Raonic Beats Pospisil in All-Canadian Citi Open Final

Seventh-ranked Milos Raonic knocked off his fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-1, 6-4 on Sunday to win the Citi Open title match in Washington, D.C. The 23-year old Raonic captured the first final between two Canadians on the ATP World Tour in the Open Era to pick up his sixth career and first ATP World Tour 500 title.

Raonic was nearly perfect throughout the week in Washington, not dropping a set all tournament and winning a remarkable 52 of 53 service games. On Sunday, he ripped nine aces and broke Pospisil’s serve four times to roll to the straight set victory.

“It’s great the way it started,” said Raonic, who flew to Toronto immediately following the final to get ready for this week’s Rogers Cup. “I couldn’t have asked for more. I had a chance to break in every single game in that first set. Then I continued to play solid after that. All in all, a very good performance and an important moment for me.”

The dominant serve was the key to Raonic’s success all tournament long. His serve topped out at over 140 miles per hour and he smashed 83 aces in his matches. Against Posipisil in the title bout, he won 92 percent of his first serve points and kept his compatriot playing from behind all match long.

There was plenty of support for the Canadians in the United States’ capital on Sunday, something that did not go unnoticed to Raonic.

“That kind of atmosphere has been more consistently following us around the world,” said Raonic. “Not that many people knew there were this many Canadian’s in D.C.”

Pospisil was seeking the first tour-level trophy of his career and will see his ranking jump into the top 30.  Despite the loss, the 24-year old tipped his cap to the play of Raonic.

“I wasn’t nervous about playing the final,” said Pospisil. “It was a combination of him playing very well and me being a little bit heavy-legged, and just ran out of a little bit of gas. It took me a little bit to get into the match, get my groove, and get the legs going. But credit to him. He played very well.”

Both players now head north of the border to play in this week’s Rogers Cup in Toronto. Raonic will receive a first-round bye, while Pospisil draws a first-round matchup with 12th-seeded Richard Gasquet, whom he beat in the Citi Open semifinals.