The most recent meeting between the pairings of Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns and Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin was a five-game battle in the final of the PPA Masters in January.

It’s difficult to imagine a more competitive contest than that, but that’s exactly what the four superstars delivered in the day’s third match as the winds picked up speed around Humana Championship Court.

In similar fashion to that bout in Palm Springs, Waters/Johns took Game 1 before dropping the second and third.

Their struggles continued to the point a 2-6 deficit in Game 4, but they were able to narrowly stay alive and force a decider after saving a championship point.

From there, Waters/Johns comfortably took the final game to come away with an 11-7, 9-11, 3-11, 12-10, 11-5 victory after nearly two hours on court.

“I was really glad that we buckled down in the fifth game and made a lot of balls,” Johns mentioned afterwards. “It was obviously adverse conditions with the wind, but overall, it was a really good match.”

Waters admits that she didn’t play her best, but she credits Johns for trusting her to perform in the big moments.

“I just want to thank Ben for sticking with me. In that 2^nd and 3^rd game, I was definitely not playing my best. I was feeling a lot of pressure from Hayden and Anna, who were playing amazing, so thank you to my partner for really believing in me. Finally, at the end of the 4^th and 5^th game, I played how I would want to play,” she said.

Even though Bright and Patriquin have yet to win a match against Waters/Johns, there is no doubt that this is turning into one of the most entertaining rivalries in pro pickleball.

In the bronze medal match, No. 4 seeds Rachel Rohrabacher/Christian Alshon defeated No. 2 seeds Jorja Johnson/JW Johnson by a 5-11, 11-2, 11-6 score line to hit the podium stand in their first tournament together.