All-Canadian duo of Peter Polansky and Adil Shamasdin win doubles in Lexington

They're two of the lesser-known lights on the Canadian tennis scene. But a tournament win is a tournament win.

Adil Shamasdin, 32, of Pickering, Ont. and Peter Polansky, 26, of Thornhill, Ont. teamed up at the $50,000 Lexington Challenger in Kentucky and took the doubles title Saturday, defeating American Chase Buchanan and James McGee of Ireland 6-4, 6-2 in the final.

Shamasdin is a doubles specialist who played college tennis as an Ivy Leaguer at Brown and whose career high ranking was No. 58 in 2011. Polansky, whose focus has always been on singles but usually picks up a partner for doubles at most tournaments he plays, was ranked No. 180 in doubles going into the event.

The two haven't teamed up often. But when they have, they've been successful. They played a Challenger event in Prostejov, Czech Republic together between the French Open and Wimbledon last month and made the final, losing to the team of Andre Begemann and Lukas Rosol – both of whom are in doubles finals today at the ATP Tour level, at different tournaments. Rosol won in Umag with Frantisek Cermak).

Before that, the last time was all the way back in 2005 when Polansky was just 17. The two reached the final of a Futures event in Montreal together.

"This is an only-Canadians-finish-first tournament,” Polansky told the tournament's website, referring to the fact that he won the doubles in Lexington a year ago with another Canadian, Frank Dancevic.

If you think playing professional tennis is glamorous, one look at Polansky's schedule the last two months will disabuse you of that notion.

After qualifying at the French Open and losing to Tomas Berdych in the first round, he headed off to Prostejov and Prague for a pair of Challengers. Then he went to London for Wimbledon qualifying (he lost in the second round). After that, he flew all the way down to Manta Ecuador, getting to the quarter-finals of the singles and winning the doubles (with Buchanan, as it happens) at a Challenger there.

Then it was all the way back up north for the grass-court tournament in Newport, Rhode Island. Then all the way back down to Bógota, Colombia for the ATP event there. After this successful pit stop in Kentucky, he gets to go home for the Rogers Cup next week.

Polansky's share of the winning doubles purse? $1,550 (U.S.)