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Zizou Bergs (ATP 174) won the challenger tournament of the Canadian Drummondville (hard/80,000 dollars) on Sunday evening. The 24-year-old Belgian defeated Australian James Duckworth (ATP 113) in two sets 6-4 and 7-4 in the final. The match lasted one hour and 21 minutes.
Bergs started the final battle furiously and initially gave the second seed little breathing room. At 5-2, the Limburger was allowed to serve for the first set, but he ultimately had to surrender the game. However, it did not faze the Belgian because Bergs took the set two games later with a convincing love game.
In set two, the balance of power was initially reversed and Duckworth went through Bergs’ serve at 1-2. In contrast to the first set, the Australian now had the opportunity to take a set at 5-3, but he also failed at an important moment. From then on, Bergs triumphed, winning four games in a row.
It was the first meeting between the Belgian and the Australian, who is an established name in the world of Challenger tournaments. Duckworth has already played 24 finals, of which he won thirteen. He barely won a title on hard surfaces: the challenger tournament in Japanese Toyota (carpet). It is the sixth Challenger title for Bergs.
In the semi-final, Bergs was given a free pass to the final battle, after his Czech opponent Michael Vrbensky (ATP 336) was forced to miss out due to an abdominal muscle injury he sustained in his quarter-final. In that round, the Limburger had defeated the German top seed Dominik Köpfer (ATP 82).