Hot on the heels of its annual visit to Philadelphia, the Association of Pickleball Players (APP) took a short flight west to visit the great state of Illinois for their 4th annual APP Chicago Open. This event is near and dear to the APP in that it was the site of the very first APP event, the 2020 Jigsaw Chicago Pickleball Open, held the first weekend of September in Naperville. Chicago is also the home of the tour operations and its founder Ken Herrmann.

This event featured a ton of unfamiliar names taking center stage and claiming first-time medals, in many cases golds. Championship Sunday also featured a ton of big-time comebacks, with four of the five gold medal matches getting extended to the winner-take-all one game to 15 to determine the winner.

Let’s Recap the action.

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Men’s Pro Singles Recap

With APP #1 Hunter Johnson not in the draw, his brother Yates took the #1 seed and was your notional pre-event favorite. However, Men’s Singles has proven to be the most unpredictable draw in pro pickleball, and the Chicago Open was no different. The round of 16 in Chicago saw 5 of the top 8 seeds fall, including Johnson, who lost a 12-10 third game thriller to #16 Ross Whitaker. Your #2 seed William Sobek was a late withdrawal, giving #15 Roscoe Bellamy a pathway into the semis of the winner’s bracket before falling. The biggest beneficiary of these upsets was #8 Christopher Haworth, bronze medalist in St. Louis in mid-August, who topped #3 Ryler DeHeart in the winner’s bracket final to ensure a spot on the podium.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Open saw the APP debut of a very solid singles player with a couple of medals on the PPA tour in Jaume Martinez Vich. Outside observers probably penciled him in as a clear favorite, given his accomplishments on the PPA so far this year, but he fell in the round of 32 to Aanik Lohani. Was he over-confident? Perhaps, but Vich more than made up for it by grinding out six loser’s bracket games, including a 15-1 beat-down of Lohani to avenge the earlier loss, before he handled DeHeart in the Bronze medal match 10,7 to earn a shot at the gold. Despite the loss, DeHeart earns his first ever pro singles medal.

In the Sunday final, Vich completed the comeback, topping Haworth 6,5 to force one final game, which he took 15-13 to take gold.

Gold: Jaume Martinez Vich. Silver: Christopher Haworth. Bronze: Ryler DeHeart.

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Women’s Pro Singles Recap

The top four seeds in the Parris Todd-less singles draw advanced to the semis of the winner’s bracket as expected. Last week’s silver medalist Christa Gecheva had an off day, losing in the first round and then getting beat relatively early in the loser’s bracket as well.

In the winner’s bracket semis, #4 Dominique Schaefer got yet another head-to-head win over the dominant #1 Salome Devidze, rebounding from a first game donut to advance (0),3,2. Domi got another come-from-behind win in the winner’s bracket final over #2 Judit Castillo to earn a spot in the gold medal match. Salome earned her way back to the gold medal match with a solid 3-game win over Castillo in the bronze medal match.

In the Sunday final, Schaefer held serve and won a back-and-forth match over Devidze to secure her second straight APP singles gold medal. Schaefer, who was a 4th round MLP challenger pick by the very adept Travis Rettenmaier-owned Florida Smash team, is looking more and more like a great upside pick.

Gold: Dominique Schaefer. Silver: Salome Devidze. Bronze: Judit Castillo.

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Mixed Pro Doubles Recap

#1 seeds Andrei Daescu & Susannah Barr had won the last two APP Mixed pro titles on the trot, but that run of form came to a quick halt at the hands of #8 Martin Emmrich & Tina Pisnik in the winner’s bracket quarters, who dominated and advanced 5,3. The #1 seeds were able to advance through most of the consolation bracket, but fell at the Bronze medal match.

The real shock of the draw was the performance of #15 seeds Genie Erokhina & Spencer Lanier. After a play-in, they topped #2 Fudge & Nunnery and then advanced all the way to the winner’s bracket final. After falling there, they rebounded, topped Daescu & Barr and returned to the gold medal match on Sunday.

In the gold medal match, two teams battled it out to see who would secure their first ever pro gold medals. Erokhina & Lanier avenged their winner’s bracket loss in the final, winning 9,9 to force the one-game-takes-all. However, Emmrich & Pisnik rebounded and took the super-final game 15-11 to secure gold.

Gold: Pisnik & Emmrich. Silver: Erokhina & Lanier. Bronze: Barr & Daescu

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Men’s Pro Doubles Recap

After his singles gold, Vich teamed with teen-ager Wyatt Stone to prove he has doubles chops as well. The pair advanced to the winner’s bracket semis before falling to #1 seeds and 3-time gold medalists this year Daescu & Rob Nunnery.

The real story of this draw was the performance of the Phoenix-based pair of Michael Loyd & Augustus Ge. The lefty/righty Loyd & Ge pair, both former college scholarship tennis players, destroyed their opening round opponents then toppled the #2 seeds Andre Mick & Ryler DeHeart in a tiebreaker. They continued their run all the way to the winner’s bracket final, falling to the #1 seeds and settling for bronze on the day. Not a bad way to earn your first pro medals.

After a relatively clean path to the final, Daescu & Nunnery ran into the #3 seeds Stefan Auvergne & John Cincola, who took an early round loss but ground their way back to the gold medal match with some solid play. In the final, Auvergne & Cincola crushed the #1 seeds 4,3 to force the winner-take-all final game, where they outlasted Daescu & Nunnery for the gold. This was Auvergne’s first ever APP gold, and Cincola’s first gold medal since a singles title in January 2022.

Gold: Auvergne & Cincola. Silver: Daescu & Nunnery. Bronze: Loyd & Ge.

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Women’s Pro Doubles Recap

Simone Jardim & Parris Todd have won 8 of the 9 APP women’s pro doubles events this year, but they were not in Chicago for the event, opening the door for a new champion to be crowned. #1 seeds Megan Fudge & Susanne Barr, who won the only event this year that Jardim & Todd didn’t, were primed to take advantage and cruised into the gold medal match with little fanfare.

In the winner’s bracket final, Fudge & Barr took a tiebreaker win over #2 seeds and last week’s bronze medalists Vivian Glozman & Alix Troung. Glozman & Truong survived a brutal bronze medal match, topping Tamaryn Emmrich & Tina Pisnik 12-10 in the third to setup a rematch for the gold. In the final, Glozman and Truong avenged their earlier loss to claim the title and give Glozman her first pro gold medal.

Gold: Glozman & Truong. Silver: Fudge & Barr. Bronze: Emmrich & Pisnik.

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Champions (Senior/50+) Pro Competition Quick Recap

With no competing Senior events, there was a solid draw for the Champions divisions in Chicago.

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Masters (Super Senior/60+) Pro Competition Quick Recap

The Masters division was back in action for the first time since early July.

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The Pro Pickleball Medal Tracker has now been updated with these results; check out this link online for a complete pro medal history for all tours and all pro events.

Next up on the Pickleball Calendar? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule, both the PPA and the APP are holding events next week. The PPA is in Cincinnati while the APP is back on the east coast in New Jersey. This will be the first PPA event since the drama two weekends ago and I’ll be curious to see how the draws look, given that a huge chunk of the PPA 2023 exclusive players have signed contracts to play for MLP next year.