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PPA Bristol: Preview

PPA Bristol: Preview

Team KOTC
August 06, 2025

Veolia Bristol Open

Taking a much-needed breather from MLP before the playoffs, we're off to the picturesque rolling hills of Tennessee for the Veolia Bristol Open. The fun begins today with a "Semi Saturday" format, where each event is spread out over different days, leading up to the semi-finals. Singles start today, mixed doubles are tomorrow, and Friday is gendered doubles. All the semi-final action is set for Saturday, with the championships wrapping up the excitement on Sunday, just like always.

Bristol Sportsplex

Storylines:

Christian Alshon is missing men’s doubles, since his planned partner was Quang Duong, who was expelled from the PPA last month.
Up & comer Jonathan Truong (brother of Alix) made it out of qualies in men’s doubles again, after a successful San Clemente run where he and his partner took down Juan Benitez/Rafa Hewett and Roscoe Bellamy/Matt Wright. They ultimately fell to Collin Johns/James Ignatowich in R16. Can he and his partner make it even further this time?
Top seeds in men’s singles are Fed (1) and Hunter (2), who get a buy in R64.
Last week, it was announced that Life Time’s LT Pro 48 is now the official ball for the PPA. This 48-hole ball will only be used in professional games, while amateurs will continue using Vulcan’s VPro2 Flight ball. The pros have mixed feelings about which ball they prefer, so it will be interesting to see how everyone reacts to this change.
John Lucian Goins has a few memorable past upsets (namely against Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio) but now sits at the 19 seed. His path to quarters goes through Connor Garnett, but first he faces another underdog, Wyatt Stone, who just had an impressive weekend playing for the Texas Ranchers in Salt Lake City.
Interesting pairings: Old school meets new school when Salome Devidze joins Alex Crum in mixed doubles. Hurricane Tyra Black and James Ignatowich are pairing again, after making it to quarters in San Clemente. Johnson twins Hunter and Yates are partnering in men’s doubles - this doesn’t happen very often! Their last pairing was a year ago in Kansas City, where they were knocked out in R16 by Tyson & Jaume. In a first-ever partnership, Riley Newman is playing with Jay Devilliers. They’ll likely take on Tyler & CG in R16.