Klinger and Duong dominate, McGuffin and Tardio maintain form in men’s doubles
After a full day of men’s doubles action, the results are in: three teenagers will take the court on Championship Sunday.
The pairings of CJ Klinger/Quang Duong and Tyson McGuffin/Gabe Tardio booked their spots in the men’s doubles final with impressive performances at the Melbourne Convention Center.
The teenage tandem of Klinger/Duong looked like the best team in the field on Friday, and it wasn’t particularly close.
Arguably the most notable moment for the No. 3 seeds came in the quarterfinals when they faced No. 6 seeds Bao Duong/Phuc Huynh.
This was the first time that the Duong brothers had faced off on the PPA Tour, and Bao—who is just 14 years old—certainly came out swinging.
Klinger/Duong would, of course, fully recover from the opening Nasty-Nelson and come away with an 11-4, 11-2 win to set a semifinal clash against No. 2 seeds Jay Devilliers/Collin Johns.
In that contest, they dismantled the tour veterans 11-2, 11-3 with a brutally clinical performance that propelled them into their first final as a partnership.
Duong was quick to applaud Klinger’s consistency.
“CJ has amazing hands and amazing footwork, especially at the net,” he noted. “I feel very confident that even sometimes if I don’t make dinks or hit a bad drop, I know he’ll be there to cover me. I can put a lot of trust in him, and it pays off.”
Top seeds Tyson McGuffin/Gabe Tardio await in the final.
The first-time pairing of McGuffin/Tardio had similar success in their half of the draw, though they were pushed to three games in the semifinals by No. 4 seeds Zane Navratil and local favorite Joey Wild, eventually coming away with an 11-7, 5-11, 11-2 victory.
“Joey’s a legend,” McGuffin said of Wild. “I think he’s one of the more talented doubles guys here, and we’re just happy to get through.”
Both McGuffin and Tardio are now into two gold medal matches in Australia after also advancing through the men’s singles draw on Thursday.
Even with their singles match looming, Tardio kept it all business for men’s doubles.
“Singles is singles, and doubles is doubles. We’ll leave the rivalry for Sunday."
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