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PPA North Carolina: Preview
Our viewing guide for the Veolia North Carolina Open
Team KOTC
April 02, 2025
Veolia North Carolina Open
The action is already underway at Cary Tennis Center in NC, where the PPA continues in the new semi-progressive draw format debuted at the Red Rock Open last week. After qualies yesterday, the main draw starts today with singles, which will be played through quarterfinals. This time around, there’s no national broadcasts, so all events will be available on PickleballTV.
Overall schedule
Tuesday: Qualifiers for Mixed, Men’s Doubles & Men’s Singles
Wednesday: Qualifiers for Women’s Singles, Singles Main Draw
Thursday: Mixed Doubles
Friday: Qualifiers for Women’s Doubles, Gendered Doubles Main Draw
Saturday: Semi-Finals (all events)
Sunday: Finals (all events)
Cary Tennis Center
Brackets & Storylines
Click to preview each pre-qualifier bracket. Live bracket updates are available on pickleballtournaments.com.
Anna Leigh announced her withdrawal from singles (only), on X yesterday. A qualifier will take her #1 spot, which will be determined at the conclusion of the qualifier this morning.
Genie (13) was slated to take on ALW in R16, if she beats #22 Lingwei Kong. With a qualifier now in that spot, Genie has a solid chance for a quarterfinal run.
Brooke Buckner (4), playing to a home crowd, could face Salome Devidze, Zoey Wang (possibly jet-lagged from last week’s Joola Legends tour), Mari, or Challenger Series champion Helena Jansen on her way to semis.
Ben Johns has also pulled out of the singles event - possibly still recovering from his overseas trip, and singles starts early this time around? Qualifier Christopher Jacques takes his spot.
Also withdrawing from singles: Quang Duong (late scratch today), AJ Koller, Gabriel Joseph, Tam Trinh, and Travis Rettenmeier. For those who withdrew yesterday, a qualifier took their place.
R64 is already underway and has given us a few upsets:
#49 Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez over Rafa (15)
#35 Tom Evans over Upset King John Lucian Goins (25)
#38 Spencer Smith over #27 Alex Neumann (who goes straight to R16 with Quang’s W/D)
#40 Edward Perez over #26 Ryan Sherry (he faces #2 Hunter Johnson next)
Ben & ALW are of course the favorites, with Ben’s return from the Joola Legends tour.
JW & Jorja are the #2, but continue to struggle to take down Ben & ALW. Could they capitalize on this opportunity with Ben & ALW both missing mixed in Red Rock?
16-year-old John Lucian Goins, who has been rolling through the draw at the last several events, is partnering with Salome Devidze. We love to see a PPA OG and new gen playing together - maybe Salome can show him a few tricks.
Anna Bright is playing with Fed for the first time in a mixed partnership. Arguably the next best players after Ben & ALW… will this combo be the key to taking down the mixed #1s?
Meanwhile, Alshon and CP continue to play strong and are in the hunt for a medal, after getting a silver in Red Rock last week.
Yes, ALW & CP are playing, and the clear favorites to win. The Girlies, AB & RR, return after AB’s absence in Red Rock and have the #2 seed.
Dallas Flash teammates Jorja & Tyra are pairing up and have the 3 seed; they’ll need to get through Etta & Meghan (5) to make quarters.
Lucy Kovalova is playing with newcomer and Utah Black Diamond Mehvish Safdar. It’ll be interesting to see how she does on the pro circuit, and as a preview to her potential in MLP.
After a break in Red Rock, Tyler & CG are back together, and they have the 11 seed. In their path to QF is Jay & Pablo (7) and Tyson & Dekel (4).
Top seed Fed & Hayden look to take home gold but will have an uphill climb facing dominant partnership Alshon & Daescu (3).
#2 and #3 seeds look to face off in quarters barring an upset, so only one will make it to the semi-finals between Alshon/Daescu and Johns/Tardio. Both teams are strong, so it could go either way.
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