The last match of the weekend at the Florida Dairy Farmers Daytona Beach Open, the men’s doubles final, had no shortage of storylines.

On one side stood No. 7 seeds Riley Newman/Noe Khlif. Khlif was looking for his first career PPA Tour title, while Newman was looking to join Ben Johns as the only other player to win a men’s doubles title in every year since the PPA Tour’s founding in 2020.

On the other side were No. 3 seeds JW Johnson/Augie Ge, Major League Pickleball teammates on the Dallas Flash. Ge, like Khlif, was also looking for his first career PPA Tour title, while Johnson was in pursuit of his second gold of the day after winning the mixed doubles title alongside Jorja Johnson earlier.

After five grueling games and nearly two and half hours on court, Johnson/Ge emerged triumphantly with an 11-6, 9-11, 11-1, 6-11, 11-8 victory in what will go down as the match of the week in the Sunshine State.

After Johnson/Ge comfortably took Game 1, Newman/Khlif decided to move Khlif over to the left side for the remainder of the contest.

That move paid off and helped the No. 7 seeds eventually force a decisive fifth game.

Johnson/Ge got up 10-3 in the decider, but Newman/Khlif managed to get all the way back to 8-10.

Undeterred by the scoreboard pressure and the weight of the moment, Johnson/Ge regained the serve and converted their third match point opportunity to bring an end to the epic encounter.

Ge spoke afterwards about how he and Johnson were able to remain solid down the stretch.

“I know Riley and Noe are two of the fiercest competitors on tour, so I knew it was going to have some drama in the end, even when we were up 10-3,” he said. “I just had to keep cool and look to J-Dub to help me out a bit there.”

The 29-year-old continued to explain how gratifying it is to earn his first title after having fallen short on two previous occasions.

“It means so much to me. The tour is only getting deeper and deeper. I had a couple chances earlier in my career, so I’ve been wanting to get the monkey off my back,” he revealed. “I felt like with JW this would be an awesome opportunity, and I’m so glad to have gotten it done.”

No. 5 seeds Eric Oncins/Dylan Frazier will leave with the bronze medal after No. 4 seeds CJ Klinger/Jaume Martinez Vich had to withdraw due to a back injury sustained by Martinez Vich.