A beautiful shot of the championship court at The Fort, host of this weekend’s Fort Lauderdale Open.
The first event of the 2025 season for the Association of Pickleball Players (APP) is in the books. The tour traveled to its new headquarters in Fort Lauderdale for the 2025 Humana Fort Lauderdale Open, located at the brand new facility “The Fort,” This 43-court facility opened for business at the beginning of January, has a permanent stadium court, and the APP will maintain its HQ training facilities there. APP players and fans alike got to see the facility firsthand for the first time, and social media reactions were positive across the board.
In the season’s first event, the cream rose to the top at this event. Four of the five gold medal matches were competed against the two top seeds of the draw, giving the neutral fans a great sunny Sunday of championship pickleball. And by the time the finals were done, three different players took home double golds.
Click here for the UtrSports.net home page for the event, where you can get tournament details, draw sheets, and results.
Let’s recap the action.
Men’s Pro Singles Recap
Over the past few APP events, an elite tier of Men’s singles players has started to rise to the top. At the APP’s first event of the season, we saw a number of those elite players rise above a stacked draw to compete for medals. Nearly all the current APP top 20 ranked singles players were in Fort Lauderdale for the season opening event, and the matches were tight from the round of 16 onwards.
From the top half, dominant No. 1 Christopher Haworth took out the upstart Casey Diamond, then No. 8 seed Camron to reach the semis. There he met Ammar Wazir, ranked 46th on the APP tour at present, who took out No. 4 seed Ryler DeHeart in the quarters. DeHeart had already done the hard work, taking out two rising stars in Livornese and Goins prior to falling to Wazir.
In the bottom half, No. 2 Grayson Goldin continues to have the magic touch over his fellow top singles stars, topping Lanier in the 16s and Howells in the quarters to set up another semis meeting against No. 3 Jack Foster. The two top seeds made fast work of their opponents in the semis, setting up their fourth meeting for singles gold since the NYC Open.
In the final, Goldin pushed Haworth to a third game, but Haworth’s length and superior court coverage pushed him to victory. He wins 10,(8),9. Wazir took out Foster for bronze, earning his first pro medal and adding his name to the record books.
Gold: Christopher Haworth. Silver: Grayson Goldin. Bronze: Ammar Wazir.
Women’s Pro Singles Recap
Megan Fudge won two golds and nearly took the triple crown in Fort Lauderdale to kick off her 2025 … [+]
A good chunk of the APP top 20 ranked players turned up for the first event of the new year, but the story of the tournament in Women’s singles was the carnage the top seeds faced at the hands of unknowns and rising stars. By the time the quarter final round came, half the top 8 seeds had been upset and we were guaranteed to see some new names on the podium by week’s end.
No. 1 Megan Fudge stayed above the fray and advanced to the semis from the top side, but was stretched along the way. Rachael James took a game off of Fudge in the opening round before the German American fought through. In the semis, Fudge faced off against No. 4 Judit Castillo and the pair had a battle on the grandstand court before Megan advanced 13,11 to move into the final.
The bottom half of the draw saw both top seeds upset early. No. 2 Yana Newell fell in the quarters to Polish-born No 10. seed Daria Walczak, who has made some noise lately but has yet to medal on tour. Meanwhile, No. 3 Amanda Hendry was taken out in the 16s by Sofia Sewing, a 25-yr old former pro tennis player who played collegiately at the University of Miami, but who has been making waves playing (and winning) in the new WPC events being held in Asia. Sewing continued her run, beating Stewart in the quarters and Walczak in the semis without dropping a game.
In the final, Sewing and Fudge traded baselining tactics, with Fudge tactically playing “rally balls” to the former tennis star, goading her into errors to edge out game one 16-14. Sewing held a lead late into game two but couldn’t finish, and Fudge ran off the last four points on her serve to turn an 11-11 tie into a 15-11 win. Fudge wins her 9th career APP Singles gold, and Sewing wins her first domestic pro medal.
Gold: Megan Fudge. Silver: Sofia Sewing. Bronze: Judit Castillo.
Mixed Pro Doubles Recap
The No. 1 seeded Mixed team of Will Howells and Jill Braverman looked like a tough out from the start of the event, being ranked 1st and 3rd respectively in the mixed rankings. Meanwhile, the No. 2 seeded team of Megan Fudge & Jack Munro had their own bona fides, both being ranked 2nd on tour and holding two gold medals in the last five months. It seemed inevitable that they’d meet in the gold medal game, and indeed they did.
Howells & Braverman had a tougher path to the finals, having to take out the always-tough Max Manthou & Christine Maddox (gold medalists in Newport Beach in October) in the quarters, then setting down the all-APP Next Gen champion team of Richard Livornese & Riley Bohnert (silver medalists in Newport Beach) in the semis. Meanwhile, MLP Chicago Slice partners Fudge & Munro dominated their quarters and semis wins over Haworth/Hendry and Slutsky/Grambeau to reach the Sunday final.
In the championship, it may have been Munro & Fudge with golds recently, but it was Braverman & Howells with the power and accuracy to cruise to a 6,9 gold medal match win. Braverman wins her fifth career Mixed medal (with five different partners), but her first gold.
Gold: Braverman & Howells. Silver: Fudge & Munro. Bronze: Slutzky & Grambeau
Men’s Pro Doubles Recap
Will Howells displayed his power and dominance this weekend in Florida, winning two golds.
The APP Men’s Pro Doubles division has been dominated lately by Eric Lange & Max Manthou, partners both on tour and for their MLP team in 2024. Despite three golds and two bronzes in 2024, the pair presented “only” as the No. 2 seed in Fort Lauderdale. The pair proceeded to lay waste to the bottom half of the draw (which, thanks to rain issues on Saturday, forced matches to be played just one game to 15), handing out a pickle in the round of 16, crushing Diamond & Freeman 15-4 in the quarters, then dominating DeHeart & Livornese 15-6 in the semis to earn the Sunday final without breaking a sweat.
The top team? Will Howells & Jack Munro, who survived a somewhat challenging early draw to move into the finals. They had to top teams of experienced pros early, including Naveen Beasley in the 32s and Jim Dobran in the 16s. The top team then cruised through the upset-minded Tomassi/Koszuta in the quarters and the upstart Schenk/Powell in the semis to earn the 1 versus 2 matchup the fans were looking for.
In the final, Munro and Howells were the more energetic pair, taking out the Manthou & Lange team in game one, frequently winning hand battles and being more aggressive with their shots. What was looking like it might be a fast two-game win suddenly ground to a halt mid-game two, when the purple-clad pair ran off five unanswered points to win game two 11-6 and send it to a third game decider. In the tie-breaking game, Munro’s ability to play left handed on the right side became a huge X-factor, and the game got away from the No. 2 seeds as Howells & Munro won going away 11-3 for the gold medal.
With the win, Howells guaranteed himself a double gold weekend, having also won Mixed earlier in the day.
Gold: Howells & Munro. Silver: Manthou & Lange. Bronze: DeHeart & Livornese
Women’s Pro Doubles Recap
Jill Braverman could not be stopped this weekend, taking gold in both Women’s and Mixed Doubles.
As with the Men’s Doubles draw, the Women’s Pro Doubles draw from the get-go seemed like an inevitable meeting between the No. 1 seeds Fudge & Braverman (currently ranked 1st and 2nd on tour) and the No. 2 seeds Newell & Harris (ranked 3rd and 5th on tour). And, as with the Men’s draw, the women’s pros played one game to 15 throughout all of Saturday’s rain-impacted matches to determine the Sunday finalists.
From the top side Fudge & Braverman were pushed in the semis by No. 8 Walczak & Grambeau (who had earlier taken out the tough looking Castillo & Radzikowska team), but advanced 15-10 to earn the Sunday final. From the bottom side, surprise singles finalist Sewing teamed with veteran Gecheva to upset two top seeds and advance to the semis before getting blanked by the Newell/Harris team.
In the final, Braverman won the battle of left-sided power players with Newell, and the top seeds ground out a 7,8 victory. With the win, both Fudge and Braverman guaranteed themselves a two-gold tournament, and Fudge fell just short of a triple crown.
Gold: Braverman & Fudge. Silver: Newell & Harris. Bronze: Walczak & Grambeau
AARP Champions Pro Competition Quick Recap
- Men’s Champions Pro Singles: No. 1 Marcello Jardim picked right up where he left off in 2024, winning his 6th straight APP Men’s Champions singles title against upstart Mario Porcelli.
- Women’s Champions Pro Singles: Cantillon Endara put an end to No. 1 Karin Ptaszek-Kochis’ run on the APP with a victory in the semis, but fell to long-time player Jennifer Dawson in the final.
- Men’s Champions Pro Doubles: No. 1 seeds Jamie Oncins & Marcello Jardim ground out a 13-11 win in the gold medal match over Mircea Morariu & Joe Derisi.
- Women’s Champions Pro Doubles: Lee Whitwell & Angela Simon returned to their winning ways after taking six gold medals last year, taking the first APP event of the 2025 season.
- Mixed Champions Pro Doubles: The dominant run of Whitwell & Oncins was ended in the quarters, opening the way for Joe Derisi & Sheri Courtier to take the title over Jardim & Alipaz (costing Jardim the triple crown).
AARP Masters Pro Competition Quick Recap
- Men’s Masters Pro Doubles: Lee Sponaugle & Richard Brown took the draw, as long-time Champions pro Sponaugle now qualifies for the Masters’ competitions.
- Women’s Masters Pro Doubles: Beth Bellamy & Anna Shirley won their debut on the Masters circuit after dominating the Champions for years.
- Mixed Masters Pro Doubles: Kristin Hickman & David Spearman won their 5th career Mixed Masters pro doubles title together.
The Pro Pickleball Medal Tracker has now been updated with these results; check out this link online for a complete pro medal history for all tours and all pro events dating to the beginnings of all the major pro tours, plus pro events that predated 2020.
Next up on the Pickleball Calendar? According to my Master Pickleball Schedulethere’s a USAP Golden Ticket even in San Diego next weekend, and the World Pickleball League kicks off in India. It remains to be seen how easy it will be to cover these new Indian leagues, which aren’t using any tournament management platform we’re used to in the US.
Next up for the APP? They head across the state the second weekend of February for the 2025 APP Daytona Beach Vlasic Classic.
