DRUMMONDVILLE, March 14, 2018 (Press Release)
Seven Canadian players were in opening round action at the $75,000 Drummondville National Bank Challenger was unveiled on Tuesday. The tournament is being played from March 10-18 at the René-Verrier indoor tennis club in Drummondville.
Three Canadians were in singles action on Tuesday, starting with 26-year-old Pavel Krainik (Toronto, ON) who received a wildcard into the main draw. The Canadian was playing in Drummondville for the fourth time and was looking to reach the second round for the first time. Standing in his way was the German Dominik Koepfer, who was fresh off his title run at the Sherbrooke Futures last week. After the taking the opening set, Krainik was in good position to go up in the second, but was unable to capitalize on his opportunities. Koepfer ended up taking the set and eventually the match in just under two hours by a score of 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.
18-year-old Benjamin Sigouin (Vancouver, BC), who received a wildcard into the main draw, was also in action on Tuesday where he faced Nicolaas Scholtz of South Africa. This was the Canadian’s fifth time playing in the main draw of a Challenger tournament. Sigouin battled back from down a set, but ultimately fell to Scholtz by a score of 1-6, 6-2, 4-6.
The final singles match of the day featured Filip Peliwo (Vancouver, BC), the tournament’s sixth seed, and Alejandro Gomez of Colombia, who was ranked as high as world no. 70 in 2014. After taking the first set, the Canadian struggled in the second, committing too many errors and the match needed a deciding set. The players exchanged breaks before Peliwo got the crucial one late in the set and then another to close out the match by a score of 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
There were also two all-Canadian teams in doubles action on Tuesday, starting with the young duo of Taha Baadi (Montreal, QC) and Chih Chi Huang (Port Moody, BC), aged 16 and 17 years old respectively. Although they lost to the American team of Nathaniel Lammons and Alex Lawson, the Canadian players got some good experience playing at the professional level. Just last week, Huang got his very first points by winning his opening round match at the Sherbrooke Futures. In the final match of the day, Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls, ON) and Adil Shamasdin (Toronto, ON) defeated/fell to the American duo of Evan King and Nathan Pasha 6-1, 6-4.
Other notable results from Tuesday include the tournament’s third seed Gleb Sakharov of France retiring from his match against his compatriot Constant Lestienne due to injury and lucky loser Jared Hiltzik of the United States eliminating #NextGen ATP star Nicola Kuhn of Spain.
The Drummondville National Bank Challenger is part of the group of tournaments sponsored by National Bank, a group that includes combined events in Granby and Gatineau as well as a men’s Challenger in Calgary and two women’s Challengers in Saguenay and Winnipeg.
The Drummondville National Bank Challenger is the final stop in a series of three tournaments held in Quebec during the months of February and March. The tournament is preceded by the Gatineau Futures presented by Turpin Group, National Bank Financial and the Subaru Sherbrooke Futures presented by Énergie 106.1.
