Standing shoulder to shoulder at net, competitors were proud collaborators. In the capital of the United States, Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil raised the Maple Leaf for a pre-match photo-op to commemorate the first all-Canadian ATP final in history.
When Raonic blasted a backhand return winner down the line to break serve for the third time in 30 minutes, a shell-shocked Pospisil could have waved the white flag. The Canadian No. 2 never capitulated, but never really recovered as Raonic pushed him right out of the title picture.
Controlling his nerve and commanding on serve, Raonic punished Pospisil, 6-1, 6-4, in a 67-minute rout to roll to his first ATP 500-level title. The second seed won 26 of 28 points played on his first serve, denied the lone break point in his opening service game, and swept through the field without surrendering a set in five tournament victories.
Trudging through the thick humidity on heavy legs, Pospisil looked physically depleted from fighting through two one-set deficits on Saturday, and mentally drained by the burden of his first ATP final against a friend and former junior rival. He didn't always get his body behind the ball at the outset, resulting in some unsightly misses.
Raonic ripped a diagonal return to earn triple break point in the opening game. Two points later, Pospisil scattered a wild backhand wide, giving one of the game's most imposing servers an early head start.
Spinning a nervous double fault off the top of the tape, Raonic faced his only break point of the day in the next game. He proceeded to crank a service winner down the middle, hammer an ace in nearly the same spot, and close with a service winner. It was only a one-break lead, but given that Raonic had dropped serve just once in the entire tournament, it felt decisive.
Lacking the leg strength to launch up on serve, the 6'4" Pospisil dumped successive double faults in dropping serve to fall into a 4-1 hole. Two games later, Raonic scalded his shakiest shot—the two-handed backhand—to seal the first set.
