First-Time Champions Spotlight PPA Virginia Seaside Open – The Dink Pickleball

First-Time Champions Spotlight PPA Virginia Seaside Open – The Dink Pickleball

October 20, 2026


Kate Fahey takes house two gold medals, Elliott Schupp and Jaume Martinez Vich break by in males’s doubles, and John Lucian Goins places collectively a flawless singles efficiency.

The 2026 Mojo Vitality Pouches Virginia Seaside Open wrapped up Sunday with 5 champions topped, a number of profession milestones reached, and some outcomes that might have vital implications transferring ahead.

With a number of of the PPA Tour’s greatest stars absent, together with Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns, the event introduced alternatives for gamers who do not at all times discover themselves competing on Championship Sunday.

And a few actually took benefit.

Kate Fahey was the one participant to seize two gold medals, successful girls’s singles and combined doubles. Elliott Schupp and Jaume Martinez Vich every earned their first profession PPA Tour titles, whereas John Lucian Goins dominated the lads’s singles draw with out dropping a recreation.

Catherine Parenteau and Sofia Stitching additionally captured girls’s doubles gold, with Stitching incomes her first profession PPA Tour championship.

Listed here are the most important storylines from Virginia Seaside.

Prime Storylines

1. Kate Fahey Wins Double Gold, Together with Her First PPA Doubles Title

Kate Fahey entered Virginia Seaside as the highest seed in girls’s singles and one of many favorites to benefit from a event with out Anna Leigh Waters.

She left with two gold medals.

Fahey defeated No. 21 seed Helena Jansen Fink 11-1, 11-9 in Sunday’s girls’s singles ultimate, including one other championship to her spectacular resume.

Her path to the ultimate included dominant victories over Zoey Weil (11-0, 11-3) and Catherine Parenteau (11-1, 11-7).

However her most important accomplishment of the weekend might have are available in combined doubles.

Enjoying alongside Eric Oncins for the primary time, Fahey captured her first profession PPA Tour doubles title with an unbelievable comeback towards Catherine Parenteau and Riley Newman.

After dropping the opening recreation 13-11, Fahey and Oncins responded with an 11-4 victory in Recreation 2. The deciding recreation seemed to be slipping away when Parenteau and Newman constructed an 8-2 benefit.As a substitute, Fahey and Oncins scored 9 of the ultimate ten factors to finish the comeback, successful 11-9 and securing gold.

It was Oncins’ second profession combined doubles championship and a doubtlessly essential breakthrough for Fahey. She has already established herself among the many tour’s greatest singles gamers, however doubles success has been tougher to return by.

Virginia Seaside might characterize a turning level.

The 2 championships marked the primary double-gold efficiency of Fahey’s PPA Tour profession, coming in the future earlier than her thirtieth birthday.

Not a foul birthday current.

2. Elliott Schupp and Jaume Martinez Vich Earn Their First PPA Tour Titles

For Elliott Schupp and Jaume Martinez Vich, Virginia Seaside will likely be a event neither forgets anytime quickly.

The No. 7 seeds captured males’s doubles gold with a formidable 11-4, 4-11, 11-4 victory over No. 3 seeds Riley Newman and Noe Khlif.

The championship was significantly vital as a result of it represented the primary profession PPA Tour title for each gamers.

They usually completed it of their first event enjoying collectively.

The duo navigated a aggressive draw, defeating Pablo Tellez and John Lucian Goins 11-6, 11-6 earlier than knocking out Luca Mack and Anouar Braham 11-7, 11-5.

Within the semifinals, they took down No. 2 seeds Andrei Daescu and Will Howells 11-6, 11-7 to earn their spot in Sunday’s championship match.

Schupp and Martinez Vich got here out firing towards Newman and Khlif, taking the opening recreation 11-4. Their opponents responded with an similar 11-4 rating within the second, organising a winner-take-all third recreation. However Schupp and Martinez Vich regained management, successful the decider 11-4 to seize the championship.

For Schupp, the victory got here in his first profession PPA Tour ultimate.

For Martinez Vich, the milestone was a very long time coming. He had beforehand reached 10 PPA Tour finals with out successful a title, making Sunday’s males’s doubles victory particularly significant.

3. John Lucian Goins Dominates Males’s Singles With out Dropping a Recreation

Three consecutive deep event runs lastly paid off for John Lucian Goins.

After reaching the lads’s singles semifinals in Las Vegas and Chicago, Goins took the subsequent step in Virginia Seaside, capturing his third profession PPA Tour singles title.

And he did it in dominant style.

Goins defeated Jaume Martinez Vich 11-5, 11-3 in Sunday’s championship match, finishing a event during which he did not drop a single recreation.

Six matches. Six victories. All in straight video games.

His path included an 11-5, 11-8 victory over Eric Oncins within the Spherical of 16, adopted by an 11-1, 11-3 demolition of George Rangelov within the quarterfinals.

Rangelov had beforehand eradicated Jack Sock, however could not discover a solution for Goins.

The No. 5 seed then defeated No. 2 seed Noe Khlif within the semifinals to arrange his championship showdown with Martinez Vich.

Sunday’s ultimate wasn’t significantly shut.

Goins managed the match from begin to end, denying Martinez Vich a second gold medal and securing his first PPA title since 2025.

In a males’s singles division that continues to function unpredictable outcomes, Goins is making a robust case that he belongs within the dialog among the many tour’s elite singles gamers.

Reaching three consecutive semifinals is spectacular sufficient. Turning the third right into a championship with out dropping a recreation is even higher.

4. Sofia Stitching Captures Her First PPA Title Alongside Catherine Parenteau

Sofia Stitching arrived on the PPA Tour with vital expectations following her emergence as one of many sport’s promising new skills.

On Sunday, she reached an essential profession milestone.

Stitching partnered with Catherine Parenteau to seize girls’s doubles gold, defeating Alix Truong and Layne Sleeth 11-8, 11-6.

The victory was Stitching’s first profession PPA Tour championship.

For Parenteau, it was her first girls’s doubles gold of 2026 after consecutive silver-medal finishes in Las Vegas and Chicago alongside Tyra Hurricane Black.

However the high seeds almost did not make it to the championship match.

Earlier Sunday, Parenteau and Stitching survived a dramatic semifinal towards Mari Humberg and Zoey Weil, saving three match factors earlier than finishing the comeback.

The shut name did not seem to have an effect on them within the ultimate.

They defeated Truong and Sleeth in straight video games, ending a formidable event for the No. 5 seeds.

Stitching’s championship is especially notable given the expectations surrounding her transition into skilled pickleball.

She has already demonstrated her singles potential, however successful a PPA Tour doubles title alongside one of many sport’s most completed veterans is one other essential accomplishment.

5. Jaume Martinez Vich Comes Inside One Match of Double Gold

Though Martinez Vich fell brief within the males’s singles championship, his general efficiency deserves further recognition.

The Spaniard was one in all simply two gamers to succeed in a number of championship matches in Virginia Seaside, becoming a member of Kate Fahey and Catherine Parenteau among the many gamers competing for multiple gold medal.

His singles run was significantly spectacular.

After advancing by the early rounds, Martinez Vich defeated top-seeded Roscoe Bellamy 11-2, 11-7 within the quarterfinals.

Bellamy entered Virginia Seaside recent off his males’s singles championship on the Chicago Cup, making the end result one of many extra vital upsets of the week.

Martinez Vich adopted that efficiency with an 11-4, 11-6 semifinal victory over Adam Harvey.

That arrange Sunday’s assembly with Goins, who proved too tough to beat.

Nonetheless, one gold medal and one silver medal represents an excellent event for Martinez Vich.

And maybe most significantly, he lastly has a PPA Tour championship to his identify.

Different Notable Storylines

Helena Jansen Fink Reaches Her First PPA Tour Ultimate

One of many greatest surprises of the event got here from No. 21 seed Helena Jansen Fink, who battled her manner into the ladies’s singles championship.

Her run included a dramatic comeback victory over Sofia Stitching in Saturday’s semifinals.

Though she fell to Fahey 11-1, 11-9 within the ultimate, reaching Championship Sunday represented a serious accomplishment.

Roscoe Bellamy’s Bid for Again-to-Again Titles Falls Quick

After successful males’s singles gold on the Chicago Cup, Bellamy entered Virginia Seaside as the highest seed.

His try to seize consecutive championships ended within the quarterfinals, the place Martinez Vich defeated him 11-2, 11-7.

Bellamy’s Chicago victory stays an essential breakthrough, however Virginia Seaside served as one other reminder of simply how aggressive males’s singles has turn out to be.

Alix Truong and Layne Sleeth Make an Spectacular Run

The No. 5 seeds reached the ladies’s doubles ultimate after defeating Kate Fahey and Lea Jansen 11-7, 11-6 within the semifinals.

Though they could not overcome Parenteau and Stitching on Championship Sunday, their silver medal was a robust end result for a partnership competing in its first ultimate collectively.

Zoey Weil and Mari Humberg Practically Pull Off a Main Upset

The duo got here inside one level of knocking out the eventual girls’s doubles champions.

Weil and Humberg held three match factors towards Parenteau and Stitching of their semifinal earlier than finally falling.

It was one of the dramatic matches of the event and an encouraging efficiency from the No. 8 seeds.

Nico Acevedo and Layne Sleeth Make a Deep Combined Doubles Run

Acevedo and Sleeth put collectively a noteworthy run in combined doubles, advancing deep right into a draw that featured a number of established partnerships.

Their efficiency offered one other optimistic end result for 2 gamers trying to set up themselves as constant contenders on the PPA Tour.

Jack Sock Suffers an Early Singles Exit

Sock’s Virginia Seaside singles marketing campaign ended within the Spherical of 16 when George Rangelov defeated him 11-5, 11-6.

Rangelov’s spectacular run ended one spherical later towards eventual champion John Lucian Goins.

Championship Outcomes

Ultimate Ideas

The Virginia Seaside Open was an essential reminder that there is loads of expertise on the PPA Tour past its greatest stars.

With out a number of acquainted names within the attracts, the event created alternatives for gamers to succeed in profession milestones, experiment with new partnerships, and accumulate invaluable rating factors.

Kate Fahey demonstrated that she will be able to win in a number of disciplines. John Lucian Goins delivered one of the dominant singles performances of the week, and Elliott Schupp and Jaume Martinez Vich broke by for his or her first profession PPA Tour championships.

Sofia Stitching added her identify to the listing of first-time winners, whereas a number of lower-seeded gamers proved able to competing deep into the event.

With the PPA World Championships approaching in Dallas, Virginia Seaside might have given us a number of names and partnerships value watching very carefully.

And for Schupp, Martinez Vich, and Stitching, it was every week they will always remember.



Steven is a passionate sports enthusiast and writer who enjoys sharing insights, stories, and analysis from the world of football and beyond. With a keen eye for detail and a love for the game, he brings readers closer to the action while keeping them informed and entertained.

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