Raonic wins first title of the season in ‘O Canada Citi Open Final
ATP Washington
Milos Raonic has had an excellent season thus far and he won a well-deserved first title of the season at the Citi Open in DC 6-1 6-4 over a tired and sluggish Vasek Pospisil. Vashy was blitzed by a fast starting Raonic and never recovered, though he gave a better account for himself in the second set before being broken in the final game of the match, as their final marked the first time ever two Canadian players have contested an ATP tour final.
Raonic made maple leaf flag waving fans happy this week with wins over Jack Sock, Lleyton Hewitt, Steve Johnson and Donald Young this week, in addition to the Pospisil victory, and he didn’t drop a set all week, winning five tiebreaks in his first three matches. He did all this while keeping his hair combover in place too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4QSZgGN5eY
Pospisil, who endured a long losing streak after the Australian Open, has to be thrilled with reaching his first ATP final this week after wins over Rajeev Ram and Tomas Berdych in straights, and 3 set wins over Santiago Giraldo and Richard Gasquet. The match with Giraldo spanned two days, and after winning the third set in that contest he had to also beat Gasquet in a comeback 3 set victory, which should explain his fatigue this Sunday.
Vashy has always been talented and it’s been difficult seeing him struggle for a large part of this season. Hopefully, the surprise run this week will give him the confidence and form he needs to keep his ranking up the rest of this season and perhaps produce more final appearances and possible victories.
Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau beat Sam Groth and Leander Paes to take home the doubles hardware.
—Steen Kirby, Tennis East Coast
Tennis Atlantic 