Chennai: Defending champion and top seed Stanislas Wawrinka scored a clinical 6-1 6-4 win over Borna Coric of Croatia to progress to the men’s singles quarterfinals at the ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament here on Wednesday.
Title favourite Wawrinka needed just 71 minutes to brush aside 18-year-old Coric, ranked 95.
The reigning Australian Open joined fourth seed David Goffin of Belgium, Gilles Muller of Luxembourg and Austria’s Andrea Haider-Maurer in the quarterfinals.
Coric did not play badly but Wawrinka was able to score winners at will against the 2014 ATP Player of Tomorrow.
Wawrinka was so focused that he displayed all round success, scoring winners at will from the word go.
The manner in which he mixed his powerful backhand and forehands was a treat for the crowd.
Coric, who was brilliant in dispatching Robin Haase earlier, was all at sea against the class of Wawrinka.
Wawrinka said he was happy about winning the first match of the season.
“I started playing aggressively in the first set. But in the second set, Coric came back well by serving better. He is young and definitely he could improve,” said the world number four who next plays Goffin.
Earlier, Goffin became the first player to enter the quarterfinals by getting past Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania.
Goffin, ranked 22, had to bring in his experience especially in the tie breaker of the deciding before winning 6-0 4-6 7-6 (1) to advance in the USD 450,000 event.
Eighth seed Muller put paid to the aspirations of 18 year-old Elias Ymer, a Swedish player of Ethiopian descent, by scoring a 6-4 6-3 win 70 minutes.
Goffin was the favourite to win the match but Berankis upped his game in the second set and forced Goffin to remain too far beyond the baseline.
Though Berankis broke Goffin in the first game, the Belgian tightened his grip and was methodical in winning his service games. But the first game loss proved vital eventually as Berankis closed out the set to level the match.
As the match drifted to the decider, it was evident that the winner could be decided only in the tie break.
In the tie break, Goffin brought his experience into play and sealed the match.
In the other match, Ymer, who caused a major upset yesterday disposing off 84th ranked Ignor Sijsling of the Netherlands, failed miserably against Muller. His booming serves too deserted him.
In a doubles match on the side court, India’s Purav Raja and his Canadian partner Adil Shamasdin had an easy time against Slovakia’s Aljaz Bedene and Dammir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
They won 6-1 6-2 in just 51 minutes. (PTI)
