U.S. Open Pickleball Championships: Dawsons double down on gold

For a pickleball doubles pair, as with any teammates, communication and chemistry are key.

After 28 years of marriage, Jennifer and Steve Dawson have plenty of both. The San Diego couple showed what that bond can do Friday by continuing their dominant run through the Minto U.S. Open Pickleball Championships at East Naples Community Park.

The Dawsons used a rousing third-set comeback to win the senior mixed doubles pro championship, 6-11, 11-1, 12-10, on Friday evening. Combined, the couple has won six medals in Naples this week, five of them gold.

“The most important thing about pickleball doubles, like marriage, is you have to pick a good partner,” Steve Dawson, 55, said. “I picked the best partner.”

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Steve Dawson wasn’t merely flattering his wife. Jennifer Dawson became the U.S. Open’s first triple crown winner, taking home a bonus for winning gold in senior pro singles, doubles and mixed doubles. The tournament, in its second year, is offering the cash prize to any men’s, women’s or senior pro who can accomplish the feat.

“It’s been such an amazing tournament,” Jennifer Dawson, 50, said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”

The Dawsons first met as tennis players at the University of Oklahoma in 1985. Jennifer later transferred to the University of San Diego to finish her collegiate career. Both are teaching pros at the Bobby Riggs Tennis Club in San Diego.

Also on Friday, two local pro players continued their strong runs at the U.S. Open. Fort Myers native Kyle Yates and Naples resident Simone Jardim advanced to the finals of their respective doubles brackets

For the second straight year, Yates and partner Dave Weinbach of Madison, Wisconsin, will play in the men’s pro doubles championship, the tournament’s climactic event. Last year Yates and Weinbach won the marquee match – doubles are more popular than singles in pickleball – at the inaugural U.S. Open.

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“I’m pumped,” Yates said. “I’ve been waiting 365 days for this.”

The pro doubles divisions played Friday, but the finals were reserved for Saturday evening on the final day of the tournament. The women play at 6:30 p.m. with the men at 8.

The men’s and women’s doubles bronze medal matches were played Friday evening on the sold-out Zing Zang Championship Court.

Estero resident Ben Johns won his fourth medal of the U.S. Open, pairing with Joey Farais of Tucson, Arizona, to win bronze in the men’s doubles pro division.

“Joey and I played as good as we’ve ever played,” Johns, 18, said. “We were close in the semifinals (losing in three sets), so maybe next year we can win it.”

Sarah Ansboury and Christine McGrath took third place in women’s. The duo won the women’s pro doubles championship last year when McGrath was seven months pregnant. Ansboury and McGrath took silver in their age-group doubles division (30-and-older) earlier in the week.

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The 22-year-old Yates has dropped just one match at East Naples this week. He lost in the men’s pro singles on Sunday, the first of the U.S. Open’s seven days, before winning gold in the 19-and-over men’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Jardim and partner Corrine Carr Siebenschein from Morgantown, West Virginia, won three matches in straight sets Friday to move into the women’s pro doubles championship.

In her first full U.S. Open, Jardim also has lost just once. She won the women’s pro singles title on Sunday but lost in the mixed doubles 25-and-over finals.

Jardim also won the singles championship in Naples last year, but she didn’t play doubles. She still was the tennis coach at Michigan State and could only be in town for one day.

Shortly after last year’s tournament, Jardim moved to Naples to become the first instructor of the U.S. Open Pickleball Academy at East Naples Community Park.

Jardin said it took her and Siebenschein a while to find their groove on Friday. They’ll both play in pro mixed doubles on Saturday, giving them time to warm up before the women’s pro doubles finals.

“We were a bit rusty,” Jardim, 37, said. “We’ll both get to play a lot Saturday (before the women’s finals).”

U.S. Open Pickleball Championships

At East Naples Community Park

Friday’s gold medal winners

Mixed doubles skill groups

Age 19-49, 4.0 – Nikki Smith, Troy Miller

Age 19-49, 4.5 – Nicole Cameron, Jordan Hanisch

Age 19-49, 5.0 – JoAnne Russell, Jack Munro

50-and-older, 4.5 – Sylvia Whitehouse, Archie Adams

50-and-older, 5.0 – Lydia Willis, Gary M. Miller

Age 50-59, 4.0 – Nanette Muno, Bill Muno

60-and-older, 4.0 – Kay Nealis, Rick Johnson

Senior pro – Jennifer Dawson, Steve Dawson