Chennai: Top seed Stanislas Wawrinka lifted his fifth ATP World Tour title and second Chennai Open trophy after a convincing straight sets win over Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the final, here on Sunday.
The world number eight, who won a title here in 2011, scored a dominating 7-5, 6-2 win in the summit clash, which lasted one hour and 35 minutes.
Roger-Vasselin was trying to win his first ATP title but going past an opponent, who came into the tournament after a phenomenal season, was more than a difficult job.
Wawrinka, in the form of his life, was clearly a superior player.
He stood out with his powerful returns and solid ground-strokes, specially his single-handed backhand.
He hardly gave an inch to Roger-Vasselin, who though tried everything in his repertoire but was not enough.
With each passing game, Wawrinka imposed himself more and more on his rival and now leads Roger-Vasselin 2-1 in their head-to-head record.
Roger-Vasselin had beaten Wawrinka three months back at the Swiss Indoors Basel, while the Swiss won in Chennai two years ago.
“That’s (fifth title) really big for sure. It is my second title here so I am enjoying. I did my best here. I battled against top-10 in 2013 and I am doing everything (to improve).
“It’s been an amazing first week and I will take this confidence to first Grand Slam,” Wawrinka said.
“The tournament is improving and looking forward to come back here,” Wawrinka added.
Roger-Vasselin, appreciating the winner, said “It’s like a heartbreak to lose in final. Warinka was too good, so he deserves to win. He played amazingly whole week. He was simply too good. Hope next time, I will finally win a tournament.”
The Frenchman had ended runner-up to Ernests Gulbis at the Delray Beach Open in February, 2013.
There was a good fight in the first set as it was on serve in the first 10 games. A backhand winner earned Wawrinka his first break point in the 11th game and an unforced error from Vasselin handed the Swiss a mini lead. Wawrinka had no problem to serve out the set and he did that at love.
Roger-Vasselin was facing a break chance in the very first game of the second set but averted the danger with an audacious backhand winner following an exciting rally.
Soon Wawrinka earned himself his second chance in the same game when the Frenchman approached the net and the top seed blasted him past a forehand winner. Roger-Vasselin buried a backhand on the net to hand the Swiss advantage.
It was an easy drive for Wawrinka after that as he raced to a 5-1 lead and completed the win in the eighth game.
It was memorable tournament for Wawrinka as on Friday, he recorded his 300th match win of his career with victory over Aljaz Bedene. He became just the fourth Swiss player to reach the landmark after Roger Federer (926), Marc Rosset (433) and Jakob Hlasek (432).
However, a number of top players pulled out of the event, robbing it off some sheen.
Serbian Janko Tipsarevic did not come to defend his title and later on second seed Russian Mikahil Youzhny, third seed Italian Fabio Fognini pulled out due to injuries.
Fifth seed Vasek Pospisil also did not complete his semifinal against Wawrinak on Saturday.
Meanwhile, fourth seeds Johan Brainstorm from Sweden and Fredreik Nielsen from Denmark clinched the doubles title after beating unseeded Croatian pair of Mate Pavic and Marin Draganja 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 in the final.
Pavic and Draganja had got a walk over in the first round from second seeds Leander Paes and Fabio Fognini, due an injury to the Italian. (PTI)
