Vasek tops list of VanOpen players
The Hollyburn Country Club in West Vancouver will welcome Vernon-born Vasek Pospisil and other top ATP players as they hold the Odlum Brown VanOpen August 12 to 21. The ATP Challenger Tour event has a purse of over $159,000 USD.
“We are extremely happy with the calibre of the men’s field, it’s our strongest yet,” said tournament director Rik de Voest.
“We have returning past champions, exciting upand-coming stars of the future, and established players with victories over the world’s best, one of which has two wins over Novak Djokovic, all vying for the prestigious title.”
De Voest is anticipating some intriguing first round matches with the high quality line-up, but promised, “Tennis fans will be treated to some fantastic matches in every round.”
The 21-player men’s main draw list is among the strongest in the tournament’s 18-year history with six top 100 ranked players,
Pospisil captured the championship title in 2013. A former World No. 25, Pospisil holds four career wins over top-10 opponents, including former World No. 1 and fellow Odlum Brown VanOpen alumnus Andy Murray. The 32-year-old born in Vernon, won Wimbledon doubles in 2014 and has been ranked as high as World No. 4 in doubles. He also reached the quarterfinals in singles at Wimbledon in 2015 and finals at the 2014 Citi Open in Washington, D.C.
Overall, 16 countries are represented on the initial acceptance list and 14 of the players competed in the main draw at Wimbledon last month. France’s Arthur Rinderknech is the top-ranked player at 60th in the world, followed by Jiri Vesely, Czech Republic, (66), Jack Draper, Great Britain (85), Yoshihito Nishioka, Japan, (92), Jordan Thompson, Australia, (95), and Marc-Andrea Huesler of Switzerland is 96th overall.
Rinderknech’s career high singles ranking is No. 48. He reached the second round at the US Open last year and the Australian Open this year. The 27-year-old is a five-time singles winner and twotime doubles champion on the ATP Challenger Tour.
Returning to the tournament is 2019 Odlum Brown VanOpen men’s singles champion Ricardas Berankis of Lithuaniaw, currently with a world ranking of 102nd.