If Marcos Baghdatis keeps up his current pace, we can pencil him in as the 2019 champion of the Odlum Brown VanOpen tennis tournament.
The tournament has had big names before — Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray both played here — but almost always those appearances came before the players hit the big time. Baghdatis, however, had already made a name for himself before ever setting foot onto the grounds of West Vancouver’s Hollyburn Country Club. Now 29, the Cypriot’s biggest breakthroughs came in 2006 when he made the final at the Australian Open and the semifinals at Wimbledon. In 2009 he was coming back from injury and needed to pick up ranking points so he stopped by the VanOpen, brought a bunch of buzz to the tournament and then lived up to his billing and won the whole darn thing.
In 2014, coming back from injury and looking for wins and confidence, Baghdatis again decided to swing by the VanOpen and, once again, thrilled the fans with a championship performance. On Sunday Baghdatis made use of his sneaky-good serve, strong defensive game and sumptuous drop shots to beat Farrukh Dustov of Uzbekistan 7-6 (6), 6-3 in the final.
One telling tidbit of information illustrates how Baghdatis is on a different level than the rest of the players who he took on in this year’s VanOpen: despite his long tennis resume, Baghdatis said he had never before faced any of the five players he played at the VanOpen. They were all gunning for him, and he gunned right back.
“It was kind of weird because they have nothing to lose and they just go for shots,” he said of facing one new challenger after another. “They’re more relaxed, and you feel it. They’re pumped up to be there. . . . They were very aggressive and I was kind of defensive the whole week and kept fighting. I’m very, very happy I went through. It means a lot.”
Dustov, ranked No. 127 in the world and seeded fourth in the tournament, used his power game — at six-four he was a good six inches taller than Baghdatis — to his advantage in the first set as he held the lead throughout, but Baghdatis battled back and forced a tiebreaker.
“The first set was very crucial for me because I played a long match yesterday and didn’t want to go through another fight of coming back,” said Baghdatis. “Mentally it was going to be hard. But I’m very happy I found a way to win the first set, it made things easier in the second. He got a bit tired.”
Dustov jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second set but Baghdatis took control from there, winning six of the next seven games to run away with the match. All eyes were on the Cypriot throughout the tournament but being the fan favourite and top seed didn’t faze the veteran.
“I think the pressure is where you expect to win,” he said. “That’s where the pressure comes. It’s not mostly what people say, it’s what you expect from yourself. And sometimes you expect to play better and you get frustrated that you don’t match your expectations. I’ve been very, very happy with the way I’ve handled things this week. I’m not saying I played my best tennis but I know where I am at at the moment. . . . I’m not at my 100 per cent best so we’re trying to get through it.”
Baghdatis, now ranked 106 in the world, had fond memories of 2009 in mind when he decided to come back to the VanOpen to go for title No. 2.
“The vibe,” he said, when asked what he liked about the event. “The vibe of the people and the atmosphere here. It’s honestly one of the best events, there’s so much energy going on throughout the week here.”
Baghdatis is obviously hoping that at this time next year he’ll be back at a level far above the VanOpen’s Challenger status, but what about a return, just for fun, maybe five years from now for a shot at a triple crown?
“Listen, we will see,” he said with a laugh. “I hope I won’t be back just for the good reasons, not anything else. Maybe if I am in the top-whatever, maybe I can come back for other reasons. We’ll see. It’s a great tournament, it’s a great city.”
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In the women’s final Australian Jarmila Gajdosova topped Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3) in a match that started quietly — fans couldn’t muster much more than a polite clap even on important points early on — but built to a dynamite finish capped off by a third set tie-breaker.
After losing the first set, Gajdosova took over in the second and looked to be in control in the third with an early 2-0 lead. A medical timeout to treat a Tsurenko blister turned the tide, however, as the Ukranian player followed up her toe tape job by winning four straight games to earn a 5-3 lead and a chance to serve for the match. Gajdosova battled back again, however, with two breaks of her own to take a 6-5 lead. One more break from Tsurenko forced the tie-breaker where Gajdosova, ranked No. 103 in the world, finally finished the job.
“I just kept fighting and in the end I came back,” she said after accepting her championship trophy. “I knew she was going to be a tough match.”
Gajdosova is on the way back up the rankings after a few calamities knocked her off the radar. The native of Slovakia moved to Australia at the age of 13 and reached a high ranking of No. 25 in the world in 2011. But then her marriage to an Australian tennis player ended, her mother passed away and she missed a year of playing with a case of mono. She now lives in Dallas and is hoping this win will keep her heading in the right direction.
“My last year and a half wasn’t very peachy,” she said, adding that she was happy with the mental toughness she showed in winning the VanOpen. “I did all I could, I ran all I could. I think my coach would be proud of me that I can still run after all this time, that I’m not too old. I kept trying and trying and somehow it paid off in the end.”
Other winners included Austin Krajicek of the United States and John-Patrick Smith of Australia who teamed up to win the men’s doubles title and the American duo of Asia Muhammad and Maria Sanchez who won the women’s doubles crown.
The tournament also marked the end of the road for longtime fan favourite Rik De Voest, a South African native who won the VanOpen in 2006 and now lives in North Vancouver. He met his wife Carolyn at the tournament — she was Hollyburn’s athletic director at the time — and the two now have a Canadian-born baby son named Morgan.
De Voest announced that he would retire following this year’s tournament and was greeted by his family and a bottle of champagne from tournament organizers after losing to Australian youngster Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round.
“This is obviously a very special tournament for me,” De Voest said after the match. “I really have fond memories here of not just the tournament but everybody I’ve got to know at the club. . . . I’d like to thank my wife who stuck by me the whole way and our little guy Morgan. Hopefully one day, if the tournament is still here in 18 years, we’ll have you serving some balls.”
