In what some people reported saying was the greatest display of paddle at the biggest stage, Canadian duo of Mark Parsons and Mike Stulac won the 2011 Nationals in their first season playing together. Mark and Mike beat defending Champion Johan DuRandt and new partner Matt Porter by scores of 7-5, 6-4.Mark and Mike made history as they won the first ever final played by four foreign born players. The 2011 champions were both born in Canada while Johan is from South Africa and Matt is from Australia. The number 10 seeds saved four set points in the first set and were able to pull off the match in front of almost 500 hundred spectators.Mark and Mike were on fire coming off their victory at Lehigh Valley and had some impressive wins on their way to the final. They did not lose a set in Chicago as they beat (12) Bondurant-Johnson (11) in the semis, Arraya-Bancila (2) in the quarters, and Easterbrook-Jonason (7) in the round of 16s.Johan and Matt played better and better as the tournament progressed and had also great wins: They beat Cochrane-Estes (1) in the semis, Marino-Uihlein (6) in the quarters, and Berka-Eberle (4) in the round of 16s.Witnesses of today’s final claim a new style of paddle has been born. During the players introduction before the final match began, the umpire told the crowd that he can hardly recognized the sport he started playing decades ago. Chicago definitely witnessed how today’s paddle is played at the highest level, and it is a lot of fun to watch.
