Women’s Doubles Final: (1) Lucy Kovalova/Callie Smith vs (2) Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher
Stars in professional sports are able to hit certain milestones early in their careers and Rachel Rohrabacher is one of pickleball’s brightest young stars with an opportunity to achieve something special on Sunday in Minnesota. She and Anna Bright booked their ticket to the championship match but they had to earn it as (6) Hurricane Tyra Black/Parris Todd gave them everything they could handle in game 2 after a very slow start in game 1. In the end it was the #2 seeds who were able to seal the deal with their aggressive dinks and heavy counter attacks. They will face the veterans (1) Callie Smith and Lucy Kovalova who had no trouble today defeating (5) Lea Jansen/Lina Padegimaite and (7) Andrea Koop/Tina Pisnik. The #1 seeds will have to lean on their experience and pick their spots carefully if they want a chance at gold as no team has shown the ability to match the up-tempo, grip it and rip it style of Bright & Rohrabacher.
Men’s Doubles Final: (3) Christian Alshon/Thomas Wilson vs (6) Connor Garnett/Tyler Loong
Christian Alshon and Thomas Wilson clearly had a game plan coming into today and it was speed it up early and often. Two of the more athletic guys on tour the shake and bake strategy worked to their advantage as they took out (5) Jay Devilliers/Pat Smith in three tight games before taking out (1) Collin Johns/Matt Wright 11-4, 11-3 to advance to Sunday's final.
On the other side of the draw the new partnership between Connor Garnett and Tyler Loong was able to gel early as they defeated (9) Julian Arnold/Jack Sock in two tight games in the round of 16. They rode that momentum to two more wins over (2) Federico Staksrud/Pablo Tellez and (8) Hayden Patriquin/Callan Dawson. We’ll see if they can deal with the up-tempo style of Wilson & Alshon and slow the pace of play.
On the Horizon
Championship Sunday gets underway tomorrow morning and four players have a chance to win double gold (Federico Staksrud, Connor Garnett, Thomas Wilson and Rachel Rohrabacher). It should be an exciting day of action so make sure to tune into PickleballTV beginning at 11AM CT.
