Philippoussis wins PowerShares finale
May 3, 2015
VANCOUVER — Mark Philippoussis beat Pete Sampras 7-6 (4) in the one-set championship match Saturday night to win the Champions Showdown, the 12th and final stop on the 2015 PowerShares Series tennis circuit at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre at the University of British Columbia.
The title is the second of the year for the Australian on the North American circuit for champion tennis players over the age of 30 – book-ending his championship in the opening event of the 2015 PowerShares Series in Salt Lake City, where he defeated Andre Agassi in the final. It also marked the fourth career title for Philippoussis on the PowerShares Series. Prior to 2015, the last time Philippoussis won on the Series was when he beat Jim Courier in the final of Surprise, Arizona in 2010.
In the semifinals of the four-player event earlier in the night, Philippoussis beat Michael Chang 6-4 and Sampras beat John McEnroe 6-4.
The win for Philippoussis earned him third place alone in the PowerShares Series points rankings for the season with 1100 points. Andy Roddick, with eight tournament titles in 10 event appearances, finished as the No. 1 player with 1600 points – taking a player’s best four tournament results during the season with each tournament winner earning 400 points. James Blake, with his tournament titles in Boston and Cincinnati and runner-up finishes in Lincoln, Nebraska and Richmond, earned the No. 2 ranking with 1200 points. McEnroe, the 2014 points champion, finished in fourth with 800 points followed by Jim Courier with 500 points, Chang with 300 points and Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Todd Martin with 200 points.
For more information on the PowerShares Series, go to PowerSharesSeries.com