There was no shortage of hype surrounding the first-time partnership of Ben Johns and Federico Staksrud competing at this week’s Veolia Arizona Open.

And it makes sense; the two have had so many battles over the years that it’s only appropriate that they team up when Johns’ usually partner, Gabe Tardio, is out of the country.

But the weeks of thinking about the damage this partnership could do in the desert proved to be for nothing, as Johns/Staksrud fell in their very first match together against Nico Acevedo/Yuta Funemizu.

And this wasn’t one of those three-game thrillers—it was a 34-minute thrashing that ended with an 11-4, 11-5 win for the No. 15 seeds.

Admittedly, this was a brutal draw for any first-time partnership; Acevedo/Funemizu have a history of successful outings together, including winning the Wilson PPA Challenger back in May and beating some high-quality tandems in their short time as Major League Pickleball teammates for the Miami Pickleball Club, namely Andrei Daescu/CJ Klinger and Jaume Martinez Vich/Jay Devilliers.

But it was still stunning to see live: Acevedo grinding with Johns in the crosscourt dink rallies and finding ways past Staksrud, while Funemizu remained nearly unattackable with his soft tennis-influenced counters.

And above all, it was a reminder that potential doesn’t always equal results in the ever-deepening field of pro pickleball.

Acevedo/Funemizu will look to build on this triumph when they face No. 9 seeds Casey Diamond/Tyson McGuffin in Friday’s quarterfinal round.

And on the other side, Johns and Staksrud will take the court again—this time as opponents—when they meet in the men’s singles quarterfinals.

Catch all of Friday’s action on Pickleballtv starting at 5pm ET.