Canadians battle for tennis singles titles in Calgary National Bank Challenger
Posted Nov 12, 2023 10:48 am.
A pair of Canadians are playing for singles titles in the Calgary National Bank Challenger finals Sunday.
The tournament is the largest men’s and women’s combined indoor tennis event in Alberta and is held in the Osten and Victor Alberta Tennis Centre.
Vancouver’s Stacey Fung, seeded fifth in the tournament, is taking on Germany’s Sabine Lisicki in the women’s single event at 1 p.m. She defeated Poland’s Urszula Radwanska 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinal.
Later, Ontarian Liam Draxl, 21, will play Germany’s Dominik Koepfer, who is ranked No. 71 in the ATP and seeded first in the tournament, for the men’s singles title at 2:30 p.m.
Koepfer, the defending champion, got into the finals on a walkover against 22-year-old Canadian Gabriel Diallo, who was seeded fifth in the tournament.
Draxl, who entered the tournament as a wildcard, won his semifinal bout over American Andres Martin 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3.
The pair could join fellow Canadians Juan Carlos Aguilar and Justin Boulais, who took home the men’s doubles title Saturday night, defeating Great Britain’s Charles Broom and Ben Jones.
The Canadian pair won with scores of 6-3 and 6-2 to take their first Challenger circuit title and the first Canadian champions of the tournament.
