The Association of Pickleball Players held its second Vlasic Classic event of the 2025 season, this time coming from the famous Sawyer Point Park along the Ohio river in Cincinnati. The curved facility is iconic in its sightlines and is a regular host for both professional and amateur tournaments throughout the year. This is the third year running that Vlasic has been the title sponsor in Cincinnati.
CINCINNATI, OHIO – MAY 08: A general view of players practicing during the first day of the APP … More
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 Vlasic Classic Cincinnati
Here’s a quick recap of notable news items of import to the tour or this event
– In Early May 2025, The APP announced a new Breakthrough Series of challenger-level events to run this coming fall from September to November. These are pro feeder tournaments and will only be open to players ranked outside of the top 20 on tour, with the goal of giving up and coming players opportunities for pro-quality matches and additional prize money. The APP’s Ken Herrmann hails from tennis, and this sounds very much like the “Challenger Series” of events that exist for both ATP and WTA players.
– In April, the APP announced a new competition initiative called the APP Passport, which will guarantee all amateur medalists in APP events a spot at the season-ending tournament at the Fort. The tour is doing this in anticipation of heavy demand for its season-ending championships, and wants to prioritize access to medalists, not unlike how the USAP has the Golden Ticket process to qualify into its Nationals.
With that said, let’s recap the action.
Men’s Pro Singles Recap
Grayson Goldin comes out on top again in Cincy.
The APP Men’s singles pro draw was solid in Cincy, including 9 of the tour’s top 10 players and 17 of the top 20 in competition. This meant solid matchups from the round of 32 on between top players. However, it would soon turn out not to be “business as usual” for the top seeds on tour, who have spent most of the last six months dominating the podium. India’s top player Armaan Bhatia, fresh off of a Bronze medal in pro doubles last week at the US Open, decided to extend his stay a week and compete in Ohio, and it did not take him long to make waves. Bhatia won his opener, then shocked the No. 1 seed and ten-time gold medalist Christopher Haworth 9,4. Once Bhatia was past Haworth, there was no let down, as he topped No. 8 Brandon Lane in two close games, then outlasted No. 13 Ammar Wazir in the semis to earn a spot in the Sunday final from the top side. All props to Wazir, the bronze medalist at the US Open, for his run; he topped defending APP gold medalist Howells in the 16s then No. 5 Cangelosi before falling.
The bottom half lost its No. 3 seed Jack Foster early, which opened a pathway for No. 11 Eduardo Irizarry to advance to the semis with a couple of solid wins. However, Irizarry couldn’t overcome the tour’s No. 2 ranked player Grayson Goldin, who has been a model of consistency over the last year. Goldin has medaled in eight of the last nine events and is the defending gold medalist here in Cincinnati. He ran through two of the tour’s better players in DeHeart and Irizzary to earn the final against Bhatia.
In the final, Bhatia pushed Goldin to a third game, but fell in his attempt to win his APP debut. Goldin repeats as champion in Cincinnati 11,(11),8
Gold: Grayson Goldin. Silver: Armaan Bhatia. Bronze: Wazir.
Women’s Pro Singles Recap
Sofia Sewing cannot be stopped in APP pro singles.
Unlike the Men’s pro singles draw, the Women’s pro singles draw was missing a trio of its top competitors. No. 1 ranked Megan Fudge opted out of singles this week (perhaps working on some “load management” after a busy US Open, then No. 2 Yana Newell withdrew at the last minute. This opened up a pathway for the next two top ranked players on tour (No. 3 ranked Judit Castillo and No. 4 ranked Sofia Sewing) to advance to the finals without having to face higher ranked competition, and that’s exactly what both players did on Thursday. Castillo overcame No. 8 seed Maria Klokotzky in one semi, while Sewing outlasted No. 7 Shannon Pretorius in the other, both needing to go the distance.
In the final, Sewing won a back-and-forth three game match (11),14,10 to take her third gold medal in the last four APP Events. Klokotzky secured her second career bronze in the 3rd place match.
Gold: Sofia Sewing. Silver: Judit Castillo. Bronze: Maria Klokotzky.
Mixed Pro Doubles Recap
The APP’s top Mixed pair Bobbi Oshiro & Will Howells continued their dominance of the tour by securing their third straight Mixed Pro Doubles gold medal. In the final, they topped No. 2 Megan Fudge & Jack Munro (who Oshiro & Howells supplanted at the top earlier this year) in three games. It was a rematch of the APP Fort Lauderdale final, and the win solidified their grasp on the top spot on tour. With the win, Howells secures both Doubles gold medals for the weekend.
Jill Braverman teamed with William Sobek to claim bronze. Sobek becomes the SEVENTH different mixed male partner to medal with Braverman in Mixed on the APP since last March (in descending order, Sobek, Schenk, Howells, Klinger, Oncins, Daescu, and Tardio).
Gold: Oshiro & Howells. Silver: Fudge & Munro. Bronze: Braverman & Sobek.
Men’s Pro Doubles Recap
US Open bronze medalists and shock APP singles finalist Bhatia couldn’t continue his Naples magic with partner Mehta on tour, losing in the 16s to the unstoppable top seeds Will Howells & Jack Munro. They cruised into the final from the top half without being seriously challenged. The bottom half of the draw featured mish-mashed partnerships and upsets galore, as Kyle Koszuta & Casey Diamond (ranked 18th and 30th respectively) emerged from an upset-laden early Saturday draw to earn the Sunday gold medal match.
In the final, the No. 1 pair steamrolled the Cinderellas, but it was still a career showing for both. Koszuta earns his first pro medal of any kind, and Diamond just his second. Meanwhile, Howells & Munro win their 5th straight Pro Doubles title on the trot and have swept all five events in 2025 thus far on tour.
Gold: Howells & Munro. Silver: Koszuta & Diamond. Bronze: xxx.
Women’s Pro Doubles Recap
Megan Fudge won her career 69th and 70th APP pro medals this weekend, breaking a tie atop the career … More
After an early round upset in the Fort Lauderdale open, No. 1 Megan Fudge & Jill Braverman came to Cincinnati with something to prove to the pairs of pros looking to dethrone them. They vanquished all comers, dominating Sacramento gold medalist Bobbi Oshiro and partner Kat Stewart 7,1 in the quarters, then crushing Castillo & Harris 1,0 in the semis to earn the Sunday final. There, they made fast work of the No. 2 seeds Yana Newell & Emily Cederquist 5,3 to win their seventh doubles gold together, and their third of the year.
More importantly. with this win, Megan Fudge takes over the No. 1 spot of medal winners in the history of the APP. She breaks a tie she held with long-time APP stalwart JW Johnson at 68 career medals, and along with her Mixed medal now sits at 70 total for her APP career.
A small side note: Judit Castillo teamed with Allison Harris to win the bronze; it is Castillo’s FIRST ever doubles medal on the APP. Castillo’s always been known as a singles star, but now is making great headway into establishing her doubles bona fides.
Gold: Fudge & Braverman. Silver: Newell & Cederquist. Bronze: Castillo & Harris.
AARP Champions Pro Competition Quick Recap
A quick reminder; Cincy had Champions only, no Masters pro draws.
- Men’s Champions Pro Singles: My Virginia neighbor Youssef Bouzidi has very quickly pushed his way to the upper ranks of Champions Singles, and continued his push with a walkover win in the gold medal match in Cincy.
- Women’s Champions Pro Singles: Karin Ptaszek-Kochis returned to the top of the podium by edging Lee Whitwell (14),15,15 in the final. It can’t get much closer than that.
- Men’s Champions Pro Doubles: Jamie Oncins was missing his normal partner; no worries, he picked up Tao Thongvanh (silver medalist in Sacramento) and cruised to the title.
- Women’s Champions Pro Doubles: Audra Spielberger earned her second straight APP Champions Women’s Pro doubles gold, teaming with Natalija Todorovic-Shaw for the win.
- Mixed Champions Pro Doubles: Jamie Oncins made it a “double double” for the weekend, teaming with Lee Whitwell to claim the mixed title. It is their 9th Champions Mixed medal together since Whitwell moved up in Jan 2024.
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, next weekend’s big event is the second grand slam on the PPA calendar in Atlanta. We also have the kickoff of the NLP’s 2025 season and some MLP waiver action.
Next up for the APP? In two weeks’ time, the APP’s biggest event of the year happens; the 2025 APP NYC Open, held on the grounds of the USTA Tennis Center in Queens.
All match stats and historical records 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:
Read the full article here