Johnson siblings outlast David, Wilson to make mixed final
ROCKWALL, TX - Mixed doubles Friday ended with a war of runs on Humana Championship Court.
It looked like Jorja and JW Johnson would cruise to a two-game victory over Vivienne David and Thomas Wilson in their semifinal mixed doubles match when they got out to a 6-2 lead in the second game after taking Game 1 11-3.
At that point, though, the match was far from over.
David and Wilson rallied to take Game 2 12-10 and forced a deciding game with a spot in the finals on the line.
The Johnson siblings found their form again in Game 3’s early stages and jumped out to a 5-0 advantage.
The lead, however, would soon disappear thanks to their opponent, who took back all the momentum and went into the side switch up 6-5.
The two teams continued to exchange blows as they inched closer and closer to the coveted eleventh point, but it was the familial tandem that eventually pulled away to take the third game 11-8.
For the 17-year-old Jorja Johnson, the back-and-forth match came as no surprise.
“We always have really tough matches against [Vivienne and Thomas], even though we haven’t played them yet this year,” she said. “We really had to lock in and just trust each other, especially when it got tight in the second and third games.”
Trusting one another might come a little more naturally for the pair since they are, well, brother and sister.
“It’s super special to be able to play mixed with my brother,” Jorja shared. “He’s told me that he always wanted me to get into tennis so that we could play mixed doubles, so I imagine this is like a consolation prize for him.”
The No. 4 seeds will have their eyes on the top prize on Championship Sunday when they face top seeds Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns for the gold.
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