Rain washes out tennis
Trio of Canadians face Granby delays
GRANBY — Tournament director Eugène Lapierre was thankful for small mercies.
“I’m glad it stopped raining long enough to finish that doubles match,” Lapierre said after a thunderstorm washed the featured evening matches at the $50,000 National Bank Challenger tennis tournament Friday. “We’ll be able to play the men’s doubles final at 10 tomorrow morning and then catch up on the singles.”
One semifinal matchup was decided Friday, but the rain left a trio of Canadians faced with the prospect of having to play two matches on Saturday. Sixth-seeded Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls will face teenager Filip Peliwo of Vancouver in one of the rain-delayed quarter-final matches, while wild-card Philip Bester of North Vancouver will play Australian Benjamin Mitch- ell, The winners will play in a semifinal later in the day.
The other semifinal will pit top-seeded Lukas Lacko of Slovakia against seventhseeded Hiroki Moriya of Japan. Lacko, who has yet to drop a set in this tournament, beat Briton James Ward 6-3, 6-2. Moriya upset third-seeded Tatsuma Ito of Japan 7-6, 6-4.
“I’m glad it stopped raining long enough to finish that doubles match.”
TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR
EUGÈNE LAPIERRE
That doubles match Lapierre was happy to see finish provided a Canadian presence in the final. The third-seeded pair of Erik Chvojka of Kirkland and Peter Polansky upset topseeded Lacko and Maxime Authom of Belgium 6-1, 6-2. The Canadians had a match point when it began to rain and they had a 40-minute wait before returning for the final.
The semifinals in the companion $25,000 ITF women’s event were set earlier in the day and there was one upset in the top half of the draw. Eri Hozumi, the sixth-seed from Japan, beat top-seeded Olivia Rogowska of Australia 5-6, 6-1, 6-2. She will face fourthseeded countrywoman Risa Ozaki, who defeated Sherazad Benamar of France 6-4, 6-3.
The other semifinal matches second-seeded Julie Coin of France against third-seeded Briton Samantha Murray. Coin beat Maki Miyamura of Japan, 6-0, 6-1 and Murray cruised past Japanese qualifier Riko Sawayanagi 6-1, 6-1.
In other tennis news, Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver reached the semifinals of an ATP World Tour event for the first time in his career when he rallied for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Italian Matteo Viola at the Claro Open Colombia in Bogota. Pospisil will meet local favourite Alejandro Falla in the semifinals. Falla stunned top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic 3-6, 6-2. 6-3.