Anna Leigh Waters easily kept alive her hopes of a repeat “triple” by winning easily in all three of her brackets Tuesday in the Professional Pickleball Association’s Virginia Beach Cup. She’s No. 1 in the world in all three of her divisions — women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
As numerous amateur players and fans mingled at the massive Virginia Beach Pickleball facility off Birdneck Road, the 18-year-old phenom from Delray Beach, Florida, continued to dominate in her second trip to this event, which is one of the PPA’s second-highest tier of tournaments. She went 3 for 3 in championships at last year’s inaugural Virginia Beach Cup.
Most of the high seeds advanced in women’s singles, paced by Waters, who will play No. 17 Ava Ignatowich on Thursday, and No. 2 Kaitlyn Christian. But No. 8 Genie Bouchard withdrew from her round-of-32 match.
In men’s singles, almost all of the high seeds advanced to the round of 16, led by No. 1 Hunter Johnson, No. 2 Federico Staksrud and No. 6 Jack Sock, formerly the world’s top tennis player in doubles. The exception was No. 43 Eric Oncins, a former Florida Gulf Coast University tennis player who ousted the 21st and 14th seeds to advance to a match against Johnson.
In women’s doubles, Waters and Anna Bright won by the most lopsided score possible — 11-0, 11-0 — to move into a Thursday clash against No. 15 Layne Sleeth and Lina Padegimaite.
In men’s doubles, top-seeded Ben Johns and Gabriel Tardio won 11-2, 11-1 to reach the round of 16. But second-seeded Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin won an 11-7, 8-11, 12-10 thriller over No. 25 Anderson Scarpa and Gregory Dow to advance.
In mixed doubles, Waters and Johns prevailed 11-4, 11-1, while the second-seeded sibling combination of JW Johnson and Jorja Johnson earned a 10-12, 11-3, 11-5 triumph.
Action resumes at 10 a.m. Thursday in the pro divisions, complemented by dozens of amateur matches. PickleballTV is providing a live stream.
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