2014 Wimbledon Doubles Champion Vasek Pospisil Advances to the Second Round at 2019 Odlum Brown VanOpen
With a hometown crowd behind him, Vernon-born, Vancouver-raised Vasek Pospisil moved into the second round at the Odlum Brown VanOpen with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win over Colin Sinclair, who was entered the tournament with an ITF-reserved spot.
Despite being pushed to a third set against a player 219 spots behind him in the ATP rankings, Pospisil felt pretty good. “I did, I thought the conditions were pretty tricky, there were heavy, slow balls, but honestly, Colin played well. In the second set there, I didn’t do too much wrong, I could have been a bit more dialed into the moment there, but he played a great set and then I did well to recover in the third. I was just happy to get through, it was an important win.”
After falling in the second set, the 29-year-old former World No. 25 made some adjustments in his game to grind out the win. “In the third set, I played a little more aggressive. I was just more aware of the short balls and the opportunities throughout the points, and it made a difference. I think I just applied pressure at the right time, then he gave me a few mistakes when I needed them and that was the difference there in the third set.”
Pospisil will now face 2017 ATP NextGen champion Hyeon Chung of Korea in Wednesday’s evening feature match-up on Centre Court. It’s the first ever match between the two.
Fellow Canadian Eugenie Bouchard didn’t fare as well as Pospisil, as she was knocked out of the tournament with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 loss to Hungary’s Timea Babos. 16-year-old Leylah Annie Fernandez of Montreal won her debut match at the Odlum Brown VanOpen, upsetting 7th-seeded American Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 7-6(1).
Other Canadians in action in the first round of men’s singles on Tuesday include North Vancouver’s Filip Peliwo, who lost to Greek qualifier Michail Pervolarakis and Peter Polansky of Toronto, who was upset by qualifier Liam Broady of Great Britain.
On the women’s side in first round singles action, Canadian wild card Carson Branstine was dropped 6-4, 6-3 by 2018 Odlum Brown VanOpen finalist and No. 6 seed Heather Watson of Great Britain. Fellow wild card Layne Sleeth had to retire due to injury in her match against Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg.
The matches continue Wednesday, August 14 at 10 am, featuring matches from Men’s Singles Second Round, Women’s Singles First Round, and Men’s and Women’s Doubles First Round.
Photo credit: Bo Mon Kwan