Johns bros down Ignatowich, Daescu to make first final since April
BRISTOL, TN - Ben and Collin Johns earned a chance to compete for men’s doubles gold after an 11-9, 11-6 victory over No. 7 seeds James Ignatowich and Andrei Daescu.
It looked like the first-time partnership of Ignatowich and Daescu might be able to force a third game, but the Johns bros went on to score nine of the match’s final ten points to seal the win.
One of the difference-makers in the match was Collin Johns’ ability to create offense on the right side, something that he hasn’t been known to do often throughout his career.
“It’s something that I’ve generally been working on, especially over the past couple months,” he shared. “I thought I had some good attacks today, but it’s certainly situation-dependent as well.”
With the win, the No. 2 seeds are into their first Championship Sunday since taking home the title at the LA Open back in April.
“We’ve had to make some adjustments,” said C. Johns. “Obviously, the other teams in the field are playing very well and pushing us. We had a tough quarterfinal and definitely some tense moments here in the semifinals, so you’ve got to buckle down and really focus to get to the finals these days.”
The brothers will face the winners of the second semifinal pitting No. 6 seeds Jay Devilliers and Pablo Tellez against No. 8 seeds Christian Alshon and Quang Duong.
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