Melissa/Brandie Into Montréal Quarters
The Canadians won Pool A 3-0 on home sand chasing a third straight Montréal title. Cruz/Brasher won a pool too, and both American men's pairs have an extra match to play first.
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson have won this event twice, in 2023 and 2025.
There was no Montréal stop in 2024, so those are consecutive editions rather than consecutive years, and a third one is now three wins away on their own sand.
They finished pool play without losing a match, closing 21-13, 21-18 against Brazil's Thamela Coradello and Victoria Lopes on Friday to take Pool A at 3-0.
Winning a pool at an Elite16 buys a bye. The top team in each pool goes straight to Saturday's quarterfinals while second and third have to survive a Round of 12 first.
The American Women Took Two More Pools
Kristen Cruz and Taryn Brasher also went 3-0 and skip the extra match, a week after winning the Manhattan Beach Open without dropping a set across six opponents.
Montréal has been less tidy. Anna Müller and Cinja Tillmann took them to 17-21, 21-19, 17-15, and Quiggle and Loreen pushed a second set to 23-21.
Molly Donlin and Kelley Denaburg won a third pool. Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft did not, losing to Brazil's Carol and Rebecca, so the American pair with the deepest résumé in this field starts Saturday a round earlier than the other three.
The Men Made It Harder
Both American men's pairs stumbled at the end of pool play and both begin in the Round of 12.
Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh opened 21-18, 27-25 over Waller and Pristauz, then lost 21-13, 21-10 to Sweden's Hölting Nilsson and Andersson.
Trevor Crabb and Chase Budinger beat Evans and Shaw, then lost to Austria's Pascariuc and Horst 21-19, 21-16 and to Anders Mol and Christian Sørum.
The arithmetic of that is simple and unkind. Cruz and Brasher play once before a semifinal berth is on the line. Both Crabb brothers have to play twice.
The purse is $300,000, split evenly between the draws, at Parc Jean-Drapeau. Quarterfinals run Saturday, semifinals and medal matches Sunday.
Home sand is worth something here. It has been worth the title the last two times this tournament was held.
