66th USHA National Four-Wall Championships

FRIDLEY, Minnesota — Catriona Casey captured her third Women’s Open title with a convincing win over Cianna Ni Churraoin, 21-5, 21-0.  It was a bittersweet moment for Casey to face her doubles partner and friend who suffered an ankle injury towards the end of the first game.  Although Ni Churraoin was able to finish the match, she was a shell of the player who pushed Catriona for two games in last month’s WPH Players Championships in Portland. 

 

 

 

In Men’s Doubles action, Marcos Chavez and Sean Lenning defended their doubles title against the newly formed team of Andy Nett and Martin Mulkerrins, 21-12 and 21-17.  While the champions controlled leads through both games, Nett and Mulkerrins didn’t back down, briefly tying score in the second game through Nett’s streaking serves and Mulkerrins’ solid play.  An avoidable hinder against the challengers halted any momentum as Lenning and Chavez sealed their second consecutive Four-Wall Doubles crown. 

See final draws/results HERE.

SATURDAY

Killian Carroll and Paul Brady played one of the most memorable USHA National Four-Wall finals in history on Saturday ending with Carroll closing the door to Brady’s 10-year undefeated streak to win his first title (6), 17, 10.

“It just feels surreal at this point.” said the newly crowned champ. 

It didn’t appear that Carroll would have much of a chance early on, as Brady blitzed the youngster from Cork in the first game.  An early 20-2 lead foreshadowed Carroll’s doom, but Carroll didn’t relinquish game point, scoring four more points to show some life and build confidence at the end of the first game. Once the second game started, Carroll imposed his will on the defending champ, building sizable leads only to see Brady come back to take a 17-16 edge.  Getting the side out, Carroll scored five unanswered points to force the tiebreaker. 

Brady started with the serve in the tiebreaker and took control early leading 4-2, but Carroll never let his opponent build any more than a 2-point lead.  The two players were knotted at 8-8 when Brady scored two more points to be on the cusp of his 11th title.  But Carroll denied the historic moment, winning a long rally to regain the serve.  Two quick points had Carroll on the edge of his first title and the packed gallery on the edge of their seats with the score tied 10-10.  As his did so many times during the match, Carroll finished a rally with a flat kill to seal his first title. 

In a post-match interview, Brady reflected, “I’ll take the summer off, but I definitely don’t want this to be my last match.”

In women’s open action, defending champion Catriona Casey dropped Aoife McCarthy in two games and will face Ciana Ni Churraoin for the title Sunday morning.  Ni Churraoin advanced to the final with a two-game win over Jessica Gawley. 

Watch the action on the WPH Live Webcast at www.race4eight.com.  The Women’s Open final coverage begins Sunday, June 19, 10 a.m. Central.

Thanks to the USHA Presidents Club and the WPH Board of Directors, the WPH will be webcasting Men’s and Women’s Open matches LIVE, starting Thursday, June 16.  The FREE webcast will be shown at www.race4eight.com**Special thanks to the USHA’s President’s Club, the WPH Board of Directors, donors and supporters; plus the WPHLiveTV video team lead by Linda Manning and Kris Gurrad.

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