Perfect again: Waters and Parenteau keep rolling

Saturday, Catherine Parenteau and Anna Leigh Waters escaped. 

Truly. A comeback, remarkable because it was from 7-1 down in the deciding third game of the quarterfinal against Jade and Jackie Kawamoto, but impressive because Waters and Parenteau rarely find themselves in any sort of trouble.

So little trouble, they are like the ones at the head of the class. They’ve got perfect grades, Dean’s list, valedictorians, honor roll and on a roll. 

So, when they wiggled out of a tight spot Saturday evening, you just knew they’d be motivated Sunday afternoon.

“We wanted to be aggressive right off the bat instead of waiting for us to be down like we did in the third game yesterday,” Parenteau said. “I guess it was meant to be for the Comeback Queens this weekend.”

Queens, champs, undefeated. All of it applies, and now their streak has become even more notable. That’s 60 wins in a row for the pair, a streak longer than your best run on Wordle and is longer than a CVS receipt.

“I tried not to think about the 60,” Waters said. “We’re trying to get to 100.”

OK, why not 200? Who’s going to stop them? Etta Wright and Meghan Dizon weren’t able to as Waters and Parenteau rolled, 11-8, 11-4, 11-8 and lifted another trophy with ease Sunday in Phoenix. That’s two in two chances in 2024 and eight in the past eight tournaments they’ve played together going back to August of last year.

“It feels good,” Waters said. “Catherine and I have a lot of belief in each other. “When our opponents play amazing, we believe we can come back. That showed this weekend. Hopefully, we won’t have to show that next weekend.”

There’s little else to show or prove. The pair has accomplished everything conceivable, including the magic trick of their quarterfinal, “how’d-they-even-do-that” comeback.

“It means a lot,” Parenteau said of reaching 60 in a row. “But both of us try so hard to not think about it, because that’s when surprises happen. If you focus too much on results. We try to just focus on one match at a time.”

Next up, the tour stays in Arizona, heading to Mesa in two weeks and beyond that? Well, the two are committed to playing together for the rest of the season, so the real question is, when does someone else get a chance to win?

“Good question,” Parenteau said. “We committed for the whole year and we’ll see after that. Hopefully we can still win. We’re not perfect, and we don’t expect to be perfect all year, but hopefully we can keep winning.”