Photo: camerawork usa
While the focus was on the Australian Open final, a Canadian was winning an ATP Challenger final. Vasek Pospisil, the tournament’s fifth seed and no. 138 ranked player in the world, defeated world no. 167 Grégoire Barrère of France 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 this morning to capture the title in Quimper, France. The Canadian is now a champion on the Challenger circuit for the tenth time in his career.
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 since his arrival in Great Britain. 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.
The native of Vernon, BC started the match strong by breaking his rival in the opening game. Relying on his serve (3 aces, 87% 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 (you read that right) five games in a row and put a strong hold on the victory. Although Barrère avoided a bagel a few minutes later, the chips were already down.
6-1. Game, set and match, POSPISIL!
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. He will look to build on this success as he attempts to regain his place in the Top 100.
