After a nearly two and a half hour final, the Houghton Boston Tennis Classic has crowned its champion: Canada’s own Filip Peliwo. With a final score of 7-6(7), 6-7(5), 6-1 over American Marcos Giron, local crowds were thrilled with an exciting end to the weeklong Futures-level event in Saskatoon. Peliwo faced tough competition throughout the week, with his quarterfinal and semifinal matches also going to three sets. The Canadian, seeded 4th, beat three other seeds along the way to the title, including the number 1 seed Alexander Sarkissian in the semis.
Filip Peliwo had an illustrious junior career, winning both Junior Wimbledon and the Junior US Open in 2012. That same year he made the finals of the other two Junior Grand Slams and achieved the Junior World Number 1 Ranking. He was the first Canadian male to win a Junior Grand Slam and the first Canadian to hold the top junior ranking. Now age 23, Peliwo is having great success on the Futures tour. The Houghton Boston Tennis Classic is his sixth Futures title of 2017.
In doubles, Americans Alexios Halebian and Alexander Sarkissian defeated Peliwo and his American partner Ronnie Schnieder in the final 6-3, 7-6(0).
Six players hailing from Saskatchewan – Harry Collins, Joshua Saban, Payton Nicol, Conrad Koch, John Carrol & Adrian Urteaga – competed in the Qualifying for the tournament, with Payton Nicol winning his first match, before falling in the final round of Qualifying.
The Houghton Boston Tennis Classic, now in its seventh year, is a US$25,000 Futures Level professional men’s event sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation and authorized by Tennis Canada. Riverside Badminton & Tennis Club in Saskatoon hosts the tournament.