Bradley Klahn's week in Gatineau

Story and photos by Gavin Murphy

Summer 2018

American Bradley Klahn has good week in Gatineau.

Women’s Doubles Champs Bianca Andreescu (Mississauga) and Carson Branstine (Montreal).

Bradley Klahn, a 27 year-old hard hitting southpaw from California, captured both the mens singles and doubles titles at the 2018 Challenger Banque Nationle de Gatineau in July, located across the Ottawa River from Canada’s capital. The fifth seed defeated France’s Ugo Humbert 6-3, 7-6(5) en route to the championship and was ranked 122 in the world following his victory. Klahn and his American partner Robert Galloway took the doubles title winning over the tournament fourth seeds, Canada’s Peter Polansky and Darian King from Barbados, by scores of 7-6(4), 4-6, 10-8.

Women’s singles champion Astra Sharma (Australia).

On the women’s side, Australia’s Astra Sharma topped tournament eighth seed Victoria Rodriguez from Mexico in three sets by scores of 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 to capture the singles title. Sharma was ranked 380th in the world after Gatineau. Canada’s Bianca Andreescu and Carson Branstine, seeded third, took the women’s doubles title defeating Marcela Zacarias from Mexico and Taiwan’s Chieh-Yu Hsu in a three set victory by scores of 4-6, 6-2, 10-4.

Last year’s champ Peter Polansky (Thornhill) made it to the quarters in singles this year.

This year’s tournament had a total purse of $100,000, with $75,000 going to the men and $25,000 to the women. It is part of the International Tennis Federation Women’s Circuit and the Association of Tennis Professional (ATP) Challenger Tour. Once again the tournament saw strong performances from Ontario’s Polansky and Andreescu, both past singles champions at Gatineau.

This year marked the fifth edition of the Gatineau National Bank Challenger and the tournament featured improved lighting on centre court to meet ATP standards. More than 4,600 fans were in attendance at the Parc de l’Île hard court site during the week. The Gatineau National Bank Challenger was the first of two mixed draw Challenger tournaments held in Quebec during July. It was followed immediately by the Granby National Bank Challenger.

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