The PPA Hertz Gold Cup came to a close today in Daytona, FL. Some of the game’s biggest names were competing for gold medals while some new fresh faces were looking to earn their first PPA gold medals of their careers. Let’s dive into all five championship matches and see how they unfolded.
Women’s Singles Championship: (5) Lacy Schneemann vs (2) Salome Devidze
Salome Devidze isn’t a regular participant on the PPA Tour but she is a top-notch singles player and she came in as the favorite against Lacy Schneemann. Schneemann has the weapons to be compete against anybody and she showed it today as she put pressure on the veteran throughout the match. The passing shot accuracy of Devidze though was the difference as she walked away with her first gold medal of the year winning 11-8, 12-10.
Men’s Singles Championship: (1) Ben Johns vs (2) Tyson McGuffin
Tyson McGuffin mentioned in his semifinal post-match interview how good he was feeling despite withdrawing from Nationals a week prior with an illness. He looked the part today as he was ripping his serve and finding his forehand which is usually the key to his success. After dropping game 1 he responded by winning game 2 11-6. In game 3 it was Johns that controlled the tempo and got McGuffin into more cat and mouse exchanges ultimately walking away with the deciding game 11-3. A valiant effort from Tyson in what was a highly entertaining back and forth battle.
Women’s Doubles Championship: (1) Waters/Parenteau vs (2) Smith/Kovalova
Smith/Kovalova have been the toughest opponents for Waters/Parenteau this year but the #1 seeds brought their top level to the table early and never looked back. Smith often tried to attack Parenteau straight ahead to gain an advantage but Catherine’s defense and counter attacking kept her at bay as she and Anna Leigh won in three straight games to remain perfect on the year.
Men’s Doubles Championship: (2) Johnson/Frazier vs (13) Garnett/Alshon
Up and comers Garnett/Alshon came out with a game plan of trying to create early offense against the #2 seeds and it paid off in stretches but in the closing moments of both games 1 and 2 Johnson/Frazier were able to withstand the pressure and put them on defense. What makes Johnson/Frazier so good is their ability to win firefights from behind in the point and keep their opponents guessing with the location of their speedups. They did just enough of that on the big points to win their 5th PPA gold medal of the season.
Mixed Doubles Championship: (1) Waters/Johns vs (3) Johnson/Johnson
The sibling duo had it all working early. Jorja Johnson was winning the cross-court dink exchange with Anna Leigh Waters and JW was cleaning up anything attackable. They took game 1 rather easily 11-5 and led late in game 2 before eventually falling 13-11. Losing out on a chance to go up 2 games to none on the top seeds seemed to take its toll mentally as Johns/Waters jumped ahead 5-0 in game 3 and never looked back winning the next two games 11-5, 11-5.
On The Horizon
The last PPA tournament of the year will be held in San Clemente in a few weeks but will host only the players who have accumulated the most points throughout the season. Make sure to follow the PPA Tour on social media for announcements on the upcoming schedule.
