A British invasion seemed imminent during Sunday's finals at the Odlum Brown VanOpen but in the end it was a hometown hero who scored a stunning victory for Canada.
Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil fought off three match points to defeat Great Britain's Daniel Evans 6-0, 1-6, 7-5 in the men's final Sunday at West Vancouver's Hollyburn Country Club, winning in front of a loud and proud crowd that included many of Pospisil's closest friends and family members. Earlier in the day another Brit, Johanna Konta, struck the first blow for the motherland, defeating Toronto native Sharon Fichman 6-4, 6-2 to claim the women's title.
With Canadian pride on the line and a sea of Maple Leaf red in the stands, Pospisil took the court for what proved to be an incredibly intense and entertaining match. It didn't exactly start out that way though. Pospisil came out scorching hot, smoking winner after winner to take the first set in just 17 minutes. The 23-year-old Canadian, ranked more than 150 spots higher than Evans, appeared poised to finish off his opponent in time to make it home for an early supper.
Evans, however, had different plans. The 23-year-old Birmingham native - confusing and amusing fans with shouts of "allez!" and "vamos!" - was a completely different player in the second set as he blasted his way to an easy 6-1 win. Early in the third set it looked as if Evans would ride the momentum all the way to the title as he built a 4-1 lead and then earned three match points with Pospisil serving down 5-4. But Pospisil fought them all off with some powerful serves to win the game. He then took advantage of two doubles faults from Evans to earn a break and a chance to serve for the match.
With the match in his hand Pospisil won it in style, scorching his sixth ace of the set, seventh overall, to seal the victory. After receiving his trophy the Vernon native mugged for photos with friends and family before taking a trip down memory lane - his first ever pro match was played right there at Hollyburn, a qualifier for the 2005 VanOpen.
"I couldn't be more thrilled. It's like a dream, looking back to 2005 when I was playing my first ATP match," he said. "Back in 2005 it was very overwhelming for me. I was just a 15 year old who obviously had lot of growing to do physically and in my game and everything. My eyes were big and I was kind of looking at everybody like they were incredible players at unreachable levels. I was very new to everything, I was like an innocent 15 year old. Obviously it's very different now. Coming into the tournament this year as one of the favourites is very different from when you're 15 and happy to just win some games in a match."
Pospisil admitted, however, that being the hometown favourite comes with its own challenges.
"I'm going to be completely honest now that the tournament is over - it's really not easy," he said about playing in his home tournament. "It's very difficult, it's mentally draining."
During his victor's speech Pospisil joked that he likely knew half of the spectators personally.
"It's not easy but I'm one of the guys. .. it helps me a lot. When I play in front of a crowd that's behind me I play my best. It's a bit of a give and take situation. It is tiring and it is difficult, especially when you know so many people personally in the crowd, but then again. .. maybe I wouldn't have won the tournament without that crowd."
The win bumped Pospisil up to a career high ranking of No. 71 in the world and also earned him a cool $14,400 paycheque.
On the women's side Fichman - previously best known around the VanOpen as the charming Canadian kid who played Martina Hingis in a 2012 exhibition match - fell just shy of a perfect week of tennis. On Saturday she teamed up with Ukraine's Maryna Zanevska to win the doubles titles. She also played both her singles quarterfinal and semifinal on Saturday after rainouts disrupted play on Friday. That made Sunday's final her fourth match in two days and Fichman seemed to run out of gas, although she wasn't about to make the schedule an excuse.
"(Johanna) played a great match," she said. "I'm a professional athlete, it's my job to be ready to fight every day. Every day is a new day in the office. Today I came out there and did my best. Was my best as good as it has been previously? Maybe not. But I tried my best, I tried my hardest and that's all I can ask for."
Konta, meanwhile, is on a hot streak. Her VanOpen title comes after she won another Challenger tournament the previous week in Winnipeg. She, too, had to play a pair of matches on Saturday - on a wonky ankle that she sprained earlier in the week - but she admitted that Fichman's double duty may have played a part in the final.
"She definitely had a very tough schedule yesterday. I was aware of that and I came out here today wanting to be tough and wanting to stay in the match. I was expecting a tough match and she definitely did give me that and I'm just very happy to have taken my chances."
Sunday's other final saw the tandem of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, both from Israel, win the men's doubles title.
