Emilien Burnel has beaten JW Johnson to reach the Veolia Chicago Cup quarter-finals, while two lower-seeded men’s doubles partnerships will meet for a place in the last four. CJ Klinger and Kiora Kunimoto have also advanced after eliminating the fourth seeds in mixed doubles.

Key Takeaways

  • No. 55 seed Emilien Burnel defeated JW Johnson 11-9, 5-11, 11-7 and faces No. 30 seed Camden Chaffin for a men’s singles semi-final place.
  • Anouar Braham and Bruno Faletto meet John Lucian Goins and Mohaned Alhouni in men’s doubles, guaranteeing a semi-final appearance for either the 27th or 21st seeds.
  • CJ Klinger and Kiora Kunimoto beat Rachel Rohrabacher and Andrei Daescu 11-13, 11-3, 11-7 to reach the mixed doubles quarter-finals.
  • Isabella Dunlap eliminated Lea Jansen in women’s singles, while Kate Fahey and Catherine Parenteau will meet in the last eight.
  • Anna Leigh Waters remains in all three draws. With Anna Bright, she has conceded only two points across four women’s doubles games.

Emilien Burnel arrived at the PPA Chicago Cup 2026 as the No. 55 seed. Three main-draw victories later, he is one win from the men’s singles semi-finals, with a quarter-final against No. 30 seed Camden Chaffin offering both players a substantial opportunity.

Burnel defeated JW Johnson 11-9, 5-11, 11-7 in Thursday’s round of 16, adding another important result to the opening-round victory over Hunter Johnson that first brought his campaign into focus. Having followed that upset with an emphatic win over Mota Alhouni, he has now negotiated a deciding game against a second Johnson and earned his place in the closing stages.

His progress is part of a wider Chicago story. In men’s doubles, Anouar Braham and Bruno Faletto have followed their defeat of Ben Johns and Jack Sock with another victory, while John Lucian Goins and Mohaned Alhouni have eliminated fifth seeds Will Howells and Andrei Daescu after removing Hunter Johnson and Collin Johns in the previous round.

Those partnerships now face each other, guaranteeing either the 27th or 21st seeds a place in the last four. As WPM’s round-of-32 review explored, the question was whether the surprise winners could sustain their progress. Thursday supplied an answer, and Friday will put some of them into the semi-finals.

Burnel Earns a Quarter-Final Opportunity

The value of Burnel’s campaign has increased with each round. Beating third seed Hunter Johnson established that he could overcome one of the leading contenders, while conceding only four points against Mota Alhouni demonstrated that he could follow a major result with a convincing performance.

Against JW Johnson, he had to respond after losing the second game. Burnel took the opener 11-9, conceded the next 5-11 and won the decider 11-7, extending a run that now includes two three-game victories and a straight-game win between them.

Chaffin reached the quarter-finals by beating Cason Campbell 11-7, 12-10. After defeating Daniel Phillips in the round of 32, the No. 30 seed has won successive matches in straight games. His meeting with Burnel brings together two players who have already removed higher-seeded opponents and now have a direct contest for a semi-final place.

Elsewhere, top seed Christopher Haworth beat Rafael Lenhard 13-11, 13-11 and faces Noe Khlif, who recovered from a 2-11 opening game against Jaume Martinez Vich to win the next two 11-1, 11-7.

Second seed Federico Staksrud defeated Luc Pham 11-7, 11-5 and meets Goins, who advanced through a recorded Jack Sock withdrawal. Roscoe Bellamy and Tama Shimabukuro complete the quarter-final line-up after straight-game victories over Yates Johnson and Mohaned Alhouni respectively.

Men’s Doubles Guarantees a Lower-Seeded Semi-Finalist

Braham and Faletto’s round-of-16 match against Kenta Miyoshi and Clayton Powell required another recovery. The 27th seeds lost the opener 9-11 before taking the next two games 11-6, 11-8, giving them consecutive victories from a game down.

Goins and Alhouni secured their place through one of Thursday’s closest doubles contests. Against Howells and Daescu, they won the opening game 11-9, lost the second 9-11 and edged the decider 13-11.

The fifth seeds’ departure follows Goins and Alhouni’s victory over Hunter Johnson and Collin Johns, giving the No. 21 pairing successive wins over higher-seeded opposition. Braham and Faletto have their own major result behind them, and Friday will determine which partnership carries its run into the semi-finals.

The same half of the draw lost another leading team when Martinez Vich and Nicolas Acevedo defeated fourth seeds Shimabukuro and JW Johnson 11-8, 11-5. The 14th seeds now face Dylan Frazier and Armaan Bhatia, who recovered from losing the opener to beat Jonathan Truong and Bellamy 9-11, 11-9, 11-6.

In the upper half, top seeds Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin beat Pablo Tellez and Darrian Young 11-9, 11-2 and face Riley Newman and Khlif. Third seeds CJ Klinger and Eric Oncins meet Augustus Ge and Dekel Bar after overcoming Zane Navratil and Will MacKinnon in three games.

Klinger and Kunimoto Take Out the Fourth Seeds

Klinger and Kiora Kunimoto strengthened their mixed doubles campaign with an 11-13, 11-3, 11-7 victory over Rachel Rohrabacher and Daescu, recovering from a narrow opening-game defeat to eliminate the fourth seeds.

Their previous-round win over Judit Castillo and Tyson McGuffin had earned them that opportunity. Thursday’s result takes the 19th seeds into a quarter-final against fifth seeds Oncins and Tyra Hurricane Black, with another higher-seeded partnership standing between them and the last four.

Most of the leading mixed partnerships advanced comfortably. Johns and Anna Leigh Waters defeated Shimabukuro and Jackie Kawamoto 11-1, 11-4 and face Kate Fahey and Staksrud, while Anna Bright and Patriquin beat Martinez Vich and Milan Rane 11-9, 11-4.

Bright and Patriquin now meet Truong and Meghan Dizon. Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson face Chao Yi Wang and Armaan Bhatia in the remaining quarter-final.

Dunlap Advances as Fahey and Parenteau Prepare to Meet

Isabella Dunlap produced the leading women’s singles upset of the round, defeating fifth seed Lea Jansen 11-4, 6-11, 11-7 to reach a quarter-final against Brooke Buckner. The No. 12 seed had already beaten Rane in straight games and now faces another top-five seed, with Buckner arriving after an 11-3, 11-2 win over Hannah Blatt.

Catherine Parenteau also needed three games, beating Maria Ford 12-10, 7-11, 11-3. Ford followed her victory over Genie Bouchard by taking a game from the seventh seed, but Parenteau won the decider comfortably to secure a quarter-final against second seed Fahey.

Waters continued her commanding singles progress with an 11-1, 11-1 victory over Keilly Ulery. She faces Castillo, who advanced after Kunimoto retired from their match. Kaitlyn Christian meets Liz Truluck in the remaining quarter-final.

The supplied draw does not establish the reason for Kunimoto’s singles retirement. She subsequently advanced in mixed doubles with Klinger.

Women’s Doubles Leaders Take Different Routes

Waters and Bright have conceded only two points across their opening four games in women’s doubles. Their 11-0, 11-2 win over Victoria DiMuzio and Zoey Weil followed an 11-0, 11-0 victory in the previous round, setting up a quarter-final against Jade and Jackie Kawamoto.

The Kawamoto sisters needed three games to beat Buckner and Christian, winning 11-8, 8-11, 11-3. Their meeting with the top seeds brings a stronger seeded challenge to a partnership that has so far advanced with little resistance.

Parenteau and Black had a much less comfortable route. Mari Humberg and Cailyn Campbell took the opening game 11-1 before the second seeds recovered to win the next two 11-8, 11-8. They now face Lacy Schneemann and Jessie Irvine.

Rohrabacher and Tina Pisnik meet Ting Chieh Wei and Dizon, while Sofia Sewing and Jorja Johnson face Fahey and Rane.

Six Quarter-Finals Worth Watching

  • Emilien Burnel vs Camden Chaffin, men’s singles: A semi-final place awaits either the No. 55 or No. 30 seed, with Burnel seeking a fourth consecutive main-draw victory.
  • Anouar Braham/Bruno Faletto vs John Lucian Goins/Mohaned Alhouni, men’s doubles: Two partnerships that have removed prominent opponents meet for a guaranteed lower-seeded place in the last four.
  • CJ Klinger/Kiora Kunimoto vs Eric Oncins/Tyra Hurricane Black, mixed doubles: The 19th seeds face the fifth seeds after eliminating the fourth seeds.
  • Kate Fahey vs Catherine Parenteau, women’s singles: The second and seventh seeds meet after Parenteau’s three-game test against Ford.
  • Federico Staksrud/Hayden Patriquin vs Riley Newman/Noe Khlif, men’s doubles: The top seeds face a seventh-seeded partnership that recovered from losing its opening game in the last 16.
  • Anna Leigh Waters/Anna Bright vs Jade Kawamoto/Jackie Kawamoto, women’s doubles: The top seeds meet the sixth seeds after conceding only two points in their first two matches.

Chicago’s leading contenders remain involved across the draws, but several of the less expected campaigns now have a clear route into the weekend. For Burnel and the two men’s doubles partnerships, Friday offers the opportunity to turn a sequence of important victories into a semi-final appearance.

Further Reading

Official sources: Veolia Chicago Cup draws and results | PPA Tour.

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Chris Beaumont

Founder and Editor-in-Chief
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris 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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