Mercado) and singles, knocking off #6 Jay Devilliers & Jaume Martinez Vich in men’s and #5 Connor Garnett in singles. Mogle & Mercado next face AJ Koller & Noe Khlif, and in singles Mogle takes on

• Notable misses: Ben Johns is not playing singles this event; Genie Bouchard and Catherine Parenteau are not in attendance, nor is Mesa standout Matthew Barlow.

• We’re seeing… dare we say, an uptick?… in menty b’s on the court after loss. This week Hunter Johnson, Zane Navratil, and DJ Young all threw or broke their paddles in frustration. Rumor mill in our discord says at least one of them did it on purpose in hopes of going viral…

• Max Freeman & Tyson McGuffin (7) lost in 3 games to #25 Anderson Scarpa & Ivan Jakovljevic. 

• Speaking of Max, he withdrew from singles earlier in the day, advancing Mohaned Alhouni to R16 where he will face #1 Hunter Johnson.

• Another upset to watch in R16 is #52 Armaan Bhatia who beat Jay Devilliers (13) then Tom Protzek (22) in singles. Next, he faces singles superstar Chris Haworth (3). Elsewhere, Luc Pham (43) beat Gabe Tardio (17)

• In mixed, #50 Clayton Powell & Christa Gecheva are taking on (surprising duo) Christian Alson & Alix Truong (4) after they beat #13 Tyson McGuffin & Chao Yi Wang in R64, then Tama Shimabukuro & Nicola Schoeman (45) in R32. (Tama & Nicola stunned Hunter Johnson & Callie Jo Smith in the previous round, prompting Hunter’s meltdown)

• A couple interesting new pairings are battling in R16: Hurricane Tyra Black & Noe Khlif vs. Jonathan Truong & Meghan Dizon.

• The only notable women’s doubles upset was #22 Daria Walczak & Angie Walker over #14 Judit Castillo & Genie Erokhina, who had a semi-final run in Mesa. Daria & Angie will face Parris Todd & Rachel Rohrabacher in R16.

• Same story in women’s singles, we didn’t see a lot of upsets. We’re excited to see the matchup between stalwart #5 Lea Jansen vs. rising star Kiora Kuniomoto (10).

Women’s Singles

Men’s Singles

Mixed Doubles

Women’s Doubles

Men’s Doubles

Coverage for the Newport Beach Open will be broadcast on pickleballTV (now available on YouTube TV), with side court streaming on YouTube.

Coverage begins daily at 1 p.m. ET.

Episode 185: MLP Draft Recap

Tyler & Jimmy talk about the latest rule change for line calls. And for the main event, they talk through the MLP Draft and all the drama that followed (it gets spicy)! Plus— your questions, answered!

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