Jaxon Madsen, seeded 59, beat Connor Garnett as 27 of 32 men’s singles seeds held at Worlds. The women’s draw had ten upsets.
Connor Garnett had the second game. He won it 11-5, levelled the match at a game apiece and, as the eighth seed, looked to have settled the order. Then Jaxon Madsen, seeded 59th, won the decider 11-1. The final score was 11-7, 5-11, 11-1. A one-sided third game between a top-eight seed and a man ranked outside the top 50 of the draw is not supposed to happen at a world championship. On Tuesday at Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch, Texas, it was the most striking result of the day.
The usual view of the first full round of a big singles draw is that the seeds go through and the upsets come later. Tuesday half-confirmed that. The men’s draw mostly behaved, with one loud exception. The women’s draw did not.
All results below come from the official PPA brackets. Every score is taken from the official bracket.
Who caused the biggest upsets in men’s singles?
Five seeds in the top 32 lost to lower seeds. Madsen’s win over Garnett was the heaviest by seeding, 51 places. The others:
- Max Freeman (37) beat Kenta Miyoshi (27) 12-10, 11-0. The first game was close. The second was not.
- Ivan Jakovljevic (39) beat Mitchell Hargreaves (25) 11-1, 11-7.
- Braham (33) beat Hewett (32).
- Donald Young (34) beat Mogle (31).
Two of those are barely upsets: 33 over 32 and 34 over 31 is the bracket working as designed. So the honest count is three real shocks. Seeds held 27 of 32 places, which is roughly what a singles draw this size should do.
The more interesting story is further up. CJ Klinger is ninth in the men’s World Pickleball Ranking. He came into the singles draw seeded 64th, because that ranking is a composite of PPA points weighted 50% gender doubles, 35% mixed and 15% singles. He met Zane Ford (10) and lost 11-1, 11-5. That is not an upset. It is a reminder that the world ranking and the singles seedings measure different things. It also explains why so many doubles stars look lost in the singles draw.
How did Ben Johns and the top seeds get on?
Ben Johns, the world No 1 on the composite ranking, is seeded only 19th in singles. He needed three games against Brandon French (45): 11-7, 1-11, 11-5. A 1-11 middle game for the best player of his generation is a strange sight. He won the decider comfortably, though, and now meets Noe Khlif (9). That is the pick of today’s men’s round of 32.
The top four seeds were tidier. Christopher Haworth (1), who featured in our Arizona Open finals report, beat Casey Diamond 11-5, 11-7. Staksrud (2) beat Braylon Ohrel 11-5, 11-2. Hunter Johnson (3) beat Daniel Miron 11-5, 11-0. Christian Alshon (4) also came through and meets Loyd (28). Grayson Goldin (15) went through when Nicolas Acevedo retired. Hong Kit Wong (11), a Hong Kong Slam quarter-finalist last month, beat Joel Poland (54). Nasa Hatakeyama (29) beat Delgado in three games and now has Staksrud. Zane Navratil (44) lost to Harrison Brown (20).
Was the women’s draw more open?
Yes, and by a distance. Ten seeds in the top 32 lost, against five in the men’s draw.
The biggest was Shannon Pretorius, seeded 61, over the fifth seed, Chao Yi Wang: 11-2, 0-11, 11-7. Like Madsen’s win, it went three games with a lopsided game in the middle. Wang had answered with an 11-0 and seemed to have the match under control. She did not.
The rest:
- Parker (45) beat DiMuzio (20) 11-8, 2-11, 12-10. The tightest finish of the round.
- Simson (52) beat Genie Bouchard (13), 11-5 in the decider.
- Phillips (36) beat Aiko Yoshitomi (28), taking the first game 12-10.
- Hart (37) beat Montero (29).
- Elsie Hendershot (39) beat Aguila Ampon (26), 11-5, 11-5 after losing the first game.
- Kei Sawaki (42) beat Ting Chieh Wei (24).
- Danni-Elle Townsend (38) beat Irvine (27).
- Alex Walker (54) beat Liz Truluck (11) 11-9, 11-8.
- Kelly Goodnow (33) beat Nicole Conard (32) 11-2, 11-2.
Here is my call. The women’s singles field below Anna Leigh Waters is now deeper than the men’s below the top four. A seeded woman in the 20s is much likelier to go out to an unseeded player than a man in the same bracket. That is partly a function of a 64-draw where the gap between 25 and 45 is small. But it also tells us something about how many women can now play singles at this level.
How did Anna Leigh Waters start?
Quietly. Waters (1), who reached 202 PPA titles in Chicago last month, beat Altick in two games and meets Goodnow (33) today. The top women were ruthless. Catherine Parenteau (7) beat Masa Grgan 11-0, 11-1. Kaitlyn Christian (3) beat Tatiana Diaz 11-1, 11-2. Kiora Kunimoto (6) beat Caroline Maguire 11-1, 11-0. Kate Fahey (2) beat Adelie Osher 11-7, 11-2. Ulery (18) beat Audrey Adele Brown 11-1, 11-1. Rika Fujiwara (12) beat Cavataio (53). Blatt (16) went through on a walkover.
Which doubles results stood out?
The doubles and mixed draws produced their own shocks. In mixed, Yoshitomi and Luca Mack (51) beat the 10th seeds Dekel Bar and Jessie Irvine 11-8, 11-1. Jakovljevic and Stratman (39) beat Lingwei Kong and Adam Harvey (32) 5-11, 11-5, 11-7. Walczak and Ge (33) beat Collin Johns and Callie Smith (29), finishing with an 11-1 decider. Hargreaves and Haas (49) beat Chao Yi Wang and Roscoe Bellamy (15), so Wang’s bad day came twice.
In men’s doubles, Dow and Mawji (41) beat Will Howells and Powell (17) 11-8, 11-7. Koszuta and Morris (38) beat Lenhard and Schupp (28) 2-11, 12-10, 11-7. Newcombe and Caldarella (43) beat Navratil and George Wall (21). The eighth seeds, Jaume Martinez Vich and Acevedo, gave a walkover to Medina Alvarez and Growcott (60). Acevedo also retired in singles, which suggests a fitness problem, though the bracket does not say.
The favourites were untroubled. Johns and Waters (1) won their mixed opener, the second game 11-2. Johns and Gabriel Tardio (1) now meet Scarpa and Jakovljevic (36) in men’s doubles. Anna Bright and Waters (1) meet Blatt and Morelli (29) in women’s doubles.
Round of 64 results: selected scores
| Event | Result | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Men’s singles | Jaxon Madsen (59) d. Connor Garnett (8) | 11-7, 5-11, 11-1 |
| Men’s singles | Max Freeman (37) d. Kenta Miyoshi (27) | 12-10, 11-0 |
| Men’s singles | Ivan Jakovljevic (39) d. Mitchell Hargreaves (25) | 11-1, 11-7 |
| Men’s singles | Ben Johns (19) d. Brandon French (45) | 11-7, 1-11, 11-5 |
| Men’s singles | Zane Ford (10) d. CJ Klinger (64) | 11-1, 11-5 |
| Men’s singles | Christopher Haworth (1) d. Casey Diamond | 11-5, 11-7 |
| Men’s singles | Federico Staksrud (2) d. Braylon Ohrel | 11-5, 11-2 |
| Men’s singles | Hunter Johnson (3) d. Daniel Miron | 11-5, 11-0 |
| Women’s singles | Pretorius (61) d. Chao Yi Wang (5) | 11-2, 0-11, 11-7 |
| Women’s singles | Parker (45) d. DiMuzio (20) | 11-8, 2-11, 12-10 |
| Women’s singles | Catherine Parenteau (7) d. Masa Grgan | 11-0, 11-1 |
| Women’s singles | Kaitlyn Christian (3) d. Tatiana Diaz | 11-1, 11-2 |
| Women’s singles | Kiora Kunimoto (6) d. Caroline Maguire | 11-1, 11-0 |
| Women’s singles | Kate Fahey (2) d. Adelie Osher | 11-7, 11-2 |
| Mixed | Yoshitomi/Mack (51) d. Bar/Irvine (10) | 11-8, 11-1 |
| Mixed | Jakovljevic/Stratman (39) d. Kong/Harvey (32) | 5-11, 11-5, 11-7 |
| Men’s doubles | Kim/Wong (13) d. Chi/Ohrel | 12-10, 11-8 |
| Men’s doubles | Dow/Mawji (41) d. Howells/Powell (17) | 11-8, 11-7 |
| Men’s doubles | Koszuta/Morris (38) d. Lenhard/Schupp (28) | 2-11, 12-10, 11-7 |
When is the round of 32 and what should I watch?
The round of 32 starts at 17:00 UK time (11:00 in Texas) today. The tournament runs to Sunday 8 November.
Three ties stand out. Johns v Khlif is the obvious one: the world’s best doubles player against a specialist singles seed. Staksrud v Hatakeyama is a chance for the Japanese club THE DOTS TOKYO’s MLP Asia international pick to show what he can do against the second seed. And in the women’s draw, Fujiwara (12) v Bui (21) and Dunlap (10) v Sawaki (42) will tell us whether the Asian names who came through on Tuesday can do it twice.
The other men’s ties: Haworth v Camden Chaffin (30), Adam Harvey (14) v Cason Campbell (24), John Lucian Goins (7) v Freeman, Alshon v Loyd, Goldin v Harrison Brown, Madsen v JW Johnson (26), Martinez Vich (12) v Mohaned Alhouni (21), Jack Sock (13) v Yates Johnson (22), Roscoe Bellamy (5) v Jakovljevic, Zane Ford v Luc Pham (18), Hunter Johnson v Braham, Dylan Frazier (16) v Lenhard (17), Tama Shimabukuro (6) v Young, and Wong v Eric Oncins (23).
A quick word on the method. Seed counts compare the winner’s seed with the loser’s, using the brackets’ printed seeds. I have counted only results I could read in the official PDFs.
Madsen now plays JW Johnson. If he wins that, the Garnett result stops being a shock and becomes a run. That is the difference between a good Tuesday and a good week.
Frequently asked questions
In men’s singles, Jaxon Madsen (59) beat eighth seed Connor Garnett 11-7, 5-11, 11-1. Shannon Pretorius (61) also beat fifth seed Chao Yi Wang.
Of the 32 seeds in the round of 64 at the 2026 Pickleball World Championships, 27 won their matches.
At Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch, Texas.
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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