DRUMMONDVILLE, March 17, 2019

With Ricardas Berankis and Yannick Maden, the top two seeds of the Challenger Banque Nationale de Drummundville will meet in Sunday’s singles final. The tournament, which offers $54,160 in total prize money, will be played from March 11-17 at the René-Verrier indoor tennis club in Drummondville.

In Saturday’s first singles semi-final, Yannick Maden of Germany, the tournament’s second seed, was taking on a tricky opponent in Michael Redlicki of the United States. Despite his moderate ranking of no. 349 in the world, he caused the upset over three of the top seeds, including a tightly disputed match against Jurgen Zopp of Estonia. After dropping the opening set, Maden elevated his game, notably committing less errors and serving more effectively. The match required a decider where after going down 4-0, Redlicki retired with an injury to his leg. Maden booked his spot in the final with a 5-7, 7-5, 4-0 victory.

Fighting for a chance to join Maden in the final were Matteo Viola of Italy, the no. 14 seed, and Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania. Both players had different journeys to the semi-final, as the Italian took part in a number of lengthy matches early on in the week while the tournament favourite had yet to drop a set. Berankis’ experience was on full display on Saturday, as the former world no. 50 overpowered his opponent to take the match in a little over an hour by a score of 6-4, 6-0.

Berankis won the only previous meeting with Maden at Rennes earlier this season. The title match starts at noon on Sunday and will be followed the doubles final, where Adil Shamasdin of Canada and Briton Scott Clayton will take on the top seeded Australians John-Patrick Smith and Matt Reid.