ROSEVILLE, CA - Competing against a friend in a high-stakes tournament is never easy, but that’s what JW Johnson had to do Thursday evening.

He took on Dylan Frazier—both his friend and men’s doubles partner—in the semifinals of the Veolia Sacramento Open presented by Best Day Brewing, eventually earning an 11-1, 7-11, 11-7 victory.

Johnson came out the stronger of the two in Game 1 and took advantage of a number of missed returns from Frazier to gain the early advantage.

Frazier responded accordingly in the second game, however, catching fire with his third shots from the forehand wing to force Game 3.

It looked like Johnson would easily sprint to victory when he jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the final game, but his side of the scoreboard stalled out as Frazier slowly made his way back into the match.

After losing eight consecutive service points, the 21-year-old finally scored his tenth point and closed out the match immediately thereafter to book his spot in Championship Sunday.

Johnson spoke to the difficulty of playing against someone whose game he is so familiar with.

“We both pretty much know where the other one’s going every time,” he shared. “It makes it really tough to score on each other when we’re both on.”

Johnson will look to earn his first PPA singles medal of 2024 when he faces No. 1 seed Federico Staksrud in Sunday’s final.