Top Seeds Win Out To Finish The Pro Pickleball Association Season At The Tour Finals
Todd Boss, C·2026-05-11·via Forbes - Business
Anna Bright (L) and Anna Leigh Waters (R) finish off a fantastic season together by winning the Women's Doubles title in San Clemente.
PPA
The long 2025-26 Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) season finally came to a close last weekend with the 2026 Toys R’ Us Tour Finals, held in everyone’s favorite site the Life Time fitness in San Clemente, California. The tour’s best were on hand competing in a unique group stage format that guaranteed semi-finals quality matches or better with every match, and several finals were featured on national TV over the weekend.
By the time the event wrapped up, all five top seeds came out on top of their respective divisions, a fitting end to a season that has really seen the top players and teams differentiate themselves throughout the grind of the 20+ events.
Click here for my Preview, which had the partner draft results, the pools detailed, and my predictions. Notes on predictions: I predicted all five winners, essentially by taking all five top seeds, but got none of the finalists correct.
A Reminder of the format of the Tour Finals: each of the eight qualifying players (in singles) or teams (in doubles) were divided into two preliminary pools for round robin play. These pools were seeded somewhat at random. The top two players/teams advanced to the semis, where a brief knockout round was played. Below we’ll review each of the group stages, then summarize the knockouts.
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There were no bronze medal matches played this weekend, and players earned ranking points per the following scale: 300 points for a group stage win, 400 for a semi-finals win, and 700 for the final, meaning players could earn a maximum of 2,000 points for the weekend for sweeping through a division undefeated.
With that said, let’s recap the action.
Men’s Pro Singles Recap
Christopher Haworth caps off an amazing season with the Tour Finals title.
PPA
Pool A: Men’s singles continued to show why it’s the hardest to predict on day one, as top seed Christopher Haworth lost in two games to Connor Garnett. Garnett has struggled to medal for some time now, but did win a Bronze at the Atlanta slam to get some momentum into this event. Hayworth rebounded to crush Alshon in day two, while Garnett edged Jack Sock to qualify for the semis. Interestingly, prior to day three both Sock and Alshon retired with injuries; Alshon could have still advanced, but instead the tour picked up Khlif and Vich to play their last matches and not give walk-overs to Garnett or Haworth. It could have led to Khlif in particular playing one match and advancing since he “inherited” Alshon’s day one win, but Haworth took care of business to finish 2nd in the group and advance to the semis. Garnett & Haworth advance to knockouts.
Pool B: The two top seeds held strong on day one, but both Hunter Johnson and Federico Staksrud went a game down and had to dig deep in game three to win. Teenager John Lucian Goins shocked Hunter in pool play two, which means Johnson may have to beat Staksrud in order to even qualify for the semis. On the final day, Goins took care of business and Hunter had no shot against Fed to secure the upset. Staksrud & Goins advance.
Knockout Rounds: Thanks to pool play upsets, the match that many thought would be the final turned out to be in the semis between No. 1 ranked Haworth and No. 2 ranked Staksrud. They played a back-and-forth first two games before Haworth turned on the jets and pickled him in game three 11-0 to move to the final. Meanwhile, 7th seed Goins continued his run, setting down the previously undefeated Garnett with ease 5,2 to make the final. We’ve talked a ton about the exploits of teenagers on tour, but Goins continues to impress without the fanfare. In the final, Haworth was not terribly troubled and beat his younger rival 2,8 to put a finishing statement on his last year on tour, where he went from unranked to the top.
Gold: Christopher Haworth. Silver: John Lucian Goins.
Women’s Pro Singles Recap
Kate Fahey was all over the court en route to a win at the Tour Finals.
PPA
Pool A: Lea Jansen opened the event on Wednesday with the big win she needed to advance out of this group, topping Parenteau 7,9. Pool top seed Fahey eliminated the former No. 1 ranked Canadian with a 0,5 blow-out to open Thursday’s play to guarantee advancement for both herself and Jansen on day two. Fahey topped Jansen to win the group, but both moved on. Fahey and Jansen advance.
Pool B: Castillo played Christian tough but fell 8,6 to open the group, making me wonder if this wouldn’t be a bit more wide open. We got our answer immediately, as Chao-Yi Wang upended Kaitlyn on day two to upend the standings. The craziness continued in the last day of pool play, when Buckner finished off Christian with a come-from-behind win to top the group undefeated. Meanwhile, Judit Castillo, who started the day 0-2 and may have thought she was eliminated, won a topsy-turvy match over Wang to have a three-way tie for second place. It came down to points differential, and Castillo came out on top. Buckner and Castillo advance.
Knockout Rounds: Fahey ground out a 3,8 win over the surprise semi finalist Castillo in one semi, while Buckner and Jansen had an interesting battle, with Lea winning game one 11-1, but then Buckner dominating the rest of the way to win (1),3,4 to make the final. In the final, Fahey improved to 7-2 lifetime against Brooke with a solid 0,9 win to claim the title.
Gold: Kate Fahey. Silver: Brooke Buckner.
Mixed Pro Doubles Recap
Whoever took this overhead ... was sure to put it away, as Waters & Johns cruised to the Tour Finals mixed title.
PPA
Pool A: Alshon & Rohrabacher edged Tardio & Parenteau on day one to set the tone and avoid their biggest challenge of the group while the top pair Ben Johns & Anna Leigh Waters cruised. At the end of day two, the two lower seeds were both eliminated, leaving just the top seed up for grabs on Friday with a “dead rubber” match between the two 0-2 teams. First place on Friday featured the top pair losing a rare game, but coming back for the win and a 3-0 finish. Advancing are Waters/Johns and Alshon/Rohrabacher.
Pool B: Pool top seeds Bright & Patriquin struggled against Oncins & Irvine, a shaky start to their planned run through the draw. Meanwhile, the Johnson siblings crushed Black & Daescu 6,0 to set the tone. Day two gave us a shocker: the Johnson siblings destroyed the pool’s top seeds Bright & Patriquin 2,4 to take control and set up a win-or-go-home match between the pool’s two top seeds. On day three Bright & Patriquin came to play and downed Black & Daescu 7,2 to secure advancement as the 2nd seed, but they’ll have to face the world’s top pair in the semis in the knockout phase. Advancing are Johnson/Johnson and Bright/Patriquin.
Knockout Rounds: The two top seeds met in the first semi, in what most thought would be the final, and the crowd got one of the matches of the tourney. After getting pickled in game one, Bright & Patriquin regrouped to win game two 11-7 to force the breaker. There, the top pair Johns & Waters advanced 11-9 to get to the final as expected. There, they’ll get a pool group rematch against Alshon & Rohrabacher, who ground out a very close 9,10 win against the Johnson siblings. In the final, ALW and Ben cruised to the title with a straight forward 5,5,5 win over Rachel & Christian.
Gabe Tardio (L) gets a hug from the GOAT Ben Johns (R) as they take the Tour Finals title.
PPA
Pool A: This pool was upended early, when Oncins/Frazier took out JW Johnson & Klinger on day one. The No. 2 seeds scored more points in the end, but not when it counted, losing 9,(1),9 to give the upstart No. 3 seeds an inside shot at the semis. Johnson & Klinger, silver medalists just two weeks ago in Sacramento, were subsequently eliminated on Day two by the last-seeded Frankenstein team of Garnett & Newman, surely a disappointment. The last-place team in the pool continued their run by taking out Oncins/Frazier to qualify, while the top seeds cruised on day three to go undefeated in pool play. Advancing are Johns/Tardio and Garnett/Newman.
Pool B: A shocker on day one, as Khlif & McGuffin took out Daescu & Staksrud, who have medaled in 5 of the last 6 PPA events, in three games to take control of their own destiny. Expected results on day two mean that Daescu & Staksrud have to beat the pool’s top seeds on the final day of round robin action to advance, and that’s exactly what they did, rebounding from a 11-1 game one loss to win game three 11-1 to advance. Even with the heavy defeat. Alshon & Patriquin end finishing 2nd in the group, meaning they face the top pair in the semis, but at least they went through. Advancing are Daescu/Staksrud and Alshon/Patriquin.
Knockout Rounds: We got both pool No. 1 seeds meeting in the first semi, and Johns/Tardio held firm to beat Alshon/Patriquin in two close games 8,9. In the other semi, Daescu/Staksrud finally set down the upstart No. 8 team of Garnett/Newman 9,7 to get to the final. In the final, Ben & Gabe blew out their competition 8,3,0 to finish off the season with a statement win.
Gold: Johns & Tardio. Silver: Daescu & Staksrud.
Women’s Pro Doubles Recap
Pool A: There were no surprises on day one, as both pool top seeds crushed their opponents. It is tough to see an upset here. ALW and AB destroyed Kawamoto and CP in match day two, but the group’s second seed can still advance by winning on Friday, which they did easily 4,4 to secure second place. The top pair gave up just 22 points in six games in group play, the most dominant performance of the round robin portion of the competition. Advancing are Waters/Bright and Parenteau/Kawamoto.
Pool B: This pool proved early why it won’t be a cake walk for the two favorites, who both won on day one but were pressed. On day two, a huge upset as Pisnik & Schneemann took out the pool’s top seeds Tyra and Jorja in three, including an 11-1 whitewashing to make a statement. The final spot in the group came down to tiebreakers, as three teams ended up going 2-1 at the expense of Wang & Christian, who lost all three rounds. The top seeds were left out on points differential, thanks to an 11-1 game loss earlier in the week, a huge upset for the semis. Advancing are Todd/Rohrabacher and Pisnik/Schneemann.
Knockout Rounds: ALW & AB cruised past the upstart Pisnik/Schneemann team 2,5 in one semi, while Todd/Rohrabacher went down a game but cruised to the win to make the final (9),4,4. In the final, Waters & Bright finished off their dominant weekend with a straight set win in the final 7,6,2.
The Pro Pickleball Medal Tracker spreadsheets have now been updated with these results. Click here for the Pro-only Medal Tracker, These spreadsheets hold Medal winners for every pro event going back to the beginnings of the tours.
Next up on the Pickleball Calendar? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule, this is it for the PPA’s season until September, though their International and Challenger tournaments will continue. There’s an event in Kuala Lumpur next weekend and in Macao at the end of May, plus there’s two more challenger events coming up in the next few weeks (in Wilson, North Carolina and Fort Collins, Colorado). Look for the non-MLP signed contract players to get their events in at these lower-level tournaments.
The big news though is the imminent start of the 2026 Major League Pickleball Season! After a week off for the top players, the first event is in Dallas 5/24/26 weekend, with a bunch of the top teams and a new format for this season. We’ll do some preview content ahead of the event and look forward to another MLP season.
Any Head to Head or career match stats quoted in this article are courtesy of PickleWave. Visit picklewave.com for the premier source of Pro Pickleball data, including match replays, highlights, stats, and discussion. PickleWave has more than 31,000 matches in its database across all the pro tours, and has started a fantastic new Bracket Challenge feature for Fantasy-style sports fans to try out.
Other resources I use frequently to cover Pickleball include:
