Tennis Canada  – Tournament’s top seed Blaz Kavcic defeats Canadian No. 2 seed in three sets
– No. 4 seed Caroline Dolehide captures women’s singles crown

Toronto, July 16, 2017 – Despite home soil advantage and the support of a Canadian crowd at the Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club, Peter Polansky fell just shy of capturing the men’s title at the Winnipeg National Bank Challenger on Sunday. Polansky was handed a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 loss by top-seeded Blaz Kavcic in the final day of action at the combined men’s and women’s $75,000 ATP Challenger and $25,000 ITF Pro Circuit Challenger event in Winnipeg.

After dropping the first set, Polansky rebounded with a strong effort and closed out the second set with his sixth of 12 aces recorded in the final. In the third, the 29-year-old Canadian came out of the gates flying, breaking Kavcic in the first game of the deciding third set.

However, the No. 1 seed from Slovenia responded immediately with a break of his own, and held on to his advantage to seal the win after two hours and 33 minutes of competition.

The title is Kavcic’s first of the year, although the 30-year-old had finished runner-up in three other Challenger finals in 2017 this past March in Shenzhen, in Kyoto in February, and Bangkok in January.

In women’s action, American Caroline Dolehide captured the $25,000 ITF Pro Circuit Challenger on Sunday, with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Japan’s Mayo Hibi.

Dolehide is now 2-0 versus Hibi this year. In February, Dolehide also defeated Hibi in the quarter-final round en route to winning the $25,000 ITF Women’s Circuit event in Surprize, Arizona.

The victory in Winnipeg is Dolehide’s third career title on the ITF Pro Circuit, in what was her third final of the year. She was also runner-up at a $60,000 ITF event in Charlottesville, Virginia this past April.
 
Sunday’s action wrapped up the 2017 edition of the Winnipeg National Bank Challenger, a combined $100,000 professional men’s and women’s tournament, and one of the largest pro tennis events held in Canada. For the final draws, please visit the official tournament website.

About Tennis Canada
Founded in 1890, Tennis Canada is a non-profit, national sport association with a mission to lead the growth of tennis in Canada and a vision to become a world-leading tennis nation. We value teamwork, passion, integrity, innovation and excellence. Tennis Canada owns and operates the premier Rogers Cup presented by National Bank WTA and ATP World Tour events, 10 professional ITF-sanctioned events and financially supports 12 other professional tournaments in Canada. Tennis Canada operates national junior training centres/programs in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary. Tennis Canada is a proud member of the International Tennis Federation, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the International Wheelchair Tennis Association, and serves to administer, sponsor and select the teams for Davis Cup, Fed Cup, the Olympic and Paralympic Games and all wheelchair, junior and senior national teams. Tennis Canada invests its surplus into tennis development. For more information on Tennis Canada, please visit our website at www.tenniscanada.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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