Jessie Irvine and Gabriel Tardio ended the run of No. 22 seeds Mari Humberg and Pablo Tellez with an 11-8, 7-11, 11-6 victory.

With Tellez being left-handed and thus playing the right side, an interesting dynamic emerged with the two male players being right across the net from each other.

That led to some lengthy crosscourt dink rallies between Humberg and Tardio on the left side and Tellez and Irvine on the right.

Most of those rallies went the way of Irvine and Tardio out of the gate, as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first game. The No. 6 seeds would hold on to take Game 1 11-8.

Humberg and Tellez responded strongly in the second game to even the match, just as they had done in two of their previous victories on Friday.

They ended Game 2 on a 6-2 run that came from both an increase in their level and a brief lapse in discipline on the side of Tardio and Irvine.

“Jessie kept telling me to play high percentage, and we just weren’t doing that in the second game,” Tardio explained after the match.

Irvine and Tardio were able to settle back down in the third game and welcomed several missed serves from Humberg and Tellez as they built what would prove to be an insurmountable 10-4 lead.

They eventually closed out the match at the eighth time of asking.

This victory concludes what was an excellent Friday for Irvine and Tardio; they earned four victories—including one over No. 2 seeds Jorja and JW Johnson—while dropping only one game.

Humberg and Tellez, to their credit, had an impressive run themselves. They took down two top-ten teams in their first tournament together and will come away with bronze if they can beat No. 23 seeds Mary Brascia and Jaume Martinez Vich.

Irvine and Tardio will take on the top-seeded tandem of Anna Bright and James Ignatowich in the final. A win on Sunday would give Tardio his first career PPA mixed doubles title and Irvine her first PPA gold since 2022.