Judit Castillo and Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez won the first professional singles titles of the PPA Spain season on Friday. Both have built their pickleball careers in the United States, and on Saturday each will return to court alongside the opponent they defeated for gold.
Key Takeaways
- Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez beat Grayson Goldin 11–7, 11–2 for the men’s singles title after Krisztian Kaszoni had removed Zane Navratil in the quarter-finals.
- Judit Castillo defeated Hannah Blatt 11–8, 11–3 to win the women’s title without dropping a game in the main draw.
- Saturday’s doubles brackets pair Medina Alvarez with Goldin and Castillo with Blatt, bringing both singles finals into the next day’s competition.
- Men’s and women’s professional doubles are scheduled to begin at 9:00 am Barcelona time on Saturday 26 September.
The first professional titles of the Barcelona Open have given the new PPA Spain season a fitting, if slightly complicated, homecoming story. Judit Castillo, a Spanish player based in Dallas, won the women’s singles title. Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez, who was born in Venezuela, lives in the United States and has represented Spain in pickleball, won the men’s. Both arrived with experience of professional competition abroad and left Friday with gold at the opening event of PPA Spain’s new circuit.
Their results also produced an unusually direct link to Saturday. Medina Alvarez and Grayson Goldin, his opponent in the men’s final, are entered together in professional doubles. Castillo and Hannah Blatt, the women’s finalists, form another partnership. The four players who contested Friday’s gold matches must now approach the next competition as two teams, each made up of a champion and the finalist they beat.
Kaszoni changes the men’s draw
Before Medina Alvarez could win the title, Krisztian Kaszoni changed the route to it. Zane Navratil had beaten Mathieu Roy and Daniel Vega in straight games, but Kaszoni ended his run 11–2, 11–2 in the quarter-finals. The margin made it the most emphatic result involving one of the men’s draw’s leading names, and it gave the question raised in WPM’s Barcelona draw preview an early answer: the depth beneath the headline entrants was capable of altering the competition.
Kaszoni had needed three games to reach that meeting. Matteo Cugliari took their round of 16 opener before Kaszoni recovered to win 9–11, 11–3, 11–4. Beating Navratil so decisively in the next round put him into a semi-final against Medina Alvarez, whose own path had already included a narrow escape.
James Ling pushed Medina Alvarez to a deciding game in the round of 16, which Medina Alvarez won 11–3, 8–11, 12–10. A straighter 11–3, 11–4 victory over Mikołaj Biedermann followed in the quarter-finals. Against Kaszoni, Medina Alvarez won the opening game 11–7, lost the second 7–11 and took the decider 11–1. The scores establish a forceful response after Kaszoni levelled the match, although the bracket cannot explain the tactical or technical reasons behind it.
Goldin reached the final from the other half of the draw without dropping a game. He beat Bartosz Karbownik 11–5, 11–2 in the quarter-finals and Hector Sanchez Vidal 11–7, 11–2 in the semi-finals. Sanchez Vidal had earned his place there with a three-game win over Jorge Rodriguez, so Goldin had faced a player who had already come through a demanding late-round match.
The final brought together Goldin’s straight-games progress and Medina Alvarez’s ability to survive two deciding games. Medina Alvarez took the opener 11–7, then pulled away 11–2 in the second to become the men’s singles champion. Biedermann beat Kaszoni 11–4, 12–10 for bronze, leaving the player who had removed Navratil without a medal. It was a reminder that the day’s defining result and its final standings tell different parts of the story.
Castillo holds her course to gold
The women’s title followed a steadier line. Castillo beat María Fernández Costantino 11–5, 11–5 in the round of 16 and Rebecca Pijls 11–3, 11–6 in the quarter-finals. Her semi-final against Myriam Enmer finished 11–1, 11–2, sending her into the gold match without a lost game.
Blatt had also advanced in straight games through the quarter-finals, beating Alexandra Zapletalová and Raquel Amaro, but Katie Morris tested her in the last four. Morris took the first game 11–6. Blatt won the second 12–10, then the decider 11–5, earning her place opposite Castillo after the closest match either finalist had played on the way to gold.
Castillo won the opening game of the final 11–8 and the second 11–3 to complete a main-draw run without dropping a game. That consistency deserves attention without inventing an explanation for it from scores alone. Morris, meanwhile, finished with bronze after beating Amaro 11–4, 1–11, 12–10 in another three-game contest.
Castillo’s title also adds a new chapter to a season in which WPM has followed her on the American circuit. She featured in Arizona’s singles quarter-final picture earlier this month, while she and Mari Humberg pushed the eventual women’s doubles champions to three games there. Barcelona has now put her at the centre of the first PPA Spain professional podium.
Saturday: opponents become partners
The official tournament schedule and draws list men’s and women’s professional doubles from 9:00 am Barcelona time on Saturday, with professional mixed doubles scheduled for Sunday. The most immediate question is what Friday’s finalists can do together. Medina Alvarez and Goldin have just contested the men’s singles gold match, while Castillo and Blatt have done the same in the women’s draw. Those results make both partnerships compelling to follow, but singles form cannot establish how either team will perform in doubles.
Other Saturday entries carry their own connections to Friday. Navratil partners Cugliari, the two players Kaszoni beat during his singles run, while Kaszoni pairs with Adrián Jimenez Pueyo. Biedermann, who defeated Kaszoni for bronze, enters alongside Martin Thomas. In the women’s competition, Morris partners Olivia McMillan after her singles bronze-medal finish. These are reasons to watch how the draws develop, rather than grounds for predicting rematches or medals.
Barcelona’s opening singles day has established two champions with strong connections to Spain and substantial experience beyond it. It has also delivered an early example of the competitive depth that WPM identified before play began: Kaszoni could remove Navratil decisively, Medina Alvarez could withstand Kaszoni’s challenge, and Castillo could sustain her level across the women’s draw. On Saturday, the tournament moves from individual runs to partnerships, beginning with the striking sight of both champions playing beside the finalists they defeated only hours earlier.
Further Reading
- Barcelona Has the Names. The Draw Will Reveal Whether PPA Tour Europe Has the Depth
- PPA Tour Europe Begins in Barcelona: Who to Watch
- PPA Spain Joins Europe’s Pickleball Land Grab
Chris Beaumont
Founder and Editor-in-ChiefChris Beaumont is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of World Pickleball Magazine. Chris follows the global game closely, reporting on the latest news, developments, stories and tournaments from all five continents. He also hosts the World Pickleball Podcast, interviewing people at…
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