Johnson, Patriquin end first tournament together with mixed doubles title
Championship Sunday’s third match on Humana Championship Court featured two first-time pairings squaring off for the mixed doubles crown: Jorja Johnson/Hayden Patriquin versus Tina Pisnik/Andrei Daescu.
After just over an hour of incredibly high-level play, Johnson/Patriquin emerged with an 11-8, 11-3, 11-8 victory.
Both members of the teenage tandem excelled throughout the contest; Johnson expertly varied the direction of her dinks in the crosscourt rallies with Pisnik and had success going behind Daescu up the line, while Patriquin demonstrated an impressive balance between all-out aggression and patient pickleball.
The 19-year-old spoke about how finding that balance has helped him improve.
“I’m known for the flashiness, but I’ve been trying to mellow out,” he explained. “I think that’s helped my game a lot, but I’m always down to entertain the fans.”
That mellowing out certainly seems to have helped, as this result gives him his first career mixed doubles title on the PPA Tour.
Top seeds Anna Bright/Dekel Bar defeated Tyra Black/Pablo Tellez 11-1, 11-4 in the bronze medal match.
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