Three First-Time Gold Medalists Shine at The Association Of Pickleball Players Newport Beach Open

Forbes

2 days ago

Katerina Stewart wins her first ever pro gold medal.
This past weekend, the Association of Pickleball Players (APP) held its third major of the year at the beautiful Newport Beach Tennis & Pickleball club, a fan and player favorite for sure. More than 1,200 pros and amateurs competed in the Independence Day weekend tournament, which saw the APP's elite battling for one of the biggest paychecks of the season.
Click here for the UTRSports.net home page for the event, where you can get tournament details, draw sheets, and results.
News and Noteworthy ahead of the Event
Here's a quick recap of notable news items of import to the tour or this event:
- On June 11th, 2025 the APP announced a new collaboration with Global Sports of India, as well as an extension of their partnership with Pickleball England, to establish (or extend) relationships internationally.
With that, let's recap the weekend's events.
Men's Pro Singles Recap
Armaan Bhatia is quickly becoming a force on the APP.
The back end of the Men's Singles draw was top-heavy for sure, with three of the top four seeds advancing into the semis. The exception was No. 3 seeded Will Howells, upset early by Max Green after taking to social media to criticize the protected seeding of 4th seeded but 13th ranked Armaan Bhatia. Bhatia proved his seed correct, topping APP veterans Sobek, Camron and then top-seeded Christopher Haworth in the semis to make his third straight APP pro singles final in as many tries. No. 6 Patrick Kawka took advantage of Howell's early loss and topped No. 2 Foster for his spot in the final.
In the gold medal match, Bhatia cruised past Kawka 11,8 for his 2nd gold medal in a row, thus quelling criticism of his seeding for the time being.
Notable: after winning 8 straight golds, Haworth has now lost prior to the gold medal match four straight times, suffering losses to Howells, Crum, and now Bhatia twice.
Gold: Armaan Bhatia. Silver: Patrick Kawka. Bronze: Christopher Haworth
Women's Pro Singles Recap
Former No. 1 Megan Fudge continues to skip singles, which has put Sofia Sewing firmly in the driver's seat at the top of the table. Sewing came into Newport Beach having reached the final of six straight APP singles events, but she couldn't make it seven in a row, falling to No. 4 Bobbi Oshiro in the semis. Oshiro took off a considerable amount of time from touring last year and is still regaining ranking points.
From the bottom half of the draw, No. 3 Amanda Hendry held off Fort Lauderdale singles champ Pei Chuan Kao in the round of 16, but immediately fell to No. 11 Katerina Stewart in the quarters. Stewart, who earned her first ever APP medal at the NYC Open, went on a tear in California, topping Pretorious, then Hendry, and then outlasted No. 2 Newell in the semis to reach the final.
In the gold medal match, Stewart finished the deed, topping Oshiro in two close games.
Gold: Katarina Stewart. Silver: Bobbi Oshiro. Bronze: Yana Newell.
Mixed Pro Doubles Recap
The back end of the Mixed Pro Doubles draw in Newport was a combination of the stalwarts of the tour (No. 1 seeds Oshiro & Howells and No. 2 seeds Fudge & Munro) and some relative newcomers to the Mixed podiums on the APP (No. 14 Sewing & Diamond). Joining them in the semis were the Mixed champions the last time the tour visited Newport Beach, namely No. 5 Manthou & Maddox.
In the top semi, Purple Jesus led his team to a come-from behind victory over the top seeds, while singles-specialist Sewing topped her second top four seed of the day by setting down the NYC champs Fudge & Munro in a three-game back-and-forth affair.
In the final, Manthou & Maddox once again claimed gold in Newport, topping Sewing & Diamond 9,6. Despite the loss Sewing wins her first Mixed medal on tour, a crucial step forward for her in the sport.
Gold: Manthou & Maddox. Silver: Sewing & Diamond. Bronze: xxx.
Men's Pro Doubles Recap
A great first win for both Livornese and Tomassi.
The top seeds mostly advanced into the quarters, joined by 20-something seeds Truong & Newcombe from the top-half and Wazir & Blanco from the bottom half. None of the Cinderellas could go much further, as the semis featured the top four seeds and some solid competition. In one semi, No. 4 Kawka paired with Kyle Koszuta to oust the top seeds Howells & Munro and keep Kawka's breakthrough event going. From the other semi, No. 3 Richard Livornese Jr. and Tanner Tomassi took out No. 2 Manthou & Lange to set up a very different-looking gold medal match.
In the final. Livornese & Tomassi won a 3-game back and forth match, 11-8 in the third, for an unlikely gold medal. Despite being the 3rd seeds, this was Livornese's first ever gold on tour in any discipline, and Tomassi's first ever medal at all.
Gold: Livornese & Tomassi. Silver: Kawka & Koszuta. Bronze:
Women's Pro Doubles Recap
The story of this draw was the huge run by the No. 19 seeds Emilia Schmidt & Danni-Elle Townsend, who both play in Australia and who made some noise earlier this year when the PPA came into town, falling in the semis and then taking a game off of PPA tour veterans Irvine & Truong in the bronze medal match before falling. Perhaps their performance in Newport Beach wasn't that much of a surprise; they won their play-in match, then destroyed the No. 3 seeds Walczak & Harris 2,4. From there, they eased past the No. 6 Bates & Grambeau in the quarters and then were finally challenged for the first time in the semis, pushing to three games before topping Eugenio & Maddox to earn the gold medal match.
In the final, they faced off against the top seeds Jill Braverman & Megan Fudge, who own six titles together, three already this year. The top seeds cruised into the final from the top half without much trouble, but certainly found trouble in the Aussies on Sunday. After a first game 11-2 win, the gold coasters fought back to take game two 11-9 and force the decider. Fudge and Braverman then outlasted Schmidt & Townsend 11-8 in the third to win it.
Gold: Fudge & Braverman. Silver: Schmidt & Townsend. Bronze: Oshiro & Sewing.
AARP Champions Pro Competition Quick Recap
AARP Masters Pro Competition Quick Recap
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 Schedule, we head to the Beer City Open next weekend for the MLP mid-season tourney. Next up for the APP? They have a Next Gen competition later this month in Kansas City, then head to a new site for pro pickleball in Midland, Michigan for the 2025 Great Lakes Open on August 17th weekend.
Any Head to Head or career match stats quoted in this article are courtesy of PickleWave. Visit picklewave.com for the premier source of Pro Pickleball data, including match replays, highlights, stats, and discussion. PickleWave has more than 22,000 matches in its database across all the pro tours.
Other resources I use frequently to cover Pickleball include: