Emilien Burnel reached the last 16 at the PPA Chicago Cup as Ben Johns withdrew from singles and lost in doubles, and Dylan Frazier was beaten.
The short answer: Emilien Burnel followed his win over No. 3 seed Hunter Johnson by beating Mota Alhouni 11-3, 11-1 to reach the Round of 16 at the Veolia Chicago Cup, where he faces JW Johnson. Ben Johns withdrew from men’s singles and lost in men’s doubles with Jack Sock to Anouar Braham and Bruno Faletto, while Dylan Frazier fell 11-6, 11-1 to Mohaned Alhouni.
Emilien Burnel has followed his stunning victory over Hunter Johnson with another emphatic performance, while Ben Johns and Jack Sock have fallen in men’s doubles and Dylan Frazier has suffered a heavy singles defeat. As the Veolia Chicago Cup moves into its Round of 16, the men’s draws are becoming increasingly unpredictable, even as Anna Leigh Waters and the leading women’s contenders maintain their authority.
Key takeaways
- Emilien Burnel followed his victory over third seed Hunter Johnson by defeating Mota Alhouni 11-3, 11-1. He now faces JW Johnson.
- Ben Johns’ men’s singles campaign ended in a recorded withdrawal, while Johns and Jack Sock lost in three games to Anouar Braham and Bruno Faletto in men’s doubles.
- Dylan Frazier was beaten 11-6, 11-1 by Mohaned Alhouni in men’s singles, adding to the disruption in the draw.
- CJ Klinger and Kiora Kunimoto eliminated Judit Castillo and Tyson McGuffin 11-2, 11-5 in mixed doubles.
- Anna Leigh Waters remains in contention across three disciplines, while the women’s singles and doubles favourites have largely avoided the problems affecting the men’s fields.
Burnel is building something bigger than an upset
Emilien Burnel had already changed the Veolia Chicago Cup before Wednesday’s Round of 32 began. By the time he walked off court following his second men’s singles victory, he had changed the expectations surrounding his own tournament as well.
The Frenchman arrived in Chicago as the No. 55 seed, a long way below the players expected to shape the closing stages. His opening-round opponent was Hunter Johnson, the third seed and a player whose recent results made him one of the most formidable names in the draw.
Johnson had won the PPA National Championships in Cary last month and arrived only days after another title at the Rate Las Vegas Open, where he defeated Ben Johns 11-1, 11-3 in the men’s singles final. As WPM reported after Chicago’s opening round, Burnel stopped that momentum with a 13-11, 5-11, 11-9 victory that immediately removed one of the leading contenders.
It was a remarkable result, but the next question was more revealing. Could Burnel produce another performance of comparable quality once the surprise had disappeared and the attention had shifted towards him?
Against Mota Alhouni, he supplied a convincing answer.
Burnel won 11-3, 11-1, conceding only four points across two games and advancing without the extended struggle that had accompanied his victory over Johnson. The scoreline does not establish precisely how he controlled the rallies, but it demonstrates how little opportunity Alhouni had to alter the outcome.
That distinction matters. An upset can be an isolated achievement, shaped by an exceptional performance or an opponent’s difficult afternoon. A second convincing victory gives the original result greater weight because it shows the player has been able to reproduce a winning standard against different opposition.
Burnel’s next opponent is JW Johnson, who survived a three-game encounter with Alexander Crum, winning 11-6, 5-11, 11-7. Johnson’s experience makes this a different examination, particularly now that Burnel’s recent results give his opponents ample reason to prepare for a serious contest.
For Burnel, the opportunity is substantial. A third consecutive main-draw victory would put him into the quarter-finals and turn a memorable opening-round upset into one of the tournament’s most significant individual runs.
Men’s singles is losing familiar contenders
Burnel’s progress has become the most compelling individual story in Chicago, but it belongs to a wider pattern in which the men’s singles draw is losing established names unusually early.
Hunter Johnson was the first major casualty. Wednesday brought the departure of Dylan Frazier and the withdrawal of Ben Johns, creating further changes in sections of the draw that had originally appeared likely to feature familiar contenders in the later rounds.
Frazier’s defeat was especially emphatic. Mohaned Alhouni beat him 11-6, 11-1, conceding only one point in the second game and advancing to face Tama Shimabukuro, who defeated Ivan Jakovljevic 11-5, 11-9.
For Alhouni, the result is an opportunity to build a campaign of his own. Removing Frazier matters, but the larger reward will come if he can convert that victory into further progress against an opponent who has also negotiated his early assignments.
Johns’ departure requires a different explanation. His Round of 32 singles contest against Roscoe Bellamy is recorded as a withdrawal rather than a completed match. The available bracket does not provide a reason, and no conclusion about his fitness or other circumstances should be drawn from that entry.
Bellamy advances to face Yates Johnson, who defeated Grayson Goldin 11-6, 11-7.
The leading seeds have not all been affected. Top seed Christopher Haworth overwhelmed Connor Mogle 11-0, 11-3 and now meets Rafael Lenhard, who eliminated Tyson McGuffin 11-3, 11-8.
Second seed Federico Staksrud also progressed, beating Augustus Ge 12-10, 11-6, although his next opponent has already demonstrated an ability to trouble leading singles players.
Luc Pham, who defeated George Rangelov 11-7, 10-12, 11-6, now faces Staksrud. Only last week, Pham eliminated top seed Christopher Haworth in Las Vegas, a result that gave his progress a significance beyond one successful tournament.
Chicago now offers another measure of that trajectory. Pham has an opportunity to challenge one of the leading players in the draw, while Staksrud must avoid becoming the next prominent opponent to experience an unexpected defeat.
Jack Sock, meanwhile, defeated Miles Hoover 12-10, 11-5 and faces John Lucian Goins, who overcame Eric Oncins in three games. Cason Campbell also survived a deciding game against Adam Harvey and now meets Camden Chaffin.
What connects these matches is the changing opportunity within the draw. The remaining players still have to win their next contests, but the elimination of several leading names means the route towards the quarter-finals looks different from the one established when the bracket was first published.
Johns and Sock fall as men’s doubles opens up
Ben Johns’ singles withdrawal was one unexpected development. His elimination from men’s doubles was another, and this time the result came through a completed contest.
Partnering Jack Sock as the second seeds, Johns began his men’s doubles campaign against Anouar Braham and Bruno Faletto. The favourites took the opening game 11-8, but their opponents reversed the match with 11-5 and 11-3 victories to secure one of Wednesday’s most important results.
The significance extends beyond the identity of the eliminated partnership. Removing the second seeds before the Round of 16 changes the competitive possibilities in that section of the draw, particularly for teams that might otherwise have expected to encounter Johns and Sock in the later stages.
Braham and Faletto now face Kenta Miyoshi and Clayton Powell, who defeated Mota Alhouni and Brandon French 12-10, 11-1. It is an immediate opportunity to establish whether the partnership responsible for one major upset can sustain its progress.
Another notable result arrived when John Lucian Goins and Mohaned Alhouni defeated Hunter Johnson and Collin Johns 11-1, 12-10. Their reward is a meeting with Will Howells and Andrei Daescu, who advanced by beating Casey Diamond and Max Freeman 11-1, 11-8.
That section has therefore lost two prominent partnerships containing members of the Johns family, giving the remaining teams a very different competitive landscape to negotiate.
Elsewhere, Federico Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin defeated Eli Steiner and Kyle Yates 11-5, 11-1 and now face Pablo Tellez and Darrian Young. Riley Newman and Noe Khlif meet Tyson McGuffin and James Delgado, while CJ Klinger and Eric Oncins take on Zane Navratil and Will MacKinnon.
The draw retains plenty of established quality, but the defeat of Johns and Sock has removed one of its principal reference points. The challenge for Braham and Faletto is to ensure that the result becomes the beginning of a deeper campaign rather than its defining moment.
Mixed doubles produces another significant upset
The mixed doubles competition has retained most of its leading partnerships, although CJ Klinger and Kiora Kunimoto ensured that Wednesday would not pass without another important disruption.
They defeated Judit Castillo and Tyson McGuffin 11-2, 11-5, eliminating the 14th seeds in straight games and advancing to meet fourth seeds Rachel Rohrabacher and Andrei Daescu.
Castillo arrived with considerable recent success behind her, having completed a triple crown at the PPA Tour Europe Barcelona Open, where she won singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. Chicago represents a different competitive environment, and the defeat illustrates the difficulty of transferring success between tournaments and partnerships.
For Klinger and Kunimoto, the next match offers a more demanding test. Rohrabacher and Daescu advanced by beating Brooke Buckner and Camden Chaffin 11-7, 11-5, and the meeting will determine which partnership can turn its early form into a quarter-final appearance.
At the top, Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters defeated Anderson Scarpa and Liz Truluck 11-3, 11-3, keeping Johns in contention in mixed doubles despite his departure from both men’s disciplines.
They now face Tama Shimabukuro and Jackie Kawamoto, who beat Jade Kawamoto and Dylan Frazier 11-7, 11-3.
Second seeds Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin were equally convincing, defeating Zane Navratil and Elsie Hendershot 11-1, 11-2. Their next opponents are Jaume Martinez Vich and Milan Rane, who advanced past Bruno Faletto and Carlota Trevino 12-10, 11-7.
Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson also progressed comfortably, beating Zoey Weil and Michael Loyd 11-4, 11-1, and now face Layne Sleeth and Roscoe Bellamy.
The mixed doubles draw remains rich in established partnerships, but Klinger and Kunimoto have already demonstrated that the seeded order is vulnerable when a lower-ranked team delivers a sufficiently convincing performance.
Women’s singles offers a different picture
While the men’s singles competition has been disrupted by early departures, the leading women have largely reinforced their positions.
Anna Leigh Waters defeated Carlota Trevino 11-0, 11-2, conceding only two points and progressing to face Keilly Ulery, who recovered from losing the opening game against Zoey Weil to win 5-11, 11-1, 11-3.
Kate Fahey advanced with an 11-6, 11-3 victory over Christa Gecheva and meets Mya Bui, who edged Cailyn Campbell 11-8, 13-11. Kaitlyn Christian defeated Lacy Schneemann 11-4, 11-3 and now faces Mari Humberg, who survived a three-game contest against Jalina Ingram.
Catherine Parenteau was equally authoritative against Estee Widdershoven, winning 11-0, 11-5, although her next opponent arrives after a notable recovery.
Maria Ford defeated Genie Bouchard 6-11, 11-5, 11-5, eliminating the former tennis star after losing the opening game. The result gives Ford a meeting with Parenteau and an opportunity to build on one of her most significant results of the week.
There was also an upset involving sixth seed Chao Yi Wang, who lost 12-10, 8-11, 8-11 to Allyce Jones. Jones now faces Liz Truluck, while Kiora Kunimoto meets Judit Castillo and Lea Jansen takes on Isabella Dunlap.
Those results show that the women’s singles competition has not been entirely predictable, but the difference in the overall pattern remains clear. Waters, Fahey, Christian and Parenteau have all progressed, leaving the upper end of the draw considerably more stable than the men’s competition.
Waters and Bright set the women’s doubles standard
Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright delivered one of the most emphatic results of the Round of 32, defeating Keilly Ulery and Isabella Nelson 11-0, 11-0.
The performance reinforced their position among the leading title contenders and left their next opponents, Victoria DiMuzio and Zoey Weil, facing a demanding assignment. DiMuzio and Weil recovered from an opening-game defeat against Genie Erokhina and Liz Truluck to win 2-11, 11-7, 11-2.
Rachel Rohrabacher and Tina Pisnik advanced with an 11-1, 11-4 victory over Aibika Kalsarieva and Alexa Quintanilla and will face Ella Yeh and Andrea Koop.
Catherine Parenteau and Tyra Hurricane Black defeated Carlota Trevino and CC Eleven Sacca 11-0, 11-2, while Sofia Sewing and Jorja Johnson were similarly dominant against Janet Liu and Chrissie Cruz, winning 11-0, 11-1.
The latter pairing now faces Aiko Yoshitomi and Judit Castillo, who survived one of Wednesday’s closest women’s doubles matches. Yoshitomi and Castillo recovered from losing the opening game against Christa Gecheva and Naomi Nguyen to win 8-11, 11-9, 12-10.
That contrast provides the interest in their Round of 16 meeting. Sewing and Johnson arrive having barely been challenged, while Yoshitomi and Castillo have already been required to navigate a tight deciding game.
As in women’s singles, the leading partnerships remain firmly involved, but the next round offers more opportunities for the established order to be tested.
Six round of 16 matches worth watching
Chicago’s early results have created several matches whose significance extends beyond qualification for the quarter-finals.
- Emilien Burnel vs JW Johnson, men’s singles: Can Burnel turn two impressive victories into a genuine quarter-final breakthrough?
- Federico Staksrud vs Luc Pham, men’s singles: Pham has already beaten a leading seed in Las Vegas and now faces another demanding test.
- Anouar Braham/Bruno Faletto vs Kenta Miyoshi/Clayton Powell, men’s doubles: The team that eliminated Johns and Sock must show it can sustain that performance.
- Rachel Rohrabacher/Andrei Daescu vs CJ Klinger/Kiora Kunimoto, mixed doubles: Klinger and Kunimoto face the fourth seeds after an emphatic upset.
- Sofia Sewing/Jorja Johnson vs Aiko Yoshitomi/Judit Castillo, women’s doubles: Two very different routes into the last 16 create an intriguing contest.
- Kiora Kunimoto vs Judit Castillo, women’s singles: A competitive meeting between two players whose Chicago campaigns also contain important mixed doubles storylines.
Chicago’s surprises now have consequences
The opening rounds of the Veolia Chicago Cup have produced two different competitive patterns.
In women’s singles and doubles, the leading players have largely maintained the positions expected of them. Waters remains involved across three disciplines, while Fahey, Christian, Parenteau and several leading partnerships have progressed with little difficulty.
The men’s competitions have been considerably less orderly. Hunter Johnson’s opening-round defeat removed the recent Las Vegas champion, Burnel has continued his unexpected run, Frazier has suffered an emphatic singles loss and Johns has departed two disciplines through different circumstances.
The defeat of Johns and Sock has added another layer of uncertainty to men’s doubles, where a leading partnership’s elimination changes the opportunities available to the teams remaining in that section.
None of those results guarantees a deeper run for the players who produced them. That is precisely what makes the Round of 16 so important. An upset creates an opening, but subsequent matches determine whether the opportunity becomes a significant tournament achievement.
For Burnel, the distinction is particularly clear. His victory over Hunter Johnson was already memorable, and his follow-up against Mota Alhouni confirmed that he could maintain his momentum.
JW Johnson now stands between him and the quarter-finals.
Chicago has already shown how quickly a draw can change. Thursday will reveal which players can make those changes count.
Frequently asked questions
He beat Mota Alhouni 11-3, 11-1, having already knocked out third seed Hunter Johnson, and set up a meeting with JW Johnson.
His men’s singles campaign ended in a recorded withdrawal, and he and Jack Sock lost in three games to Anouar Braham and Bruno Faletto in men’s doubles.
At this stage she remained in contention in all three disciplines, while the leading women’s seeds largely avoided upsets.
Further reading
- No. 55 Emilien Burnel Stuns Hunter Johnson as PPA Chicago Draw Breaks Open
- One Short of 200: Bright and Patriquin Stop Waters in Las Vegas
- Luc Pham Stuns Haworth as Las Vegas Quarter-Finals Take Shape
- Judit Castillo Wins Barcelona Triple Crown With Zane Navratil
Official tournament information: Veolia Chicago Cup draws and results | PPA Tour.
Chris Beaumont
Founder and Editor-in-ChiefChris Beaumont is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of World Pickleball Magazine, published by World Pickleball Media Ltd. He follows the global game closely, reporting on news, developments, stories and tournaments from all five continents. He also hosts the World Pickleball…
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