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THE upset, Fed's meltdown, & other wild Mesa moments

THE upset, Fed's meltdown, & other wild Mesa moments

What you missed and what deserves a re-watch

Team KOTC
February 23, 2025

What you might’ve missed in Mesa

If you’re waiting until the weekend, or even Championship Sunday, to watch a PPA event, you’re missing out on some truly incredibly pickleball. And though semis and finals featured only top 8 seeds, the path there was not easy for any team, and earlier rounds saw a lot of upsets and excitement.

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What you missed in the semis & prior:

Tyler & Connor almost knock off Johns & Tardio in QF, in the latter’s first tournament together. Even @ppatour said it was “The greatest pickleball match you’ve seen” [Watch match here]
Ben & Anna Leigh lose for the first time in nearly a year, to Anna Bright & Dekel Bar. Their last loss was March 2024 in Austin, where they fell to AB and Andrei Daescu. [Watch match here]
Aussie Tom Evans, after besting Fed in Tucson, toppled both Dylan Frazier and James Ignatowich to get to R16. (PPA has not posted any of Evans’ matchups)
Hunter & Fed had a contentious semi-final face-off in singles, with numerous challenges, technical warnings, and a suspicious medical timeout called by Fed. [Watch match here]
JDub & Noe Khlif looked good in their first-ever partnership, battling through to quarters, where they fell to Hayden & Fed in 3 games. [Watch match here]
In quarters, Parris & Kaitlyn played some fantastic games against each other in singles, going 8-11, 12-10, 11-8 in Kaitlyn’s favor. [Watch match here]
In Kate vs. ALW in semis, Kate was in no mood for the spotlight, cursing at the camera during a timeout. [Watch match here]
New pairing Lucy Kovalova & Etta Tuionetoa had a strong showing, getting to R16 where they faced The Girlies, and lost only by a narrow margin. [Watch match here]
Jorja was on fire this weekend; she and Vivian Glozman beat Hurricane Tyra & Parris in QF, then went 3 tight-scoring games against The Girlies in semis. [Watch semi-final match here]

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What you missed Championship Sunday:

Every matchup took the full best-of-3 or best-of-5; there were no clean sweeps!
Speaking of Jorja and her fire weekend - she and JW were hyper-focused and went a full 5-game matchup against Anna & Dekel.
Yes, yes, another Anna Leigh win in women’s singles, but Brooke almost had her, and surprised everyone with their 3-game battle.
Christian & Alshon came out hot, winning their first 2 games against Ben & Gabe 11-5, 11-1. Ben & Gabe answered the next two 12-10, 11-5, then lost in the deciding game 5.
Fed & CP seemed to phone it in during the bronze medal match in mixed; CP never seems to try hard against ALW, and Fed’s overall mood came across smug & indifferent.
Fed had a chance for (what Michelle McMahon dubbed) “double brown”; but he lost both doubles matches and only secured bronze in singles over CG. Just a single brown for Fed.