Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin competing in mixed doubles at the Jenius Bank Pickleball World Championships.
Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin competing in mixed doubles at the Jenius Bank Pickleball World Championships. PPA Tour

Bright, Patriquin overcome slow start, battle past Todd, Staksrud in three games

St. Louis Shock teammates Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin already captured one championship at Brookhaven Country Club with their MLP Cup title over the weekend, but they’re making a run at another one this week.

The No. 3 seeds are into the mixed doubles semifinals after a 5-11, 11-8, 11-6 victory over No. 8 seeds Parris Todd/Federico Staksrud.

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The deciding game was neck-and-neck in its early stages, but Bright/Patriquin went onto score the final seven points of the contest to advance.

Patriquin spoke about what it took to find his groove after losing the opening game.

“We just had to clean up a few unforced errors,” he told Pickleballtv’s Hannah Johns afterwards. “I might have hit like 70 out balls in that match, which was very frustrating, but I think overall we just had to clean some stuff up to get back in it.”

Bright/Patriquin will next face top seeds Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns in Saturday’s semifinal round.

This will be the fourth meeting between the two partnerships, and even though Waters/Johns have won all three, Bright/Patriquin took the first game in each of them.

They will look to turn the tables in this must-watch matchup on Saturday.