GRANBY, July 29, 2017
Three Canadians join the tournament’s top seed Blaz Kavcic in the semi-finals of the $100,000 Banque National Challenger in Granby.
The first to book his spot in the stage of the last four on Friday was Brayden Schnur, who defeated Australian teenager Max Purcell 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 to post his 40th win of the season. The 22-year-old from Toronto was already guaranteed to crack the Top 200 for the first time on Monday and he will now rise even higher thanks to his semi-final berth.
Schnur will now face Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia. The World No. 100 edged past Tatsuma Ito from Japan 6-1, 7-6. Kavcic saved all four break points he faced, capitalizing on two of his own to seal victory in one hour and 48 minutes.
All-Canadian-Semi-Final-Clash
Peter Polansky continued his hot play during this summer hard court Canadian swing, advancing to his third straight semi-final thanks to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan. The second seed from Thornhill will next meet his fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov in a repeat of last week’s final in Gatineau.
For his part, Shapovalov was a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 winner over US-American Mackenzie McDonald to cap Friday’s night session as the 18-year-old continues his quest for a second straight Challenger title and third in 2017. The fourth favourite won 74 per cent of his first service points and broke serve four times to prevail after one hour and 48 minutes.
Sebov Advances
In the $60,000 ITF women’s quarterfinals, Katherine Sebov from Canada battled for over three hours before coming out on top against Japan’s Mayo Hibi 6-7, 6-4, 7-6. She led 5-3 in the third set before finally closing out the match thanks to some impressive play in the final set tiebreak. This will be Sebov’s fourth semi-final appearance of the year and she’ll take on French qualifier Jessika Ponchet on Saturday.
The tournament’s number two Marie Bouzkova from the Czech Republic and Cristiana Ferrando of Italy will square off in the second semi-final.
