Lea Jansen and Hayden Patriquin Move on to Semifinals

PPA Lakeville, MN Indoor USA Championships

PPA 2024 (Picture Kerry Pittenger)

Today, #8 seed Lea Jansen and Hayden Patriquin mounted a spectacular comeback to defeat #2 seed Collin Johns and Anna Bright in a marathon match lasting 1 hour and 53 minutes at the Pickleball Central Indoor USA Championships.

From the outset, both teams were locked in, with Anna Bright aiming to leverage court positioning to apply pressure on Leah Jansen, forcing her into difficult plays. Squeezing Jansen to hit challenging shots was clearly Anna’s game plan. There were several lead changes, but Jansen and Patrickwin took game 1, 13-11.

“That’s disgusting ⁦@annabright108⁩!” pic.twitter.com/eD6Akm0JP0

Throughout the match, Johns and Bright tried to exploit Jansen’s side, but it wasn’t always working. CJ’s refusal to ease up on the pressure enabled Lea Jansen to exploit a weakness on Bright’s left side.

Collin John’s decided to man the centerline and not poach too much, allowing Bright more freedom to attack. As the match progressed, the rallies became longer, and Jansen and Patrickwin’s strategy of applying pressure through aggressive shot-making and exploiting the smallest openings paid dividends.

The good communication between Jansen and Patrickwin were the difference-makers. They rallied from behind, saving 6 match points.