Pickleball’s best and brightest pro stars put on a show as the Association of Pickleball Players (APP) hosted five exhilarating Championship Sunday matches to culminate the 2025 APP Great Lakes Open. The Greater Midland Tennis Center hosted the world's first and world's best pickleball tour over five days, welcoming hundreds of players of all ages and skill levels.
Sofia Sewing won two gold medals – one in women’s doubles with Bobbi Oshiro and the other in mixed doubles with Casey Diamond, who clinched his first career APP Tour title with the win. Ammar Wazir earned his own first career APP Tour gold by winning the men’s singles title, Katerina Stewart defended her women’s singles title, and Richard Livornese and Tanner Tomassi won their second men’s doubles golds in a row.
The 2025 APP Great Lakes Open also showcased a large field of amateur players from across the country, plus the AARP Champions and Masters Pro Divisions and the U16 and U13 junior divisions. Gold medalists from the event earned a USA Pickleball Golden Ticket and secured their rights to pre-register for the 2026 USA Pickleball National Championships, and all amateur medalists earned an APP Passport guaranteeing pre-registration for the season-ending 2025 APP Tour Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Women’s Pro Singles
The championship slate began with a women’s singles rematch from the APP Tour’s previous event in Newport Beach, with defending champion Katerina Stewart taking on Bobbi Oshiro. Stewart started strong, taking the opening frame 15-12. Oshiro responded in kind, winning game two 15-11. The deciding third game was all Stewart, who cruised 15-7 to clinch her second women’s singles gold medal in a row.
“It means everything to me,” said Stewart. “The work is finally showing, and to get back-to-back golds is amazing, so I'm really grateful.”
Sofia Sewing earned the women’s pro singles bronze medal.
Men's Pro Singles
A pair of first-time finalists battled for men’s singles gold as Ammar Wazir faced off against Dusty Boyer. Wazir handled game one with ease, winning 15-8. Game two was neck-and-neck with several ties and lead changes. With Boyer up 16-15, Wazir dug deep and rallied off three straight points to win 18-16 and secure his first career APP Tour gold medal.
“I’m super happy about it,” Wazir commented. “I’ve been training a lot, I got my first men’s doubles medal too, so I was happy about that. In singles, I’ve come really close, lost a couple of semifinal matches, and so I was happy to get over the hump today and take home gold.”
Boyer’s silver and Andre Millet’s men’s singles bronze marked each of their first career APP Tour medals.
Women's Pro Doubles
Looking to build off a bronze medal together in Newport Beach, the duo of Bobbi Oshiro and Sofia Sewing took the court against first-time finalists Kelsey Matthews and Allie Reichert. Oshiro and Sewing came out firing and never looked back, winning game one 11-5 and game two 11-0 to win their first APP Tour gold medals as a team.
“We pride ourselves on being able to be steady and make a lot of balls,” said Oshiro. “Allie and Kelsey played a really great game. Being confident coming from the semifinal and being able to stick to our game plan worked very well for us.”
“I just want to say thank you to Bobbi for playing with me, I had so much fun,” Sewing added. “I want to congratulate our opponents as well for having a great tournament, I’m sure we’ll see them again. Thank you to the APP for organizing this event, to everybody here, all the volunteers, everybody that helped put this event together.”
Jill Braverman and Megan Fudge took home the women’s doubles bronze medals in Midland.
Men's Pro Doubles
The men’s pro doubles final pitted defending champions Richard Livornese, Jr. and Tanner Tomassi against 2025 APP U.S. National Team members Clayton Powell and Aidan Schenk, making their first Championship Sunday appearance as a team. Livornese and Tomassi picked up right where they left off, taking game one 11-5. In game two, Powell and Schenk jumped out to an early 5-1 lead and led 9-7 late, but Livornese and Tomassi scored the final four points of the game to steal the win, 11-7, for their second straight men’s doubles title together.
“We go a little ballistic, which plays into our favor,” Tomassi commented. “But for this [match], we said to be even keeled but also bring the energy. The main factor was to play cool, calm and collected the entire time.”
“Thank you to Ken Herrmann and the APP, and especially to the fans in Midland – you guys are amazing” added Livornese. “It was so much fun.”
Randy Blanco and Ammar Wazir won the men’s doubles bronze medals.
Mixed Pro Doubles
The championship action concluded with teammates turned into rivals as Sofia Sewing and Casey Diamond battled Bobbi Oshiro and Randy Blanco for mixed doubles gold. Oshiro and Blanco jumped out to a 7-1 lead in game one with all the momentum, but Sewing and Diamond stormed back and completed the comeback with a 12-10 win. Sewing and Diamond were relentless in game two, winning 11-1 to secure the gold – Sewing's second of the tournament and Diamond’s first ever in his professional career.
“This is actually my first gold medal ever in pro pickleball, so it’s huge for me,” an exhilarated Diamond said. “I think being down there in the first game, I leaned on Sofia and said, ‘just play your game, play free, and I’ll eventually find my rhythm, and I did it.”
“I knew that we had to get into our rhythm and we were going to be fine,” Sewing said. “Just trust each other, trust our game plan and execute.”
Jill Braverman and Richard Livornese teamed up for mixed pro doubles bronze.
AARP Champions Pro Action
In AARP Champions Division (50+) competition in Midland, Lee Whitwell earned a triple crown with three gold medals – winning the women’s singles title, mixed doubles with Jaime Oncins and women’s doubles alongside Teresa Tarn. Yousseff Bouzidi took home two gold medals, winning gold in men’s singles and men’s doubles with Jose Derisi.
AARP Masters Pro Action
In AARP Masters Division (60+) action, Dan Granot, Anna Shirley and Howard Mendel all won two gold medals apiece. Yannet Brister joined Shirley as women’s doubles champions and also earned silver in mixed doubles.
Additional Details
Full tournament results are available here. Highlights from the 2025 APP Great Lakes Open will air nationwide on CBS Sports Network in the coming weeks.
The APP Tour wraps up its summer circuit in Highland Park, Ill. over Labor Day Weekend for the 2025 APP Chicago Open. More information about upcoming APP events—including APP Tour dates, player registration and ticket information—is available on theapp.global. Pickleball enthusiasts can also stay in the know by following the APP on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok, Threads and LinkedIn.
