Ben Johns and Collin Johns Dominate Semifinal: Ben Johns and Collin Johns secured a spot in the men’s doubles gold medal match of their final tournament together, defeating No. 6 seeds Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu with an 11-6, 5-11, 11-5 victory. The match took place in Rancho Mirage, California, at the Zimmer Biomet Masters.
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Match Breakdown
After splitting the first two games, the Johns brothers gained control in Game 3, taking a 7-3 lead. They held that advantage and finished the match comfortably. The win took them one step closer to gold in their final tournament as a duo.
Adapting to Alshon and Daescu’s Size
Alshon and Daescu, standing 6’2″ and 6’4″ respectively, posed a challenge at the kitchen line with their ability to attack balls out of the air. To counter this, Ben Johns used his two-handed backhand roll dink, which proved to be an effective strategy against Daescu’s reach.
“I feel like that shot is almost there in terms of regularly being used, but it was also kind of a good matchup to use it against,” (Ben Johns).
“When you hit those more penetrating slice dinks, Andrei tends to take them out of the air and can get it on your partner pretty fast because he’s so long.”
Johns Brothers’ Final Push
The victory secured the top seeds a place in the gold medal match. For Ben and Collin Johns, it was a meaningful step toward closing out their partnership with one last victory.
News in Brief: Ben Johns and Collin Johns Dominate Semifinal
Ben and Collin Johns advanced to the gold medal match at the Zimmer Biomet Masters after a hard-fought win over Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu. The brothers used strategic adjustments, including a two-handed backhand dink, to counter the tall opponents and stay on track for their final tournament together.
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