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Sock and Goins reach the Worlds men's singles final; Waters and Fahey set on the women's side

A men's singles player stretching for a forehand on a sunny championship court

By Pickleball Skill Levels · November 8, 2026 · 3 min read · Last updated November 8, 2026

Jack Sock needed three games to beat Hunter Johnson while John Lucian Goins swept Christian Alshon, and Anna Leigh Waters and Kate Fahey rolled into another women's singles final at Worlds.

At a glance

Published · November 8, 2026

Read time · 3 min

Semifinal Saturday at the Opendoor Pickleball World Championships settled both singles finals at Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch, Texas. By the time the official PPA scores feed was last updated on Saturday night, all four singles semifinals were final — and three of them were over fast.

Men's singles: Sock survives the day's only three-game fight

Jack Sock beat Hunter Johnson 11-5, 8-11, 11-1. Sock took the opener cleanly, Johnson answered by taking the second game, and then Sock ran away with the decider, giving up a single point. It was the only singles semifinal, men's or women's, that needed a third game.

The other semifinal was all one way. John Lucian Goins beat Christian Alshon 11-4, 11-9 to reach the final without dropping a game on Saturday. Goins had been just as sharp in the quarterfinals, where he beat Christopher Haworth 11-5, 11-5. Sock's road in was bumpier: he beat Roscoe Bellamy 11-8, 11-7 in the quarters, and in the round of 16 he had to come back to beat defending champion Federico Staksrud 3-11, 11-6, 11-8.

Sunday's final pairs Sock against Goins, with the bronze match between Alshon and Hunter Johnson also on the schedule.

A ball dropping just over the net tape into the kitchen, close-up

Women's singles: Waters and Fahey barely give up points

The women's semifinals were routs. Kate Fahey beat Kaitlyn Christian 11-1, 11-3, and Anna Leigh Waters beat Brooke Buckner 11-2, 11-0. Between them, the two finalists gave up just six points across four games on Saturday.

Neither run came out of nowhere. In the quarterfinals, Waters beat Sofia Sewing 11-2, 11-8 and Fahey beat Catherine Parenteau 11-3, 11-0. Buckner reached the last four by beating Rika Fujiwara 13-11, 11-4, while Christian earned her semifinal spot the hard way, coming back to beat Jorja Johnson 11-13, 12-10, 11-7 in the only women's quarterfinal that went the distance.

That sets up a familiar finish on Sunday: Waters against Fahey for the world title, with Buckner and Christian meeting in the bronze match. Waters is also still alive in women's doubles and mixed doubles, so her Sunday could end with more than one gold medal match. If watching the pros makes you want to test your own singles game, our guide to playing pickleball singles is a good place to start — and the free skill check will tell you where your game stands right now.

Source: ThePickleHub, "PPA World Championships Results 2026" (updated Nov. 8, 2026), publishing the official PPA scores feed for the Opendoor Pickleball World Championships, Nov. 2–8, 2026, at Brookhaven Country Club, Farmers Branch, Texas. Semifinal and quarterfinal scores as listed there.

Now find out where YOU stand

Reading about levels is step one. The free skill check scores your six shots and names your level — and your weakest shot — in about two minutes.

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Pickleball words, in plain English

Players throw these words around like everyone knows them. Here is what each one actually means.

Kitchen
The 7-foot zone right at the net. You can stand in it, but you can't hit the ball out of the air while you're there.
Dink
A soft, gentle shot that just clears the net and lands in the kitchen. It forces the other side to hit up, not down.
Third-shot drop
Your team's first shot after the serve and return. Hit it soft so it drops into the kitchen — that lets you walk up to the net.
Reset
When a hard shot comes at you, you block it softly into the kitchen instead of swinging back. It slows the point down and saves you.
Drive
A hard, fast shot hit low over the net. The opposite of a dink.
Pop-up
A ball you hit too high by accident. It hangs in the air, and the other side gets to smash it. Most points at low levels end this way.
Speed up
To suddenly hit the ball hard and fast on purpose, to rush the other side before they're ready.
Volley
Hitting the ball out of the air before it bounces.