Quarterfinal Friday was started and completed indoors as rain continued to pour down at Brookehaven Country Club. It didn’t stop fans from packing the seats as they were treated to highly intense matches throughout the day. Let’s breakdown what went on.
Men’s Singles: Loyd’s magic run continues
Michael Loyd’s run at the Worlds feels eerily familiar to Gabe Joseph’s run to a title in LA last August. Both afterthoughts as title contenders in the draw but their runs feels almost unstoppable at this point. Loyd took down JW Johnson and will face Quang Duong in the semifinals who downed Tyson McGuffin in straights. Federico Staksrud will face Hunter Johnson in the other half.
Women’s Singles: Fahey continues to stay alive
Kate Fahey was once again in a hole in game 3 but this time to Lea Jansen, down match points in game 3 but she was able to stave off defeat again to clinch her spot in the semifinals. She’ll face Salome Devidze in what will for sure be a battle of groundstrokes from the back of the court. Meanwhile women’s doubles partners Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau will do battle as Parenteau survived a late scare from Kaitlyn Christian in her QF match.
Mixed Doubles: Duong/Bright impressive in victory
Quang Duong and Anna Bright had a tricky opponent in veterans Dekel Bar and Tina Pisnik but looked comfortable throughout as the pace from the man they call Q was tough for Bar and Pisnik to deal with indoors. It doesn’t get any easier as they’ll face Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters tomorrow. On the bottom half Texas Ranchers teammates Christian Alshon and Etta Wright will go up against Federico Staksrud and Rachel Rohrabacher. Staksrud/Rohrabacher took down the Johnsons handily in two games.
Women’s Doubles: Rematch of Virginia Beach classic set
Anna Bright and Rachel Rohrabacher will have to go through Tyra Black and Allyce Jones one more time if they want a shot at the title in Dallas. It’s a rematch of the Virginia Beach marathon match where Jones and Black were points away from pulling off the monster upset. Black and Jones are elite defenders and they’ll need their best against the #2 seeds to get it done this go around. Waters/Parenteau continue to cruise and will face Jansen/Pisnik in the semifinals.
Men’s Doubles: Teens back up win, punch ticket to semis
Quang Duong and CJ Klinger backed up their upset of the Johns brothers with a nice win over Christian Alshon and James Ignatowich 11-6, 11-7, They’ll face Dekel Bar and Pablo Tellez for a spot in the finals. On the bottom half of the draw, JW Johnson and Dylan Frazier had a commanding 11-6, 8-2 lead before squandering it to Riley Newman and Hayden Patriquin. It sets up what should be a vocal match between Newman/Patriquin and Staksrud/Wright. Staksrud/Wright narrowly got by Navratil/Rettenmaier 11-9 in the 3rd after a controversial foot fall no call.
On the Horizon
Semifinal Saturday kicks off at 12pm EST beginning with singles and ending with gender doubles. Don’t miss out on any of the action streaming on PickleballTV.
