Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns secured the first spot in the mixed doubles final with a 9-11, 11-6, 11-8 victory over No. 4 seeds Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin.

The top seeds seemed to be in trouble when they trailed 2-5 in the second game after dropping the first, as Patriquin found success hitting ernes off of Waters’ dinks up the line and Bright found ways to attack Johns off the bounce.

From there, though, Waters/Johns went on a 14-1 run to take Game 2 and earn a 5-0 lead in the deciding game.

Bright/Patriquin, to their credit, went on their own run to get to the side switch with a 6-5 lead. It wouldn’t be enough, though, as Waters/Johns closed out the match a few minutes later after nearly an hour and a half of high-quality pickleball on Humana Championship Court.

Outside of the excellent play from all four players, the day’s first semifinal also featured some extracurricular activity.

During the first game, Patriquin followed up his stellar play with some trash talk aimed at his teenage counterpart, which prompted Waters to respond, “Don’t talk to me like that.”

Waters gave some insight into the interaction after the fact.

“Hayden was telling me that my dinks were high and that he had poked the bear. He doesn’t need to be poking me, but Hayden and I get along well,” she said. “He likes to talk during the match, and if he wants to fire me up like that, he can fire me up. I just wasn’t taking it. It was making me mad, but I guess it did me justice in the end.”

No. 2 seeds Jorja Johnson/JW Johnson await in Sunday’s final.