Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns continued their strong start to 2025 by defeating Kate Fahey/Dylan Frazier 11-3, 11-7 in Friday evening’s first mixed doubles final in Tucson.

Fahey/Frazier—who came into event as the No. 16 seeds—had reeled off impressive wins over the pairings of Catherine Parenteau/Federico Staksrud and Jade Kawamoto/James Ignatowich to make the final four, but the top seeds got the job done without too much trouble.

One of the keys of the contest was Waters’ two-handed backhand speedup off the bounce. Most players will hit that shot from the left side of the court, but the 18-year-old phenom found success pulling the trigger from the right side.

Waters gave some insight into that shot.

“I’m basically just thinking about whether to go line, middle, or body. I’ll decide on one in my head, and that’s where I’ll hit it,” she explained. “Most of the time I’ll go line because the guy is in the middle, but once I’ve done that a few times, I will try and mix it up.”

Even though Johns has spent countless hours on the court with his mixed doubles partner, he’s far less familiar with his men’s doubles partner for this week, Hayden Patriquin.

He spoke about some of the challenges that come with playing with a new partner.

“With familiar partners, you’re more in a zone where your body already knows what to do. You know their patterns, and you don’t have to think about it too much,” he shared. “With new partners, there’s definitely a little more communication going on, just talking through patterns and what balls each of you is gonna take.”

We’ll see how Johns fares with a new partner on Saturday before he and Waters face Tyra Black/Christian Alshon in Sunday’s final.