Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau didn’t have the best start to their women’s doubles match, but they came through with a strong performance in their final two games.

The top seeds defeated No. 21 seeds Vivian Glozman/Jackie Kawamoto 5-11, 11-2, 11-2 to become the first team to make it to Championship Sunday in women’s doubles.

Glozman/Kawamoto—who had to come through Monday’s qualifying draw because Glozman doesn’t have a UPA Gold Card—were coming off consecutive wins over top-5 seeds, and they certainly carried the confidence from those victories with them in the opening game.

After that game, though, Waters/Parenteau came out with a renewed sense of urgency. One thing that helped them rebound and comfortably take Games 2 and 3 was deciding to stack, instead of playing straight up.

“I just felt like we were getting stuck a little bit with me on the left and AL on the right, so we decided to stack to get her back to the left, and that seemed to help a ton,” Parenteau explained.

Waters/Parenteau—who are looking to defend their 2024 title from Mission Hills Country Club—will face Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher in Sunday’s final.

Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher endured a similar challenge in the second semifinal, eventually coming away with a 2-11, 11-6, 11-8 victory over No. 3 seeds Jorja Johnson/Tyra Black.

Johnson/Black, like Glozman/Kawamoto had done earlier, started off the match with a dominant performance in Game 1.

But Bright/Rohrabacher, like we saw from Waters/Parenteau, raised their level considerably in the final two games, with Bright finding success playing a bigger role on the left side.

This result sets up ‘The Girlies’ to face the top seeds in Sunday’s final in what will be the year’s first installment of one of the most exciting rivalries in pickleball.

Waters/Parenteau closed out the 2024 series with a triumph at the PPA Finals, so Bright/Rohrabacher will be seeking revenge to start off 2025.