Anna Leigh Waters Makes History, Roscoe Bellamy Stuns Chris Haworth at PPA Chicago Cup

The PPA Tour made its first-ever stop in the Chicago area last week, and it delivered everything you could want from a professional pickleball event — a historic milestone, a stunning upset, a dominant doubles performance, and a handful of rising stars announcing themselves to the sport in a serious way.

Held October 5–11 at Life Time North Shore Sport and Racquet in Chicago, the Veolia Chicago Cup was a PPA Cup-level event, meaning each champion walked away with 1,500 ranking points. The stakes were high, and the players showed up for it.

Here is a full breakdown of everything that happened, including what it means for the sport going forward.

For Those New to Pickleball: What Is the PPA Tour and Why Does This Matter?

If you are new to pickleball or just starting to follow the professional scene, here is a quick primer to help you make sense of everything below.

Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States. It is played on a court similar to a badminton court, with a low net, solid paddles, and a plastic wiffle-style ball. The game is easy to pick up, which is why millions of Americans have fallen in love with it — but at the professional level, it is incredibly technical and competitive.

The PPA Tour is one of the top professional pickleball circuits in the country. Players compete in three main categories: men’s singles, women’s singles, and doubles (both mixed and same-gender). A Triple Crown means a player won all three of their events at a single tournament — singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. It is extraordinarily difficult to do, and it is the benchmark of dominance in professional pickleball.

Now, with that context in place, here is what went down in Chicago.

Anna Leigh Waters Reaches 200 Career Titles and Completes Her 45th Triple Crown

The headline from Championship Sunday was never really in doubt: Anna Leigh Waters was going to make history in Chicago, and she did exactly that.

The 19-year-old entered the tournament sitting on 199 career PPA Tour titles. She had been denied the 200th milestone the previous week in Las Vegas, which only seemed to sharpen her focus. By the end of Sunday, she had not just reached 200 — she had walked away with three more trophies and her 45th career Triple Crown.

Her day started in mixed doubles alongside Ben Johns. The top seeds made short work of No. 3 seeds JW and Jorja Johnson, winning 11-4, 11-4. That match was title No. 200, and it was also the 66th mixed doubles championship that Waters and Johns have won together. That number alone is staggering. To put it in perspective, winning 66 titles in a single discipline of a sport with a partner is a level of sustained dominance that is almost without comparison in professional athletics.

Women’s doubles did not come as easily. Playing alongside Anna Bright, Waters dropped the opening game to Catherine Parenteau and Hurricane Tyra Black 2-11. It was a sharp, dominant first game from Parenteau and Black, and it genuinely looked like they might be on their way to a title. But Waters and Bright regrouped and won the next two games 11-3 and 11-4 to complete the comeback and secure the second piece of the Triple Crown.

Women’s singles rounded out the day. Waters defeated Kate Fahey 11-1, 11-7, making it three titles in one afternoon and cementing her 45th career Triple Crown — a record that now seems almost impossible to catch.

What makes this particularly impressive is the context. Waters had gone without a title in Las Vegas the week prior, which by her standards was a rare stumble. She responded in Chicago with arguably one of the most complete Championship Sundays of her career. She is 19 years old, and she is still rewriting the record books. There is no ceiling in sight.

Roscoe Bellamy Pulls Off the Biggest Upset of Championship Sunday

Chris Haworth entered Sunday’s men’s singles final as the heavy favorite. He was the No. 1 seed, he had cruised through the draw, and he had dismantled French qualifier Emilien Burnel 11-1, 11-0 in the semifinals. He had also won the Arizona Open singles title just two weeks earlier, meaning he was coming into Chicago with serious momentum.

None of that mattered against Roscoe Bellamy.

The No. 4 seed controlled the championship match from the very first point, winning 11-4, 11-5 and denying Haworth a title that had looked like a near-certainty heading into the day. Bellamy allowed Haworth just nine combined points across two games. For reference, Haworth had given up just one combined point in his semifinal. The swing in form was dramatic, and it was entirely because Bellamy played some of the best pickleball of his career when it mattered most.

Bellamy had needed three games just to get past John Lucian Goins in the semifinals, which made his performance in the final even more surprising. He did not just edge out a close match — he dominated the top seed.

The result adds Bellamy’s name to what is becoming one of the most competitive and unpredictable divisions in professional pickleball. Through the first three tournaments of the new PPA season, four different players have made headlines in men’s singles: Haworth, Federico Staksrud, Hunter Johnson, and now Bellamy. Nobody has established themselves as the clear favorite going into any given week, and that kind of parity is genuinely exciting for the sport.

You can follow the latest from the PPA Tour as the season continues to unfold.

Federico Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin Dominate the Men’s Doubles Final

Federico Staksrud did not get the men’s singles title he was likely hoping for — he lost in the quarterfinals to John Lucian Goins — but he made sure he was not leaving Chicago without hardware.

Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin delivered a commanding performance in the men’s doubles final, defeating No. 14 seeds Jaume Martinez Vich and Nico Acevedo 11-1, 11-6. It was one-sided from the opening point, and the two never allowed the match to become competitive.

What makes this result interesting is how unexpected the championship pairing turned out to be. Martinez Vich and Acevedo had put together an incredible week, knocking off multiple established teams on their run to the final. Staksrud and Patriquin, meanwhile, had also navigated a strong draw, beating CJ Klinger and Eric Oncins in the semifinals. But nothing from either team’s week quite predicted just how lopsided Sunday would be.

For Patriquin, this adds another significant title to a portfolio that is growing quickly. For Staksrud, it offered a satisfying consolation after his singles disappointment and confirmed that he remains one of the best doubles players in the game when he is fully locked in.

Nico Acevedo and Jaume Martinez Vich Are No Longer Underdogs

Even in defeat, the story of Nico Acevedo and Jaume Martinez Vich coming out of Chicago is mostly a positive one.

The No. 14 seeds reached the men’s doubles championship match in just their second tournament together as a full-time partnership. A week earlier in Las Vegas, they had reached the semifinals. The progression from semifinalists to finalists in consecutive Cup-level events, against strong opposition, is not a coincidence — it is a trend.

Their path to the Chicago final was genuinely difficult. They beat No. 6 seeds Dylan Frazier and Armaan Bhatia in the quarterfinals. Then they beat Anouar Braham and Bruno Faletto in the semifinals — the same Braham and Faletto who had just pulled off one of the tournament’s biggest upsets by eliminating Ben Johns and Jack Sock in the Round of 32.

Beating a team that had just upset the No. 2 seeds is meaningful. It shows that Acevedo and Martinez Vich are not just benefiting from favorable brackets — they are beating teams that deserve to be beaten, and they are doing it consistently.

By this point in the season, calling either of them an underdog would be inaccurate. They are legitimate contenders in men’s doubles, and the rest of the tour is going to have to start accounting for them.

Ben Johns and Jack Sock’s Partnership Gets Off to a Rough Start

One of the most anticipated storylines heading into Chicago was the men’s doubles pairing of Ben Johns and Jack Sock. Johns is the most decorated player in the history of professional pickleball. Sock is a former Grand Slam tennis champion who has made the transition to pickleball and drawn enormous attention doing so. On paper, the pairing looked dangerous.

In practice, at least in Chicago, it lasted exactly one match.

Johns and Sock, seeded No. 2, were eliminated in the Round of 32 by No. 27 seeds Anouar Braham and Bruno Faletto. The match was not particularly close in the end — Johns and Sock won the first game 11-8, then lost the next two 5-11 and 3-11.

It was a stunning result, and it continues what has been a surprisingly inconsistent start to the season for Johns in men’s doubles. He also suffered an early exit with Federico Staksrud at the Arizona Open, though he did bounce back with a finals appearance in Las Vegas alongside Gabe Tardio.

To their credit, Braham and Faletto deserve a lot of the credit here. The partnership had already won on the PPA Challenger circuit, with titles in Houston and a finalist appearance in Tampa Bay. Their win over Johns and Sock was not just a lucky upset — they are a real team that knows how to win. They went on to reach the semifinals before falling to Acevedo and Martinez Vich.

For the broader men’s doubles picture, the takeaway from Chicago is that the lower half of the draw is more dangerous than ever. Seedings mean less and less in this division, and that makes every round genuinely unpredictable.

Emilien Burnel’s Incredible Run from Qualifying to the Semifinals

If you only follow the championship matches, you might have missed the best story of the entire tournament.

Emilien Burnel, a 25-year-old French player, entered the Chicago Cup as the No. 55 seed in men’s singles. He had to survive qualifying just to get into the main draw, winning two three-game matches to earn his spot. His reward for qualifying was a first-round matchup against Hunter Johnson — the reigning Las Vegas Open men’s singles champion.

Burnel beat him. 13-11, 5-11, 11-9, in three games.

He then followed that result with wins over Mota Alhouni and JW Johnson, the latter involving a remarkable comeback from a 6-1 deficit in the deciding game. He went three games against 15-year-old Camden Chaffin in the quarterfinals and won that too. His run only ended in the semifinals, where Haworth ended things decisively 11-1, 11-0 — but the fact that Burnel made it that far at all was extraordinary.

A former collegiate tennis player at the University of Texas–Rio Grande Valley, Burnel reportedly plans to pursue professional pickleball full-time in 2027. After what he showed in Chicago, that sounds like a very reasonable decision. He is a player worth watching closely as the season continues.

JW and Jorja Johnson Return, Kate Fahey Impresses, and Women’s Doubles Gets More Competitive

A few other storylines from Chicago deserve attention before we close out the recap.

JW and Jorja Johnson returned to competition after missing two consecutive tournaments and immediately showed they belong at the top of the mixed doubles field. The sibling duo reached the championship match as No. 3 seeds, beating Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin along the way before falling to Waters and Johns 11-4, 11-4 in the final. Their return adds real depth to the mixed doubles division, and with Bright and Patriquin having beaten Waters and Johns in Las Vegas, the competition at the top of that bracket is becoming genuinely intriguing.

Kate Fahey had a strong week despite leaving without a gold medal. She and Milan Rane reached the women’s doubles semifinals in their very first tournament together as a partnership, which is a promising sign. Fahey also reached the women’s singles final, falling to Waters 11-1, 11-7. Her ability to go deep in multiple disciplines at once is a skill set that not many players in the game possess.

In women’s doubles, Catherine Parenteau and Hurricane Tyra Black pushed Waters and Bright to three games for the second consecutive tournament. Parenteau and Black have now established themselves as the default challengers in women’s doubles, and their consistency at the championship level is real. They dominated the opening game 11-2 before Waters and Bright took control and closed things out 11-3, 11-4. It is the same result as Las Vegas, but the competitive quality of the match is growing, and that is something to monitor going forward.

What Chicago Tells Us About the State of Professional Pickleball

The Veolia Chicago Cup reinforced a few things that have been developing across the early part of the PPA Tour season.

First, Anna Leigh Waters is still the dominant force in women’s pickleball, and she is not showing any signs of slowing down. Her response to a difficult Las Vegas was emphatic, and her 45th Triple Crown is proof that she continues to operate at a level that nobody else in the sport can consistently match.

Second, men’s pickleball — both singles and doubles — has never been more competitive. Four different men’s singles winners through three tournaments, multiple major upsets in doubles, and a growing pool of players who can beat anyone on any given day. The division is as unpredictable as it has ever been, and that is fantastic for the sport’s growing audience.

Third, emerging players are arriving faster than ever. Burnel’s run through the singles draw, Acevedo and Martinez Vich’s consistent breakthrough results in doubles, and Bellamy’s stunning title Sunday are all evidence that the pipeline of talent coming into professional pickleball is real and deep.

The PPA Tour now heads to Virginia Beach for the next event. After everything Chicago delivered, the bar for drama has been set high — but if the early weeks of this season are any indication, the tour is more than capable of clearing it.