Pairs glory for Van Asch and Johns
Anne Johns joins Lynsey Clarke as the Australian Opens most prolific winner after bagging a sixth trophy alongside Rebecca Van Asch in today’s women’s pairs final. Anne Johns and Rebecca Van Asch have etched their names onto another Australian Open trophy after a stunning final performance against Ellen Ryan and Julie Keegan in today’s $15,000 women’s pairs final live on Fox Sports.
With the victory today Anne Johns now equals Lynsey Clarke as the most prolific winner of Australian Open titles; six in total now for Johns over an eight year period and just as remarkably the Australian Jackaroo has now achieved a grand slam after securing all four trophies, the singles, pairs, triples and fours.
This Australian Open title is the second Johns and Van Asch have accomplished together having teamed up back in 2014 to win the fours alongside Lynsey Clarke and Kelsey Cottrell.
In the post-match interview the pair joked about being dumped by their previous Australian Open pairs partners; however everything happens for a reason and after a thrilling semi-final victory with Bec Van Asch’s last bowl, Johns and Van Asch finished the fairy tale with a 21-14 victory in today’s final.
Anne Johns was just as thrilled by claiming her first Australian Open pairs title today on the Gold Coast as she was when she won her previous five Australian Open titles at Darebin International Sports Centre and Shepparton Park and says the duo are both really excited and happy to scrape over the line against quality opposition.
Johns was asked how she felt about becoming the Australian Open’s most prolific winner, sharing the achievement with Australian Jackaroos Captain Lynsey Clarke.
“The Australian Open has been a great hunting ground for me and I’m very excited to share the honour with my good friend Lynsey Clarke,” said Johns.
Johns and Van Asch appeared to have a distinct game plan in today match and handled the windy conditions the Gold Coast threw up slightly better than their opponents on this occasion.
“Today we had a plan to play longer ends as we noticed in their semi-final yesterday, Ellen and Julie were playing shorter length ends really well; it went against the tactics we had in all the matches leading up but it paid off today,” said Johns.
“Bec is awesome to play with, we had no dramas or hassles all event, and if I missed it Bec was always there to back me up.”
Bec Van Asch was a big influencer on today’s match with some clutch bowls at the right time to steal hope from Ryan and Keegan.
“We’re stoked to come away with a win today; we gelled really well together this event and had a lot of fun along the way, it’s very exciting to win another Australian Open with a good friend,” said Van Asch.
Caption- Bec Van Asch and Anne Johns claim gold in the Australian Open women’s pairs final.
