SAGUENAY, October 30, 2017
After an eventful week of tennis, it was Greta Arn of Hungary who was crowned champion at the Saguenay National Bank Challenger. Sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the tournament offered $60,000 USD in prize money and was held from October 23 to 29, 2017.
Sunday’s final featured tour veteran Greta Arn, who recently came out of retirement, and Bibiane Schoofs of the Netherlands, the tournament’s third seed. Both finalists had a very different path to the final, with Arn winning all of her matches in straight sets, only dropping 13 games in total and winning three sets by a score of 6-0. Schoofs, on the other hand, played in three three-set matches on her way to the final. Prior to Sunday’s match, Schoofs had spent double the amount of time on court, needing over eight and a half hours to reach the final. Her longest match of the tournament was against American Maria Sanchez, which lasted just under three hours.
The veteran Arn made relatively quick work of the first set, converting on two of her six break point opportunities while facing none of her own. Arn needed only 24 minutes to close out the first set 6-1. Despite playing in only her seventh tournament since coming back from retirement, the Hungarian showed no signs of rust, putting her heavy hitting on display for the fans in Saguenay. Schoofs put up a fight in the second to try to get herself back into the match, but her opponent, former world no. 40, was too much too handle. Arn was crowned champion of the 2017 Saguenay National Bank Challenger with her 6-1, 6-2 victory, her first professional title since 2011.
“This was my first final in a while and I got a little bit nervous at the end. I am happy that I was able to close out the match and win the title,” stated the champion after her win. “This is one of the best ITF tournaments that I have played in, and I have played in quite a few tournaments over the course of my career. I felt very spoiled this week.”
The Saguenay National Bank Challenger was the final ITF sanctioned tournament held in Quebec in 2017. The tournament was preceded by the National Bank Challenger tournaments in Drummondville, Gatineau and Granby earlier this year. It is followed by the Tevlin Challenger, which is taking place in Toronto this coming week.
