Frank Dancevic- Getty Images

Dancevic Triumphs in Great Britain

June 9, 2008

Frank Dancevic returned to the winner’s circle last week when he captured the Surbiton Trophy, a €42,500 Challenger event on grass in Surbiton, Great Britain.

His run to the championship actually began before the main draw as he missed the cut by one spot and was forced to qualify. Following three easy victories in qualies, the 23-year-old Canadian got past No. 7 seed Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) in the first round when Muller retired from the match. He then recorded straight-set triumphs over British wildcard Alexander Slabinsky, Australian Rob Smeets and No. 8 seed Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France to set up a final showdown against No. 5 Kevin Anderson (South Africa). After dropping the first set, Dancevic rallied to take the second and then pulled through in the third-set tiebreak to win the match 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) for his first title of the 2008 season.

The victory highlights what has been an otherwise difficult season for the top-ranked Canadian men’s player. After a breakout 2007 season, he was hampered at the beginning of 2008 with a back injury and didn’t return to the courts until the beginning of May. Since then, he has been looking to find the form that saw him reach a career-high No. 65 on the South African Airways ATP Rankings.

Dancevic seems to have found that form and will look to continue his winning ways this week as he competes at The Artois Championships in London, a tune-up event to Wimbledon. He will begin his tournament against Italian Simone Bolelli on Tuesday.