The Report
London survive the chaos | Las Vegas begins to bite
Good morning, pickleballers.
London Smash are CNPL champions, but their route through Waterloo was anything but straightforward. The league’s best regular-season team was swept in its opening semi-final match, twice stood one game from elimination and then suffered another 3-0 defeat against Toronto United with the championship on the line.
We break down how London survived one of the most volatile finishes to a CNPL season yet. In Las Vegas, meanwhile, the early rounds have already removed Donald Young and tested several contenders before the PPA Tour’s leading seeds enter the heart of the draw.
London survived everything Waterloo could throw at them.
London Smash finished the regular season 23-5 with a +387 point differential, but those numbers offered little protection in the playoffs. No.6 Northern Lights swept them 3-0 in the opening semi-final match and twice moved within one game of eliminating the top seeds.
Then came Toronto United. The two teams split 12 Championship Series games 6-6 and Toronto actually outscored London 226-206 across the final. London still won two of the three matches, with Anne-Sophie Courteau and Ryan Torresin delivering the 21-14 victory that finally secured the franchise’s first CNPL championship.
The result tells us more than who lifted the trophy. C4 finished with the strongest regular-season team as champion, but only after the CNPL format stripped away almost every sense of inevitability surrounding them.
Read the CNPL season finaleThe undercard is over. Now the heavyweights arrive.
The Rate Las Vegas Open has already started reshaping its five professional draws. Anouar Braham removed Donald Young 11-8, 11-1 in men’s singles, while several other contenders needed three games simply to survive the opening stages.
Wednesday raises the level considerably. Christopher Haworth, Federico Staksrud, Hunter Johnson and Christian Alshon head the men’s singles seedings, Alshon and Andrei Daescu continue their developing men’s doubles partnership, and the women’s doubles draw begins.
There is also a milestone in play. Anna Leigh Waters enters Las Vegas on 198 career PPA titles and, with singles absent from her schedule, needs to win both mixed doubles with Ben Johns and women’s doubles with Anna Bright to reach 200 this week.
Read the Las Vegas reportThree numbers to keep in mind.
23-5 London Smash’s regular-season record before completing the job in Waterloo.
226-206 Toronto United’s points advantage over London across the three-match Championship Series despite losing the title.
198 career PPA titles for Anna Leigh Waters entering the Rate Las Vegas Open.
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