Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau defeated the first-time pairing of Jorja Johnson and Rachel Rohrabacher by an 11-5, 11-7 score line to book their spot in the women’s doubles final.

Waters was especially impressive with her attacks up the line at Johnson, who is known for having incredibly fast hands and strong counters.

“Strategy is such an important part of pickleball,” she explained. “There are certain spots on Jorja where if you speed the ball up you will get absolutely killed, so you just have to know your opponent. Some people like off-pace, and some people like when you hit it super hard, so there’s a lot that goes into it.”

It was a clean performance from the top seeds, aside from the fact that it took them nine tries to end the match.

“Every tournament it feels like there’s one match that we cannot close out,” Parenteau mentioned. “Taking nine match points to close it out isn’t great, but we got the W and that’s what matters.”

In the second semifinal, Hurricane Tyra Black and Parris Todd outdueled No. 2 seeds Anna Bright and Tina Pisnik to come away with an 11-5, 6-11 11-7 victory.

With players on each team being proficient at playing both sides, the match’s patterns were constantly changing.

That made for a dynamic encounter that was as much fun for the fans to witness as it was for the players to compete in.

“There was a lot of back-and-forth, but it was so much fun,” Todd said after the fact. “Tyra’s such a good athlete, and it’s just fun being out here with her.”

With the win, Black and Todd are into their first final as a partnership. They have three bronze medals so far this year, with their most recent podium finish coming at the Orange County Cup in June.

Now, they finally have a shot at gold.

“I just want to try my hardest out there and have fun with Parris,” Black said of the opportunity to compete on Championship Sunday. “Whatever happens, happens, but we’re going to leave it all out there.”

They'll look to do that—and more—against top seeds Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau in the final.