Setting up the first all-Canadian final on the men’s tennis tour, 13th-seeded Vasek Pospisil edged sixth-seeded Richard Gasquet of France 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-5 on Saturday night at the Citi Open, where he was to face Milos Raonic for the title.
Pospisil was two points from losing while serving and trailing 5-4 in the third set. However, he came back to hold, then broke in the next game when Gasquet’s signature backhand broke down and produced three errors.
Pospisil dropped his racket on the court behind the baseline and raised his arms after ending the match by serving it out at love, including a pair of aces at 200kph and 206kph. He reached his first career final — and won for the second time on Saturday.
About seven-and-a-half hours earlier, Posposil finished off a rain-interrupted 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-4 quarter-final victory against 10th-seeded Santiago Giraldo of Colombia. That match was suspended on Friday night, two points into the third set.
Raonic advanced by beating Donald Young of the US 6-4, 7-5.
The ATP said it would be the first time in the Open era, which began in 1968, that two Canadian men faced each other in a tournament final.
Raonic, 23, was born in Montenegro, moved to Canada at age three, and now lives in Monte Carlo. He was a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last month and owns five career titles.
Pospisil, 24, was born in British Columbia and now lives in the Bahamas. He won this year’s men’s doubles title at the All England Club with Jack Sock of the US.
The two Canadians played each other once before on tour: Raonic won their semi-final at Montreal in August last year, So Pospisil already knows what Young learned on Saturday about Raonic’s dangerous serve.
Powered by serves that reached 231kph and resulted in 15 aces, Raonic reached his first final of the season. He won 34 of 37 first-serve points and never faced a break point.
In the women’s semi-finals, Kurumi Nara of Japan dropped the first eight games before coming back to beat Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 0-6, 6-4, 6-4. The unseeded Nara reached the second WTA singles final of her career.
Nara was to face No. 2-seeded Ekaterina Makarova or No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova, a two-time Grand Slam title winner.
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