Yuri Syromolotov beat unified Spanish No. 1 Ignasi de Rueda 22-20, 22-21 in Mijas, where entries almost doubled from 148 players to 290.
The short answer: Yuri Syromolotov won the men’s singles at the Costa del Sol Mijas Open, beating unified Spanish No. 1 Ignasi de Rueda 22-20, 22-21. Pep Canyadell was the only double PRO champion, winning men’s and mixed doubles. The event drew 290 players, up from 148 in 2025, and staged 866 matches on 17 courts. Barcelona (16-18 October) is the last regular stop.
Yuri Syromolotov has spent much of his sporting life trying to extend it. In Mijas, the former US college tennis standout defeated Spain’s top-ranked Pickle Pro Tour singles player in two games decided at the limit. Around them, 290 players and 866 matches provided another measure of how quickly Spain’s competitive pickleball structure is developing.
Key takeaways
- Yuri Syromolotov defeated unified Spanish No. 1 Ignasi de Rueda 22-20, 22-21 to win the men’s PRO singles title.
- The former Middle Georgia State tennis standout was twice SSAC Player of the Year and the 2021 ITA NAIA Senior Player of the Year.
- Pep Canyadell was the only player to win two PRO titles in Mijas, taking men’s and mixed doubles.
- The tournament attracted 290 players, up from 148 in 2025, an increase of almost 96 per cent.
- Mijas staged 866 matches across 17 courts, with Barcelona next before December’s Madrid Master Final.
Yuri Syromolotov needed two games to win the biggest pickleball title of his career.
He needed almost every available point in both.
Ignasi de Rueda arrived in Sunday’s men’s singles final at the Costa del Sol Mijas Open as the No. 1 player in the Pickle Pro Tour’s unified men’s singles ranking and one of the established reference points of Spanish pickleball.
Syromolotov beat him 22-20, 22-21.
There was no game in which De Rueda disappeared and no comfortable stretch in which the favourite stopped asking questions. Across two games played almost entirely at the margin, Syromolotov repeatedly reached moments when either man could have taken control and found the next point.
The competitive life after tennis
Syromolotov’s route to Sunday’s final began long before he picked up a pickleball paddle.
From Granada, he played college tennis in the United States for Middle Georgia State University and was named Southern States Athletic Conference Player of the Year in both 2019 and 2021.
His first award followed a season in which he went 10-2 at No. 1 singles and 14-2 in doubles during the regular season while remaining unbeaten in conference play.
His senior season produced an even stronger final chapter.
Syromolotov went 10-1, finished No. 6 nationally in NAIA singles and recorded victories over several nationally ranked opponents. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association subsequently named him its 2021 NAIA Senior Player of the Year.
His tennis career also carried him into the ATP rankings, with a career-high singles mark of No. 1023, and he later worked as a professional hitter at Britain’s GB National Tennis Academy.
In an interview with Canal Tenis, Syromolotov explained that he had been introduced to the sport through the second coach of Spanish tennis player Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. He tried it, began preparing for the Spanish Championships and won the 4.5 singles category.
Staksrud showed what might be possible
The two crossed paths during the US college tennis system, and Syromolotov has previously pointed to Staksrud’s rise as evidence of how quickly the foundations of an elite tennis player can translate.
This was not the result his ranking predicted
The scale of the victory becomes clearer when the rankings are placed alongside each other.
De Rueda is currently No. 1 in the unified men’s singles standings.
Before Mijas, Syromolotov’s Pickle Pro Tour profile listed him at No. 61 on the tour’s men’s singles ranking and No. 35 in the unified standings.
At the Málaga Spanish Open in May, Syromolotov beat Álvaro Dóyega but did not emerge from the event as an obvious future champion. Madrid was stronger, with an unbeaten group stage that included wins over Carlos Alcalde, Diego Tarazona and Javier Gallego.
De Rueda gets another chance
De Rueda did not have to wait long to respond.
His men’s doubles final alongside Pep Canyadell initially appeared to be heading towards another defeat when David Illescas and Jesús García took the opening game 21-16.
The second became another of Sunday’s contests played at the limit.
This time De Rueda came through it.
He and Canyadell survived 22-21 before completing the recovery 21-17 in the deciding game.
For Canyadell, it was only half the job.
He returned alongside Clara Contis to face Candela Pérez and Alberto Horcajuelo in the mixed doubles final.
Again, Canyadell’s team lost the opening game.
Pérez and Horcajuelo took it 21-19. Contis and Canyadell responded 21-15 before another tight deciding game went their way 21-19.
Canyadell therefore left Mijas as the only player to win two PRO titles, and he did it without winning the opening game of either final.
Amaro wins, Costantino and Méndez do it again
The women’s finals followed a more direct route.
Raquel Amaro defeated María Pintor 21-17, 21-16 in women’s singles, adding another significant result to a season in which she has increasingly established herself among Spain’s leading players.
Women’s doubles then reinforced a partnership that had already succeeded elsewhere on the tour.
María Costantino and Sabrina Méndez defeated Clara Contis and Pintor 21-12, 21-13, adding the Mijas title to the A Coruña Open victory they had already won together.
Contis recovered later by winning mixed doubles with Canyadell, just as De Rueda recovered from singles disappointment through men’s doubles.
From 148 players to 290 in one year
If 22-20, 22-21 tells us what happened at the top of the competition, the more important long-term numbers may sit underneath it.
The 2025 Mijas Open attracted 148 players.
This year there were 290.
That is an increase of almost 96 per cent in 12 months.
The 2026 event generated around 600 entries across its categories and required 866 matches to be played on 17 courts over three days.
It was the fifth of six regular Pickle Pro Tour stops in 2026, with another competition already waiting in Barcelona.
Syromolotov had already identified what Spain needed
He considered the sport to still be at an early stage and argued that development needed to reach further down, into coaching, grassroots participation and more tournaments for amateur players.
A tournament people could encounter
Mijas staged the tournament at Gran Parque de Mijas, using both its sporting area and auditorium, with the competition open to the public free of charge.
The organisers have increasingly experimented with placing pickleball in visible civic spaces rather than keeping every important match behind the gates of a traditional racket club.
Barcelona is the last regular stop
The Pickle Pro Tour now has one regular-season event remaining.
The Barcelona Open runs from 16-18 October and will complete the six-event regular circuit, with the accumulated rankings deciding both the Pickle Pro Tour champions and the Spanish champions.
The top eight players in each category will return for the Madrid Master Final from 11-13 December, where the circuit’s third crown, Maestro Nacional, will be decided.
Syromolotov has changed his own conversation
Syromolotov arrived in Mijas with a serious tennis background, a developing pickleball career and enough results to suggest he could trouble strong opponents.
He leaves having beaten the country’s unified No. 1.
One victory does not suddenly make him Spain’s dominant singles player, and the ranking gap cannot be erased by a weekend.
It does change what happens the next time his name appears in somebody else’s draw.
That feels appropriate for a player whose relationship with pickleball has always been connected to the idea of prolonging competition.
After his college career and an ATP-ranked tennis life, he wanted somewhere else to keep testing himself.
Pickleball gave him that.
He also wanted Spanish pickleball to provide more people with the chance to compete.
Mijas gave 290 players precisely that opportunity.
One of them beat No. 1.
The other 289 may ultimately tell us more about where the sport is going.
Frequently asked questions
Yuri Syromolotov, who beat Ignasi de Rueda 22-20, 22-21.
290, up from 148 in 2025.
The Barcelona Open on 16-18 October, then the Madrid Master Final on 11-13 December.
Further reading
- Spain confirms 2026 Pickle Pro Tour calendar
- Who Are Europe’s Best Pickleball Players Right Now?
- Pickle Pro Tour Rankings: De Rueda, Canyadell and Méndez Lead
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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