Gabe Tardio Bags First Two PPA Golds While Kate Fahey Breaks Through at PPA Utah Open

The PPA Tour's first trip to Salt Lake City is in the books, as the Utah Open came to a close Sunday afternoon at the Salt Palace Convention Center. This venue was unique in that it was completely indoors and in a downtown setting.

There sure was plenty of drama and some first-time winners. Let’s get into the action.

Top upsets of the tournament

Men’s Singles - (34) Grayson Goldin beat (6) Jack Sock and (11) Gabe Joseph

I promise this is the last time you will see Grayson Goldin being on the "upsets" list. He is just too good. His seeding suggests his wins qualify as upsets, but his skill set does not. He has now taken down Jack Sock in two straight tournaments. Gabe Joseph is a staple in singles and is no slouch. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Goldin medal on the PPA Tour by the end of the year.

Men’s Singles - (27) Hunter Johnson beat (4) Dylan Frazier and (5) Chris Haworth on his way to bronze

Hunter is in a very similar situation to Goldin – he is still getting seeded low, even though his skill far outweighs that seeding. He beat two guys who have already won a title on the PPA Tour this year. The match with Haworth was especially feisty – I haven’t seen Haworth that upset with line calls EVER. Hunter is very talented but has had some very unlucky draws this year. I expect him to start getting seeded in the teens after this bronze medal finish.

Women’s Singles - (28) Cade Pierson beat (10) Liz Truluck

Cade who? Pierson had to come out of the qualifiers and made it to the quarters due to a withdrawal from Dominique Schaefer and a big win over Liz Truluck. The recently turned pro out of Santa Barbara, California has a good tennis background. She played at Westmont College in California – an NAIA school – and has been the team’s head coach for two years. It seems Pierson has a full-time job (according to LinkedIn), coaches college tennis, and just so happens to be amazing at singles pickleball. Be on the lookout for more from her.

Mixed Doubles - (22) Pablo Tellez/Mari Humberg beat (14) Jackie Kawamoto/Jack Sock, (4) Tina Pisnik/Dekel Bar, and (10) Hurricane Tyra Black/Dylan Frazier on their way to a fourth-place finish

This first-time partnership was lights out this weekend in Utah. Mari’s slice shot is the best in the game – period. While it doesn’t work for every pro, it seems to work well for her. Tellez has a ton of offensive power and athleticism. Taking out Pisnik and Bar and then following that up with a win over Frazier and Black is a very good run in a deep mixed doubles field.

Women’s Singles - (32) Marianna Peitri beat (1) Lea Jansen and (6) Layne Sleeth on the way to a quarterfinal run

Who? Marianna Peitri had never played a PPA Tournament until Utah. She's from Boise, Idaho, and has been playing pickleball there for less than a year. She entered singles in qualifiers and won her two qualifying matches with a combined score of 44-3, earning a double pickle in one match. She then faced No. 1 seed Lea Jansen, taking her out in three games. Not only did Peitri beat Jansen in three, she won 12-10 in the third. Impressive composure for sure.

Marianna beat Layne Sleeth, 11-4, 11-4, before falling to Judit Castillo in three games in the quarters. Peitri was a 3x All-Big Sky women’s tennis MVP and still holds the wins record at the University of Idaho. She works full-time in the Boise area, but I expect to hear her name a lot more soon in pro pickleball circles.

MLP team medal count

• St. Louis Shock - 🥇🥇🥇🥇🥈
• D.C. Pickleball Team - 🥇🥈🥈
• Arizona Drive - 🥇🥈
• Orlando Squeeze - 🥇🥉
• Dallas Flash - 🥈🥉
• Carolina Pickleball Team - 🥇
• Utah Black Diamonds - 🥈
• New Jersey 5s - 🥈
• Texas Ranchers - 🥉
• Columbus Sliders - 🥉
• LA Mad Drops - 🥉
• Atlanta Bouncers - 🥉
• Las Vegas Night Owls - 🥉

Key takeaways

Kate Fahey wins her first gold

Fahey has been on a TEAR recently in singles. She had to play out of the qualifiers two weeks ago in Kansas City and beat some big names on her way to a silver medal.

Fahey (14) was seeded for the first time in singles this week and had three very impressive wins on her way to gold:

• (3) Salome Devidze (11-3, 11-1) – This is a ridiculous scoreline against a PPA Tour winner this year
• (6) Judit Castillo (11-3, 11-6) – Another two-game match against a PPA Tour winner
• (4) Kaitlyn Christian in the Finals (11-6, 6-11, 11-9) – Another gutsy performance, winning a close one in the third

Fahey brings a mixture of great ground strokes and elite athleticism to the singles game. She is what I would consider a "baseliner," staying back more than most other singles players. Having watched her play singles for the last month or so, combined with her ability in MLP Dreambreakers (she plays for the St. Louis Shock), I would say Fahey is a top 10 women’s singles player in terms of talent.

Gabe Tardio had himself a weekend

Two gold medals for Tardio in Utah – one in men’s doubles and one in mixed doubles for the teenager from Bolivia. 

He played men’s with Andrei Daescu, a pairing that has enjoyed a lot of success this year, beating the Johns brothers twice on their way to silver medals. They won their Round of 16, quarterfinal and semifinal matches in three games in Utah, making for quite a grind. 

Their most impressive win was the semifinals, beating Pablo Tellez and Hayden Patriquin, 11-5, 7-11, 13-11. The match was a really fun mix of friends playing pickleball with a competitive edge to go along with a little bit or verbal warfare.

They played flawlessly in the final, winning 11-6, 11-6, 11-1 over James Ignatowich and Matt Wright. Wright and Ignatowich didn’t play poorly, it was more that Gabe and Andrei were simply better.

Tardio and Daescu are good friends off the court and to watch their enthusiasm and pride as they hoisted the trophy was cool to see.

In mixed doubles, Tardio and Jesse Irvine played lights out. I don’t think I’ve seen Jessie play that well all year. The biggest difference I saw for Irvine was that she was smiling, laughing, and having fun. I haven’t seen that a lot, especially watching her in MLP with the Carolina Pickleball Club.

They had to beat Matt Wright and Lucy Kovalova, the Johnson siblings, and Pablo and Mari Humberg in order to make it to Championship Sunday.

In the final they beat Anna Bright and James Ignatowich in three straight games, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8. The mental fortitude it took to win in three against the second-best mixed team this year was next level. It marked the first time for Gabe winning a mixed doubles gold and the first time in nearly two years for Jessie.

Federico Staksrud is back in the winner’s circle

Fed put on a singles clinic in Salt Lake City after losing to Ben Johns last week in Bristol. Men’s singles is the most volatile event in pickleball, with upsets every single week. Fed is the exception. Here is who he beat on his way to gold: Noe Khlif, Marshall Brown, Yates Johnson, and Hunter Johnson.

In the finals, Fed beat Connor Garnett – the Kansas City and LA winner – 11-2, 11-4. Garnett had no answers for Fed, despite being a top 10 singles player.

Here is how dominant Staksrud was on the weekend in singles: He won every match in two games and went a combined 110-40, winning 73 percent of his points. Week in and week out, Staksrud seems to always be playing on Sundays.

'The Girlies' continue to win when Catherine and Anna Leigh don’t play

Anna Bright and Rachel Rohrabacher are clearly the second-best team in women’s doubles in 2024. This marks their fifth win on the PPA Tour in 2024.

Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau are clearly the top duo in women’s doubles in 2024, only losing once to Rohrabacher and Bright at PPA Austin. At the beginning of the year it was a close call between Bright/Rohrabacher and Etta Wright/Meghan Dizon as to which team was the second best. 

"The Girlies," the pair's self-proclaimed nickname, have separated themselves from the competition. There is a clear step down from ALW to CP to Rachel and Anna, but now there is also a big dropoff down to third.

Complete results

Women’s singles

• 🥇 Kate Fahey
• 🥈 Kaitlyn Christian
• 🥉 Chao Yi Wang

Men’s singles

• 🥇 Federico Staksrud
• 🥈 Connor Garnett
• 🥉 Hunter Johnson

Mixed doubles

• 🥇 Jessie Irvine/Gabe Tardio
• 🥈 Anna Bright/James Ignatowich
• 🥉 Mary Brascia/Jaume Martinez Vich

Women’s doubles

• 🥇 Rachel Rohrabacher/Anna Bright
• 🥈 Jorja Johnson/Mari Humberg
• 🥉 Meghan Dizon/Etta Wright

Men’s doubles

• 🥇 Gabe Tardio/Andrei Daescu
• 🥈 Matt Wright/James Ignatowich
• 🥉 Augie Ge/Federico Staksrud

The PPA Tour heads to Sin City next for the PPA Las Vegas Pickleball Cup at the Fontainebleau. The action starts Wednesday and concludes Sunday of Labor Day weekend.