The pairings of James Ignatowich/Augie Ge and JW Johnson/Dylan Frazier will face off for men’s doubles gold in Sacramento after each secured semifinal victories early Saturday evening.

Ignatowich/Ge kicked off semifinal action with an 11-8, 11-4 triumph over No. 6 seeds Riley Newman/Jay Devilliers, who had knocked off No. 3 seeds Noe Khlif/Gabe Tardio in the previous round.

Ignatowich—who recently launched his own paddle company called RPM—was the X-factor in the contest, finding ways to be aggressive and take balls out of the air at the kitchen line.

Despite the standout performance, he says that he had very little practice with the wooden paddle before this week.

“I only practiced one time with a wooden paddle before this tournament, and I lost every game, so I didn’t have high hopes,” he admitted. “But luckily, it somehow fits my game.”

This is only the second tournament that Ignatowich and Ge have played together, but they’re now just one win away from earning a gold medal.

Standing in their way will be No. 4 seeds JW Johnson/Dylan Frazier, who beat top seeds Andrei Daescu/Collin Johns 5-11, 11-7, 11-6 in the second semifinal.

The former full-time partners appeared to be in trouble when they trailed 4-7 in Game 2 after dropping the first, but they went on to score the next seven points on a single side out to force a decider, which they comfortably won.

Frazier says that continuing to be aggressive even when losing was the key to igniting the comeback effort.

“I think we just had to commit to the speedups,” he explained. “I felt like we were doing really well in the fast-paced exchanges. I just feel like once I start pulling, anything that goes straight up JW’s way gets eaten up by his hands, so it was just a matter of playing a bit more aggressive.”

Both Frazier and Johnson have now advanced to two finals in Sacramento; they will face off in the mixed doubles final and join forces again in the men’s title match.

For Frazier, having success with the wooden paddle is a full-circle moment.

“The paddle I first started with was the wooden paddle way back in the day on a concrete court in my backyard, and those were good times,” he recalled. “So, it’s back to my roots with the wooden paddles.”

He’ll hope for that experience to continue to pay off on Sunday.