Odlum Brown Vanopen – British No. 2 Heather Watson Claims Her Ninth Career ITF Singles Title

 

West Vancouver, BC – Odlum Brown VanOpen top men’s seed Ricardas Berankis continued his landmark year on the ATP Challenger Tour as the Lithuanian claimed his fourth title on Sunday with 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win over tenth seed Jason Jung of Chinese Taipei.

The 29-year-old Berankis adopted a workmanlike approach all week during his matches, but let some emotion show in the final after it looked like he would run away with the match. He won the first set in just 27 minutes.

“This match wasn’t as controlled as some of my previous matches. In the semis and the second round, I felt like from the first point I was in control. Today in the first set, it was control, but in the second one it was so-so which I lost 5-7,” said Berankis, who is the first player to win four Challengers in 2019. “I needed to leave everything that I had on the court to win the match. It was a really tough match, Jason played really well.”

Berankis is currently ranked World No. 76 and owned the second highest win percentage on this year’s ATP Challenger Tour heading into the week.

In the women’s final, the second time was the charm for Heather Watson of Great Britain as she erased a 5-1 first set deficit and stormed back to win the 2019 Odlum Brown VanOpen women’s championship 7-5, 6-4 over third seeded Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain.

Watson was a finalist at the Odlum Brown VanOpen a year ago, falling in three tough sets to Misaki Doi of Japan. In returning to Hollyburn Country Club this year, the loss to Doi weighed on her mind. “Walking through the club every day, you see the winners all on the wall and I just missed out last year. It’s been a big motivation to get my picture on that wall,” she said.

For Watson, it’s the 27-year-old’s ninth career ITF singles crown. “It was such a battle out there today. It was just two sets, but it was by far one of the most physical matches I’ve played (this week) because of how Sara plays, she’s such a fighter, she’s very smart and tricky with her slicing, drop shots and coming to the net. Sara had a great start to the match and was just too good. I was 5-1 down and set points down, but I just carried on fighting and I’m really happy to come through that.”

Watson, who’s a former World No. 38, is the first player from Great Britain to win the Odlum Brown VanOpen women’s singles title since current World No. 15 Johanna Konta did in 2015.

Odlum Brown VanOpen

An ATP Challenger Tour, ITF World Tennis Tour and Tennis Canada Event

Sunday, August 18

Hollyburn Country Club

West Vancouver, BC

Purse: $208,320 USD

Surface: Hard-Outdoor

 

Saturday, August 17 – RESULTS

Men’s Singles Main Draw – Final

Ricardas Berankis (1), Lithuania, def. Jason Jung (10), Chinese Taipei, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

 

Women’s Singles Main Draw – Final

Heather Watson (6), Great Britain, def. Sara Sorribes Tormo (3), Spain, 7-5, 6-4.

 

For more information, contact Odlum Brown VanOpen Media Manager Brian Wiebe at 604-916-8448 or media@vanopen.com.

 

# # #

 

About the Odlum Brown VanOpen:

The Odlum Brown VanOpen is Western Canada’s largest and most celebrated tennis event. It offers a total of $208,320 USD in prize money and provides players the opportunity to gain valuable world-ranking points on both the ATP and WTA Tours. It annually attracts 130 international and professional players from over 33 countries. Milos Raonic, Maria Sharapova, Andy Murray, Johanna Konta, Kevin Anderson, Eugenie Bouchard, Vasek Pospisil, Marion Bartoli, Bianca Andreescu, Naomi Osaka and Karolina Pliskova are among the top stars who began their careers at the Odlum Brown VanOpen.