The Tennis Yukon men's final looked a grueling match at times for Jan Polivka.

But the Czech Republic native clawed his way back to beat rival Kyle Marchuk in three sets on Sunday.

This was the third consecutive year the two met in the finals, with Polivka winning in 2009 and Marchuk winning in 2008.

This time around, Marchuk overpowered Polivka from the baseline to take the first set 6-1.

Polivka inched his way back into the match and won the second set 6-2, after some striking winners and a number of unforced errors by Marchuk.

Down 1-4 in the third set, Polivka won five games in a row to earn the championship.

"Kyle played very, very well in the first set, he didn't really leave me to do anything; I had no chance,” Polivka said after the match. "He was playing way faster than me, and with a lot of topspin, so it was really, really difficult. And I play my game, I run a lot. But I tried to change my game over the last few months to try to play faster too.”

Polivka coached in the Czech Republic for two years prior to moving to Whitehorse, where he's been coaching for Tennis Yukon for the past three seasons.

Reaching a high enough level to compete for the championships here is a challenge, Polivka said, because those looking for a competitive match try to get in one game per week in the two months leading up to the final tournament.

"Kyle is a great player, I should say he is a little better than me,” Polivka said.

"We don't have too many matches during the year, but they're always great.”

Marchuk, who was ranked 13th nationally when he was 15-years-old, said the match turned into a mind game.

"I think it had a bit to do with my confidence in the first set and playing aggressive, and as soon as I got into the second set I fell back and got a little complacent,”

Marchuk said. "He took advantage of that and the momentum swung the other way and he took the second set pretty easily.”

The Ontario native started playing at five-years-old in Waterloo, earning a spot on his provincial team. He walked away from playing competitive tennis at about age 17, but has coached since moving to Whitehorse five years ago.

As soon as self-doubt enters your mind the style of the match is changed, Marchuk said.

"You try to coach yourself,” he said.

"Jan and I are both coaches; you can sometimes step aside and see what you're doing wrong and you're pretty critical; but they're making changes all the time too during the game. Jan figured my backhand wasn't doing that great there in the second set and took advantage of that.”

He added that playing more throughout the year would improve everyone's game.

"Maybe in the future we'll have indoor courts too and we could play all-year round and the level of tennis will increase.”

Complete results from the Tennis Yukon tournament are as follows:

Women's

Doubles – Laurie Drummond/Marisa Johnson

Singles – Laurie Drummond

B singles – Carola Scheu

Men's

Doubles – Kyle Marchuk/Ken Liao

Singles – Jan Polivka

B singles – Shahid Sayed

B doubles – Tom Pan/Shadid Sayed