{"id":3453,"date":"2026-04-12T15:15:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T06:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/news\/ppa-finals-race\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T15:15:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T06:15:51","slug":"ppa-finals-race","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/ppa-finals-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Decided in the final two tournaments! The PPA 2026 Finals qualification race\u2014Waters runs away with it, Sock on the bubble"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Only two tournaments remain on the 2026 PPA Tour. Through the Farallon Sacramento Open and the Biolyte Atlanta Pickleball Championships, the fierce race for spots at the PPA Finals in May is entering its final stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What:<\/strong> The battle for PPA Finals spots in the 2026 PPA Tour season<br><strong>Who:<\/strong> Top players such as Anna Leigh Waters, Kate Fahey, and Quang Duong<br><strong>When:<\/strong> Through the remaining two tournaments (Sacramento and Atlanta) to the Finals in May<br><strong>Where:<\/strong> The Finals are the stage for the PPA Tour's ultimate showdown<br><strong>Why:<\/strong> The Finals are a top-priority event awarding 2,000 points, equivalent to a Slam<br><strong>How:<\/strong> Top players in each category select partners according to their seeding<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How the Finals work and the entry spots<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The PPA Finals are a special event awarding 2,000 points, the same as a regular Slam tournament. The following numbers of entry spots are set for each category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Singles, each category: the top 8 earn spots<\/li>\n<li>Doubles, each category: the top 16 teams earn spots<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In doubles, the top-seeded player picks their partner first, so who pairs with whom is one of the Finals' strategic highlights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Women's singles: an almost-set top field<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The women's singles standings are relatively firming up. The following eight are currently projected to be within the entry range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Player Name<\/th><th>Situation<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Anna Leigh Waters<\/td><td>Effectively locked in at the top<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Kate Fahey<\/td><td>Steady near the top<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Caitlin Christian<\/td><td>Within the entry range<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Brooke Buckner<\/td><td>Within the entry range<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Lea Jansen<\/td><td>Within the entry range<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Catherine Parenteau<\/td><td>Within the entry range<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Zoe Wang<\/td><td>\"Almost locked in\" despite skipping Sacramento<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Jaume Bouchard<\/td><td>Projected 8th<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The one to watch is Zoe Wang. She is projected to secure a spot even if she skips Sacramento, which speaks to the size of her lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Men's singles: Jack Sock also within the entry range<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In men's singles, the eight leading the race for spots are Quang Duong, Federico Staksrud, Hunter Johnson, Christian Alshon, Connor Garnett, Roscoe Bellamy, plus former tennis pro Jack Sock and Gabe Joseph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It's worth noting that Jack Sock, a convert from the tennis world, is among the top eight. It shows that his transition to pickleball is progressing smoothly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mixed doubles and doubles are wide open<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mixed doubles and doubles categories are especially fierce. Multiple teams are crowded together within a slim margin of points, making it hard to predict which pairings will grab spots over the final two tournaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Depending on the results in Sacramento and Atlanta, players on the borderline could see their standings shuffle significantly. The last two tournaments become a serious battleground for a ticket to the Finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q. How important is the PPA Finals?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A. The Finals are a top-tier event awarding 2,000 points, equivalent to a Slam. Held late in the season, they also have a major impact on the year-end final rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q. When and where are the remaining two tournaments held?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A. The Farallon Sacramento Open and the Biolyte Atlanta Pickleball Championships are the last two qualifying tournaments. Please check the official PPA Tour website for details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q. How is doubles partner selection carried out?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A. At the Finals, the system has qualifying players choose partners in order starting from the top seed. Earning a high seed allows for an advantageous partner choice, so the fight for seeding is also important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related Articles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It drew attention as a warm-up for the PPA Tour;<a href=\"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/ppa-sacramento-open\/\">PPA Sacramento Open<\/a>check out those results too. Also,<a href=\"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/us-open-pickleball-2026-2\/\">US Open Pickleball 2026<\/a>see the latest information as well. For pickleball rules,<a href=\"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/usap-rules-2026\/\">USAP 2026 rule changes<\/a>are also worth a look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[Sources]<br>and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedinkpickleball.com\/2026-ppa-tour-race-to-the-finals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Dink: 2026 PPA Tour Race to the Finals<\/a><br>and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ppasanctions.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PPA Tour official website<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2026\u5e74\u306ePPA\u30c4\u30a2\u30fc\u3082\u6b8b\u3059\u3068\u3053\u308d\u308f\u305a\u304b2\u5927\u4f1a\u3002\u30d5\u30a1\u30ec\u30f3\u30e9\u30fb\u30b5\u30af\u30e9\u30e1\u30f3\u30c8\u30aa\u30fc\u30d7\u30f3\u3068\u30d3\u30aa\u30ea\u30a2\u30fb\u30a2\u30c8\u30e9\u30f3\u30bf\u30fb\u30d4\u30c3 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ssp_meta_description":"","swell_btn_cv_data":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"region":[],"class_list":["post-3453","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"summary":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/3453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3453"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=3453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}