Coming into this week, the pairings of Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns and Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin had squared off at four separate tournaments, with all four of those contests going to a deciding third game.

It’s only fitting, then, that their first Championship Sunday meeting went to a deciding fifth game and lasted over two hours.

Momentum swung to the side of Bright/Patriquin after they took both the second and third games to go up 2-1, but Waters/Johns used a late 14-4 run in Games 4 and 5 to complete the comeback and come away with an 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-4 triumph.

Johns spoke afterwards about how he and Waters were able to find their best form down the stretch.

“In the last game, I felt like we did dictate a little bit more. I feel like whenever we get into a very tight scenario, we both like to attack—we don’t really like to get tight,” he explained. “I felt like we were pulling triggers, we were hitting drives, and we were closing on the net. That’s always how I want to play, but definitely in a fifth game, I really want to play that way.”   

Both Bright and Patriquin had success using lobs to move their opponents off the kitchen line, a strategy that played a crucial role in the No. 3 seeds gaining the upper hand in the match’s middle stages.

Johns gave some insight into the challenges that the barrage of lobs presented.

“I really like the lob from the right side off the forehand outside wing, from both Anna and AL. It’s a great shot. I wouldn’t say exhaustion kicks in because it’s not that much running to track them down, but it can certainly get to you in one point,” he explained. “Your breathing can get a little harder and your heart rate goes a little higher, and that can cause you to miss a drop because you didn’t stay down for an extra half second.”

It can be tough to find positives—and even humor—in the immediate aftermath of a loss like Sunday’s, but Patriquin gave a memorable response to a question about the positives from the match.

“I think one of the positives I took out of it is that we won in three, so if we see them in the semis, there’s hope,” he said.

Whether it’s on Championship Sunday or in any other round of a tournament, pickleball fans everywhere will be looking forward to the next meeting between these two teams.

In the bronze medal match, No. 10 seeds Tina Pisnik/Noe Khlif defeated No. 8 seeds Kate Fahey/Federico Staksrud by an 11-9, 11-7 score line to hit the podium stand in their first tournament as a partnership.