By Sudipta Biswas

Copyright timesnownews

Kate Fahey thumped Eugenie Bouchard to win the women’s singles title at the PickleballCentral Wooden Paddle Vintage Open. Fahey registered an 11-5, 11-9 victory to clinch the crown. Bouchard, the former Wimbledon semifinalist, was playing her first PPA Tour final, but her fight fell flat against top seed Fahey, who brought out her best to secure the title. “A lot of the time, especially for the people watching, you think you’re out of the point, but you really never are,” Fahey said afterwards. “I try to watch Tyra [Black’s] defense, and I have been working a ton on my fitness recently, so I’m really glad that it’s paying off.” In the bronze medal match, No. 3 seed Lea Jansen defeated No. 4 seed Mary Brascia 11-9, 7-11, 11-4. In the men’s singles final, Federico Staksrud lifted his first title since January’s PPA Masters as he defeated No. 8 seed Gabe Joseph 11-8, 12-10 to emerge triumphant. Joseph had won their previous meeting in a three-game thriller last month in Bristol, but Staksrud overcame 4-7 deficits in both games to earn some revenge in Northern California. “There’s a little more cat-and-mouse, which I feel comfortable with because that’s kind of what I did at the beginning of my career,” Staksrud said after the match. “Now with the paddle technology and everything getting faster, it just gets tougher and tougher to do that, but I was able to find that in my game today.” In the third-place playoff, No. 13 seed Chris Haworth defeated No. 3 seed Connor Garnett 11-4, 11-13, 11-9. JW Johnson completes a double Meanwhile, Fahey’s bid to win her second title of the day ended in despair as she and her partner Dylan Frazier went down fighting in a marathon mixed doubles match against Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson 3-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-5. The top seeds got off to a nervy start, losing the opening game 3-11. In the second game, they nearly faltered but saved a game point at 9-10, and from there proceeded to close out the match despite an inspired performance from the Johnson siblings. JW Johnson completed a double as he and Dylan Frazier won the men’s doubles title. Playing together for the first time this season, they defeated No. 7 seeds James Ignatowich and Augie Ge 11-6, 11-7, 11-1 to capture the men’s doubles crown. For the women’s doubles title, Etta Tuionetoa and Lacy Schneemann defeated Jessie Irvine and Callie Smith 11-2, 11-8, 8-11, 11-2. The No. 4 seeds had been pushed to three games in two of their three matches on Saturday, but they certainly found their best in the final to get the job done in four.