When Quang Duong beat No. 1 Ben Johns in the round of 16 in the men’s singles bracket earlier in the week, it opened up all the possibilities.
After all, if the best, most-prolific winner on tour is out, the rest of the field has to rest a bit easier. It’s got to breathe some life into the rest of the field.
“Ben Johns losing just opens up the draw a lot,” Dylan Frazier said.
It did for Duong, who looked to be the hottest player in the game at the PPA Tour’s first tournament of the year – the Hyundai Masters.
But it’s certainly safe to say no one is playing better than Frazier. Duong gets full credit for knocking out Johns, but Frazier stopped Duong in the semifinals Saturday and is a win away from earning his first gold medal on the PPA Tour in singles.
“I think you can say that,” Frazier said when asked if it’s him that’s playing the best in Rancho Mirage, Calif. “Things are really working for me with some of the strategies I’ve been using. But you know, anything can happen in singles.”
It’s happened so far this week for Frazier. He came in as the No. 10 seed and had to play Wednesday in the round of 32, losing his first game of the tournament to Patrick Kawka, 11-4. And Frazier scrapped to a 12-10 win in the second game against Kawka before earning the victory, 11-4 in the third. From there, Frazier beat his doubles partner J.W. Johnson in two games, then beat Tyson McGuffin – the No. 3 seed, getting him to the semis against Duong.
Now, Frazier gets Federico Staksrud in the final. Staksrud beat Jack Sock Saturday in the semifinals, 11-1, 11-3.
Staksrud is making his ninth finals appearance. He’s 3-5 all-time in championship matches. He last won gold in September in Cincinnati beating Johns for the title.
Frazier has an astounding 25 medals on the PPA Tour, but has never won gold in singles. He has a silver and a pair of bronze, falling to Johns in the 2022 Tournament of Champions in his other chance to win gold.
“My passing shots are improving and it’s something I’ve struggled with the most,” Frazier said. “But I’ve made a conscious effort to work on it. I’m going to stick with what I did this entire tournament and I’m going to stick to it until the end, and if it works out well, hopefully I’ll bring home the gold. And if I don’t, we’ll regroup and reassess.”
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