Eric Oncins and CJ Klinger ended Hayden Patriquin and Federico Staksrud’s bid for their second straight world championship with an 11-4, 11-8 quarterfinal victory at the Opendoor Pickleball World Championships.

The teams faced off in the semifinals of last month’s Veolia Chicago Cup—a meeting which Patriquin and Staksrud won by an 11-8, 7-11, 11-3 score line—but Oncins and Klinger flipped the script on the sport’s biggest stage in North Texas.

Oncins, who withdrew from the men’s singles competition earlier this week due to a hip injury, applauded Klinger for his stellar play in the upset win.

“CJ is basically carrying me all week,” he admitted. “I’m not moving that well this week, so CJ is doing a lot of the work and I’m just making balls.”

This is the fourth tournament that Oncins and Klinger have played together after debuting their partnership at the Las Vegas Open in October; now, they have a chance to make their first final as a pairing.

Oncins provided some additional insight into what works for him and the talented lefty.

“I feel like I trust him so much to get every ball, and I feel like he can bail me out from any—I want to say stupid—speedups or any low ball that I like to flick,” he noted. “It’s just nice to be playing with a lefty with a forehand in the middle, and I think our hands are probably up there with all of the best guys, so I like to get us involved in the hands battles and just trust each other.”

The No. 5 seeds will face either JW Johnson/Tama Shimabukuro or Riley Newman/Noe Khlif in the semifinals.