Photo: Sarah-Jade Champagne
On Saturday, the singles semifinals of the Drummondville National Bank Challenger were played, while the doubles draw concluded and crowned its champions. The winners of the singles semifinal matchups were Canada’s Vasek Pospisil (Vernon, BC) and American Michael Mmoh, and in doubles, English duo Julian Cash and Henry Patten defeated compatriots Arthur Fery and Gilles Hussey to claim the title – their eighth Challenger-level trophy of the year.
In the top half of the men’s singles draw, No. 3 seed Pospisil survived a three-set battle against Frenchman Antoine Escoffier 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to punch his ticket to the finals. The nearly two-hour contest finally went the way of the British Columbian after he fended off two break points in the ninth game of the decider before sealing the victory on his second match-point opportunity. Despite struggling on his second serves – winning only 33 per cent of those points – Pospisil capitalized whenever he managed to land his first serves in play, claiming 84 per cent of first-serve points.
Clinching the second spot in the finals was No. 2 seed Mmoh, who cruised past Michael Geerts of Belgium 6-2, 6-0. In the opening set, Mmoh earned the first break advantage, but immediately faced a pair of break points in the following game. After successfully turning aside both of the Geerts break points, Mmoh found another gear and took complete control of the match, winning nine of the next 10 games. On Sunday, Mmoh will meet with Pospisil for the fourth time in his career. Pospisil currently leads their head-to-head 2-1.
The doubles final was an all-British affair that saw the top-seeds Cash and Patten come out on top. They defeated Fery and Hussey in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. Cash and Patten have been red-hot this season, winning eight Challenger titles – two of which were in Canada. They both cracked into the Top 100 in the doubles rankings for the first time in their careers last month, and they continue to climb the leaderboard as the 2022 tennis season approaches its end.
Sunday’s singles final gets underway at 1 p.m. ET. Click here to see all the results from the Drummondville National Bank Challenger.
