Waters, Johns clinical in mixed doubles victory
ROCKWALL, TX - Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns continued to tighten their grip on the mixed doubles field with their 11-2, 11-7, 11-9 victory over No. 4 seeds Jorja and JW Johnson.
The Johnson siblings came out with a new look to start off the match, having Jorja play the left side with JW on the right.
Waters and Johns weren’t phased by the change, though, and took Game 1 in just over ten minutes.
“I think in the first two games, we felt pretty comfortable with that change just because it’s more of a new thing for them than it is for us because neither one of them is playing those sides super commonly in gender doubles,” Johns explained.
To that point, JW had just finished playing the men’s doubles final—during which he played the left side instead of the right—just fifteen minutes before the mixed doubles final began.
Despite their struggles in the first game, the Johnsons responded nicely in the early stages of Game 2 and jumped out to a 6-2 lead. Another impressive run from the top seeds ensued, however, and they scored nine of the next ten points to put themselves within one game of the title.
Waters and Johns continued their dominance even as their opponents switched back to their typical sides in Game 3 and closed out the match 11-9 to secure their sixth title of the year together.
In the bronze medal match, Anna Bright and Tyson McGuffin took down Vivienne David and Thomas Wilson 11-5, 12-14, 11-3.
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