In January of 2023, Anna Leigh Waters/Anna Bright struck gold in their first tournament together at the PPA Masters, an event that was being played at Mission Hills Country Club for the very first time.

Three years—and several memorable battles against each other—later, the two stars picked up their 15^th women’s doubles title as a partnership with a 12-10, 11-3, 11-2 victory over No. 4 seeds Jackie Kawamoto/Jade Kawamoto in front of a packed crowd, once again at Mission Hills.

The top seeds struck first and jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the opening game, but the Kawamotos came back to earn game point at 10-9.

Not deterred, Waters/Bright broke through after saving two game points and took Game 1, a triumph that would help them dominate the second and third games to pull off the sweep.

Waters spoke afterwards about how valuable that opening game win was.

“I think winning that game and playing aggressive gave us so much confidence going into the second and third games,” she told Pickleballtv’s Kamryn Blackwood and Matt Manasse. “The Kawamotos are amazing. They move the ball around and make you work for every point, and I think we were just trying to shorten those points, not by speeding up right away, but just by hitting aggressive shots in general.”

One of this partnership’s two losses came at the hands of the Kawamotos at the Cincinnati Showcase back in September, but Waters/Bright have now won the last two meetings since that defeat.

Bright spoke about how her partnership with Waters has grown in recent months as the two continue to set the standard in women’s doubles.  

“I think we’re developing more ways to win, which is a big deal. I think really good teams are able to make a lot of adjustments and win in different ways, and I think we’re finding that and we’re getting better at making those in-game adjustments,” she explained.

Waters and Bright will both take to Humana Championship Court again on Sunday—not as partners but as opponents—when they face off in the mixed doubles final.

Despite the highly competitive natures of both players, Waters says that it’s not weird having to go to war against her women’s doubles partner in another event.

“I feel like Anna and I have played each other in mixed so many times for so many years that we kind of know how to flip the switch on and off,” she mentioned. “The first couple of points might be weird, but I feel like once the match gets into a rhythm, we’ll just be kind of focusing on ourselves.”

No. 3 seeds Jorja Johnson/Tyra Black will take on No. 5 seeds Etta Tuionetoa/Lacy Schneemann in the women’s doubles bronze medal match later Sunday afternoon.