Exactly two weeks ago, Tama Shimabukuro fell to Federico Staksrud by a 5-11, 8-11 score line in the Round of 16 in Sacramento.

On Thursday in Atlanta, though, the 15-year-old got his revenge with a 6-11, 11-8, 11-9 victory over the No. 2 seed.

The match hung in the balance at 9-9 in the deciding game as players exchanged nine consecutive scoreless serve possessions, but Shimabukuro held his nerve to take two in a row and end the encounter after nearly 70 minutes on court.

“I was just trying to stay levelheaded the whole time,” he told Pickleballtv’s Kamryn Blackwood and Matt Manasse. “We both had a lot of chances to get a good lead, and on defense we were both stopping each other. I was just trying to make balls and hope that he would miss.”

Shimabukuro has been in top form this week after also knocking out No. 13 seed Jaume Martinez Vich in the Round of 32.

He credits his success to training he did with Staksrud last week in Florida

“I was just in Florida for a week before this tournament, and we were training together,” he mentioned. “[Staksrud] is a great guy. I feel like we kind of know that we play similarly a little bit with a lot of cat and mouse, and I just think it’s a good matchup for me.”

Shimabukuro will face No. 11 seed Noe Khlif on Friday as he looks to make his first career PPA Tour semifinal.