It was a busy summer for Milos Raonic, who competed in the first all-Canadian ATP final of the Open era and went on to win his first Series title.
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By McCarton Ackerman
Milos Raonic completed a breakthrough week by capturing his first Emirates Airline US Open Series title on Sunday at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., easily defeating Vasek Pospisil in the first all-Canadian final in ATP history, 6-1, 6-4.
The No. 2 seed broke Pospisil’s serve four times and saved the only break point he faced all match. Raonic hammered down nine aces on the day, bringing his total for the week to 82, and held in 52 of his 53 service games throughout the tournament.
The victory this week was the sixth ATP title of Raonic’s career, all of which have come on either indoor or outdoor hard courts. He earned $316,400 for the win and will jump one place in the rankings to No. 6, matching his career high.
Despite the loss, this week was also a career breakthrough for Pospisil, who reached his first ATP singles final. The 24-year-old has been making plenty of headlines on the doubles court in recent weeks with American Jack Sock. The pair shocked tennis fans by winning the men’s doubles title at Wimbledon and then backed up that result by winning the Series event last week in Atlanta.
Both Raonic and Pospisil willl now head to Canada to compete at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. Raonic has a bye in the first round as the No. 6 seed, while Pospisil plays No. 12 seed Richard Gasquet in the opening round in a rematch of their Citi Open semifinal from Saturday.