Jay Devilliers ended No. 8 seed John Lucian Goins’ bid for a third straight men’s singles title with an 11-9, 10-12, 11-6 victory in an instant classic at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

The opening game showcased the resilience that both players would display at different times throughout the contest, with Devilliers overcoming a 1-9 deficit to take it 11-9.

After Goins won an equally competitive Game 2, the players remained deadlocked until the score hit 6-6 in the deciding game. From there, the veteran Devilliers went on to score the final five points of the match to ultimately triumph after nearly eighty minutes on court.

Devilliers, who missed the latter half of the 2024 season with a knee injury, spoke about the preparation that went into beating the talented 17-year-old, who earned titles at the most recent PPA Tour events in Bristol and Las Vegas.

“I’ve been practicing more and more singles since I’ve been healthy, and this was a good challenge for me. I knew he didn’t know much about me since he’s always in the finals and I’m not usually making it that far, but I felt like this was my chance to show him what I’m made of,” he told Pickleballtv’s Kamryn Blackwood and Matt Manasse after the match. “I studied his game. I felt like yesterday I spent like three hours watching his matches, and I implemented some strategies that worked well today.”

One of the keys for Devilliers was his two-handed backhand, which came up big down the stretch to help lift him to victory. ‘The Flying Frenchman’ gave some insight into how he has adopted that shot after using a one-handed backhand during his collegiate tennis career at Wichita State University.

“The two-hander is something I’ve been working on for a long time,” he shared. “It didn’t come very naturally to me, but it’s finally starting to take shape at times. I found it in Atlanta against Jaume [Martinez Vich] as well, so here I was happy to be hitting it well.”

Devilliers will face No. 18 seed Adam Harvey on Thursday with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.