Key Highlights
- “This may be the highest level that women’s doubles has ever seen,” Fleming said during the broadcast, reflecting the intensity and depth of the semifinal clash. Also Read: Nike Makes Blockbuster Signing of Anna Leigh Waters, but is It Too Late to Get Involved into Pickleball?Waters and Bright found themselves trailing 2-5 in the third game before reworking their tactics.
- The duo then reeled off the final nine points of the match to close out the contest against a pair known for pushing them to the limit. Waters said the decision to rely more on drives rather than third-shot drops proved decisive.
- “I feel like most of the time for us in women’s, the drive isn’t the right shot, but Jorja and Tyra have so much length, and especially when it’s cold outside, it’s really hard to drop and get in against them,” Waters told Pickleballtv’s Kamryn Blackwood and Matt Manasse.
- “They’re so good at flicking and getting the ball at your feet, so we just decided to go for the drives to hopefully get a ball in return that we could hit a better drop on.”Topsy-turvy campaignPrior to the semifinal, Waters and Bright had survived a scare in the semifinal when they dropped the opening game of their quarterfinal against Kaitlyn Christian and Jessie Irvine before winning the three-game duel.
- Bright said such matches were helping the partnership mature.“I think at the start of Anna and I’s partnership, we were just winning everything in two, and then whenever we went three we were losing,” Bright said.