Vernon’s Vasek Pospisil captured his 10th ATP Challenger Tennis Tour title Monday, Jan. 31, in Quimper, France.
Pospisil, the tournament’s fifth seed and ranked No. 138 in the world, defeated France’s Grégoire Barrère (No. 167) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in the final of the Quimper Challenger.
For Pospisil, it was his first Challenger final – and first title – since Charlottesville in 2019, when he defeated fellow Canadian Brayden Schnur 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-2. He took on Barrère with a lot of confidence, having lost only one set in four matches.
The duel looked promising, however, as the Frenchman had also been unbeatable against his opponents and had not dropped a set since the beginning of the competition.
Pospisil started the match strong by breaking his rival in the opening game. Relying on his serve (three aces, 87 per cent of points won on his first serves), he did not give the Frenchman any chance to comeback in the set, thus putting an end to Barrère’s eight-set winning streak.
While both players were fairly consistent in the opening set, the opposite happened in the second frame where four consecutive breaks were recorded. However, the Frenchman rallied at 2-2 to take a 3-2 lead. This seemed to give him a boost and he was able to take advantage of this momentum to force a decisive set.
However, just when the French fans were beginning to believe that their compatriot would make a comeback, the Canadian literally stood tall like a wall. Pospisil was relentless and brilliantly raised his level to win five games in a row and put a strong hold on the victory.
Pospisil now hold a perfect 2-0 record against Barrère – the Canadian also defeated the Frenchman in the first round of the Metz tournament last year.
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