The PPA Tour continues its desert swing this week with the Rate Las Vegas Open, held at the Darling Tennis Center from September 28 through October 4. As the second Open of the 2026-27 season, the event offers 1,000 PPA points to winners and features a significantly stronger field than last week’s Arizona Open, with several top stars returning to the court.
Five Storylines to Watch
As the tour settles into Las Vegas, fans should keep an eye on these key narratives shaping the competition:
- Anna Leigh Waters’ chase for 200 titles: Waters enters the tournament just two wins shy of 200 career PPA titles. She is competing in women’s doubles with Anna Bright and mixed doubles with Ben Johns, both of whom she has historically dominated this venue with.
- Return of the stars: Anna Bright, Hayden Patriquin, and Gabe Tardio are all back in action after missing the Mesa tournament. Their return bolsters the doubles fields and reunites several top-tier partnerships, including Tardio with Johns.
- Wide-open women’s singles: With Waters skipping the singles bracket, the field is wide open. Kate Fahey enters as the No. 1 seed, followed by Kaitlyn Christian, Lea Jansen, and Zoey Wang. Additionally, last year’s runner-up, Genie Bouchard, returns as the No. 7 seed after a five-month hiatus.
- Mesa breakout validation: The tournament serves as a litmus test for players who surged in Arizona, such as Jalina Ingram, Kiora Kunimoto, Elliott Schupp, Nico Acevedo, and Yuta Funemizu. Fans will see if these performers can maintain their momentum or if their recent success was a one-week anomaly.
- Potential men’s doubles rematch: Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu enter the event fresh off a win in Mesa. A potential final against the No. 1 seeded team of Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio would be a highly anticipated rematch of last year’s grueling five-game championship match.
Beyond the competition, players will face challenging conditions as temperatures are expected to climb into the mid-90s, potentially exceeding 100 degrees by the weekend. Fans can follow the action starting Thursday, October 1, with coverage on PickleballTV, and the championship Sunday broadcast also available on the Tennis Channel.
