Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters competing at the Veolia North Carolina Open.
Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters competing at the Veolia North Carolina Open. PPA Tour

Top seeds Waters and Johns, Johnson siblings to face off for mixed doubles gold

Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns booked their spot in the mixed doubles final with an 11-4, 11-2 victory over first-time partners and No. 4 seeds Anna Bright/Federico Staksrud.

The top seeds put forth a clinical performance in the most straightforward victory of the day so far at Cary Tennis Park, getting the job done in just over half an hour.

 

Waters was particularly successful attacking crosscourt out of the air with her forehand.

“I was really liking being against the wind, and I felt like some of Fed’s dinks were popping up high enough to where I could attack crosscourt,” she explained. “I’m not the tallest person on the court, so I don’t usually get the opportunity to reach in and attack crosscourt, but because they were with the wind, I was getting more opportunities to do so.”

Waters/Johns will face No. 2 seeds Jorja Johnson/JW Johnson in Sunday’s final.



In the second semifinal, Jorja Johnson/JW Johnson earned a hard-fought 11-9, 11-8 victory over No. 10 seeds Meghan Dizon/Andrei Daescu.

The No. 2 seeds trailed 7-9 in the opening game, but they reeled off four in a row to steal it and get on the board first.

They then jumped out to a 10-4 lead in Game 2, but Dizon/Daescu would not go down and brought the score to 8-10 before the Johnsons closed out the encounter at the seventh time of asking.

 

Jorja spoke about what it took to secure the win after watching six match points come and go.

“I just looked at JW and told him that it’s gonna be this one. I said it after every point, so it probably got old, but you’ve just gotta believe that that’s the one you’re gonna close it out on,” she mentioned.

Well, it eventually worked.

The siblings and Dallas Flash teammates will face top seeds Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns for gold on Sunday.