No. 16 Roscoe Bellamy upset No. 1 Hunter Johnson by a score of 11-7, 13-11 in the men’s singles semifinal on Saturday at the Rate Vegas Cup presented by Holland America to advance to Championship Sunday.

Bellamy, who is seeking his first career singles gold medal on the PPA Tour, needed to grind this victory out after falling behind in both games before successfully staging notable comebacks.

He trailed 0-5 in the opening frame and 1-5 in the second, but still managed to right the ship and keep his impressive run going in Sin City.

“Hunter’s the best player in the world, so I'm not surprised when he comes out, hits a ton of good shots, and creates a ton of pressure,” said Bellamy. “But I have my mom in my corner, who's been traveling with me this tournament, and it's nice to just be able to have someone to calm you down and just keep you on script. That really helped me a lot. I'm never really thinking about the score, I'm just trying to get one point at a time, and fortunately that's what I was able to do and it worked.”

Bellamy’s mother, Beth, is a decorated pickleball player with medals aplenty on her resume, so her guidance has been key to successfully navigating a difficult bracket.

Before ousting Johnson, Bellamy defeated No. 3 Christian Alshon in the Round of 16 and No. 11 Gabriel Joseph in the quarterfinals as well.

“I talked with her before the tournament, and we kind of were just looking at my results. Every time I had her with me, I'd always have a big win,” mentioned Bellamy. “After her tournament in Seattle, she flew here to Vegas and now I'm in the finals, so there's no surprise there. Having her with me, just having her support and her mind, being able to strategize along with my coach back home, Mariano Bertucci, who's one of the smartest minds in pickleball, I think that team right there is just able to really help me. It's singles, so you're out there alone, but if you can have a team on your side, I just can't stress enough about how important it is and how much it helps.”

Bellamy will face No. 2 Federico Staksrud in the gold-medal match at Darling Tennis Center.

"Roscoe is an unbelievable player. It's going to be a battle. He's so long and he has a lot of power, so I'm going to have to try to neutralize that," said Staksrud. "It's going to be tough. He's been playing great. He beat the No. 1 player in the world. He's going to try to take it, and I'm going to try to hold as much as I can and give my best out there."