PPA Veolia Texas Open Crowns Champions Amid Wind-Driven Upsets in McKinney

Wind gusts that exceeded 40 mph turned the Courts of McKinney into one of the most punishing outdoor arenas the PPA Tour has seen in recent memory, and yet Anna Leigh Waters walked away with her 42nd career triple crown, going 16-0 in matches and 35-1 in games across three brackets at the Veolia Texas Open, held March 9-15 in McKinney, Texas.

The women's singles final delivered the most electric sequence of the week. Waters took the first game 11-4 and raced to a 10-3 lead in game two before the match turned. Kate Fahey, attacking the forehand side and changing the pace of her dinks, scored eight consecutive points to reach 11-10 and earn game point against the most dominant player in the sport's history, in 40 mph wind, with the crowd at the Courts of McKinney on its feet. Waters saved game point, then kept saving it. She eventually closed the second game 15-13 on her fourth match-point opportunity, finishing the final 11-4, 15-13. The lone game she dropped across all three brackets that weekend was that second game against Fahey, the only moment the tournament threatened to slip beyond her control.

Federico Staksrud claimed the men's singles gold in a three-game comeback over Chris Haworth, 2-11, 11-5, 11-5, after dropping the opening game badly. His mid-match tactical adjustment to the wind conditions was, by the most detailed accounts of the weekend, the clearest illustration of what separated winners from runners-up across every bracket: fast adaptation. Staksrud's Texas title was his second singles gold of 2026, following his Carvana Mesa Cup win earlier in the season.

Ben Johns was everywhere else. Partnering Gabe Tardio in men's doubles, Johns opened the gold medal match with an 11-0 first game against Andrei Daescu and Staksrud before closing it out 11-0, 12-10, 11-7. He and Waters then captured mixed doubles gold over Hayden Patriquin and Anna Bright 11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, a result that settled a score from the Mesa Cup, where that same Bright-Patriquin pairing had beaten them. Waters and Bright, meanwhile, needed just three games to handle Parris Todd and Alix Truong 11-2, 11-6, 11-4 in the women's doubles final.

The wind defined the tournament tactically as much as any single player. With gusts reported between 30-45 mph, lobs became genuinely unpredictable: a well-placed lob downwind traveled 10 feet deeper than intended, while a lob into the wind died mid-court and became an easy putaway. Third-shot drops required constant recalibration, since the kitchen margin shrank to almost nothing when wind could push a soft drop long or hold it up short. Players who kept the ball compact and low to the net thrived; those who relied on power and high-trajectory shots did not. The conditions gave rise to what observers described as "wind-assisted crash outs," with higher-ranked players unexpectedly eliminated by opponents who adapted faster to the chaos.

In the bronze matches, Jay Devilliers and Jaume Martinez Vich took men's doubles bronze over JW Johnson and CJ Klinger 11-9, 11-7. Catherine Parenteau and Rachel Rohrabacher edged women's doubles bronze in three games against Mari Humbreg and Milan Rane, 11-3, 9-11, 11-9. Andrei Daescu and Parris Todd handled Gabe Tardio and Parenteau 11-3, 11-2 for mixed doubles bronze. Zane Ford earned men's singles bronze over John Lucian Goins in a three-game grind, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9.

Waters' singles winning streak now extends beyond 640 consecutive days. The next PPA stop moves to the Black Desert Resort in the Greater Zion Cup, and based on what McKinney just produced, the field knows exactly what it is chasing.