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After an early exit in singles, Canadian Vasek Pospisil takes the doubles title in Rotterdam

After an early exit in singles, Canadian Vasek Pospisil takes the doubles title in Rotterdam

Canadian Vasek Pospisil's week in Rotterdam looked as though it would come to a premature end after a rather desultory performance against up-and-coming 18-year-old wild card Alexander Zverev in the first round of the singles.

(He did have this moment, though).

But on Sunday, the 25-year-old from Vancouver was still around, picking up hardware after he and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut defeated Alexander Peya of Austria and Philipp Petzschner of Germany 7-6 (2), 6-4 in the doubles final.

Both teams were unseeded.

Mahut, 34, had survived more than 4 1/2 hours of tennis Saturday. After losing a heartbreaker to Martin Klizan of Slovakia in the singles semi-final (he had three match points), he eked out a doubles win with Pospisil in the match tiebreak to put them in the final.

The doubles victory in a 500-level tournament (one level below the Masters 1000 tournaments like Indian Wells and the Rogers Cup), is the sixth doubles title of his career and earned Pospisil more than 50,000 Euros. It will boost his doubles ranking from its current No. 19 to No. 15.

In singles, though, Pospisil will drop a spot to No. 42. He is 1-4 so far this season; his only victory came in the first round of his second tournament of the season in Auckland against big-serving Ivo Karlovic. To put that in context, Karlovic retired in his first-round match at the Australian Open the next week and is only scheduled to return to play next week in Delray Beach, near his Florida home.

It's not an auspicious beginning, although there remains plenty of season left.

Pospisil's draws in recent weeks have done nothing to help him. He drew the sturdy Gilles Simon in the first round in Australia, the rising Zverev in Rotterdam, and now must play fiery Aussie Nick Kyrgios in the first round of his next tournament in Marseille next week.

(Rotterdam photos courtesy of Linh Eliano; Pospisil-Mahut pic from the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament's Facebook page)