If anyone had any doubts who the best team in the country was, Drew Broderick and Chris Gambino made it easy to answer that question: They are! Why? They simply beat the #2, and #1 teams in the country back-to-back in the semis and finals to claim their first APTA National title together.
In the final match of the day Drew and Chris defeated Johan DuRandt and Matt Porter by 7-6 (4), 6-3 and became the first lefty-righty combination to win since Cochrane-Estes won in 2007. The 2012 National Champs dominated the pace of the match and were rock solid playing defense when they #1 seeds threw anything they had in their arsenal: FYMs, slash, side spin, and waterfall overheads, drives to the body, drop shots, and any other shot that most paddle players don’t even know exist. Drew and Chris sticked to their game plan from beginning to end and that was clearly the main reason why (and how) they won.
In their way to the final, DuRandt-Porter had a scare in the round of 32s versus Brian Heil and Chris Struck. In the end, Johan and Matt prevailed by 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. In the quarters, they probably played the most entertaining match of the tournament. They beat Peter Berka and Drew Eberly by 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 while hundreds of fans cheered for both teams. After a 0-3 down and 3-5 in the third set, the Region 2 residents pulled off a great win that put them in the final 4.
This morning, DuRandt-Porter had another good win over #5 seeds Arraya-Bancila by 6-4, 6-3. The match was as flashy as it gets with all four players displaying their skills and shot making ability. Their match barely lasted 1 hour 30 minutes, which helped the South African-Aussie duo stay fresh for the last match of the day. On the next court, Broderick-Gambino were still battling versus defending Champions Mark Parsons and Mike Stulac.
Broderick-Gambino pretty much cruised through the semis only losing 12 games in their first five matches. However, in the semifinals the story was very different. Defending champs Parsons-Stulac took the first set 6-3 and things look like we were going to have the same final as in 2011. Drew and Chris had other plans: They played long points, lobed great and drove when they had to: in other words, they played classic paddle. After 3 hours and 20 minutes Broderick-Gambino prevailed by 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Although DuRandt-Porter appeared to be the favorites and had two more hours to rest between their matches, Broderick-Gambino showed in the big stage why they are the best team in the country and have not lost once in the last 12 months.
Other finals include:
- Quarters Reprieve – Marino-Schmidgall def. Easterbrook-Jonason 0-6, 6-4, 6-0
- 16s Reprieve – Estes-Uihlein def. Goodspeed-Mansager 6-2, 6-4
- 32s Reprieve – English-LeFevre def. Bredberg-Wilkinson 6-1, 6-2
- 64s Reprieve – Gillespie-LePivert def. Goncalves-Grangeiro 6-4, 6-3
- 128s Consolation Reprieve – Gart-Horne def. Morgan-White 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
- 128s Consolation – Hume-Jaysingh def. Garavaglia-Rahaley 7-6, 3-6, 6-2
