Wawrinka overcomes Muller, meets Goffin in semifinals

In a performance of calculated aggression, top seed Stan Wawrinka blunted a fierce challenge from Gilles Muller to enter the semifinals of the Aircel Chennai Open on Friday. 

He meets Belgian David Goffin, who came through in straight sets against Andreas Haider-Maurer.

On a day when his backhand didn’t necessarily fire when summoned, Wawrinka had to search for newer weapons — like the sliced and expertly redirected return winners — and also beat the elements, like the steady wind that blew across the court.

The first set scoreline of 6-2 suggests a mere routine for Wawrinka. But, both players initially struggled to control their shots. The breeze often caused the ball to drift away, flying off the racquet when not connected properly. 

It was then that Wawrinka curbed his natural instinct to go for power and instead loaded his shots with enough top spin to pull them back and hit the court earlier.

“The conditions were a bit windy,” said Wawrinka after the 6-2, 7-6(4) win. “I had to take it early and use more angles. I am happy I was able to do it.”

The Swiss also attacked Muller’s weaker side — backhand. It worked as long as the latter kept slicing and Wawrinka had the easy put-away.

However, in the second set, Muller changed his approach. The backhand slice was replaced by a proper double-hander.

His serve — so integral for someone who chooses to finish rallies quickly by knocking off volleys — got better.

A hold to 30 followed by a break to 30 gave him a 4-2 lead.

But, he surrendered it immediately by dropping serve.

In the next game, he had Wawrinka serving at 3-4 and 0-30, but again didn’t make it count.

This proved his undoing: the failure to subject his opponent to sustained pressure.

Wawrinka earned two break points at 4-4, but the 31-year-old managed to wriggle out and stretched the match to a tie-break.

He then stayed with the Swiss till 4-4, before the top seed dished out a backhand winner, a service winner and an ace in succession to finish things off.

In another quarterfinal, Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, in a much-improved performance compared to the one in his earlier round, prevailed over Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu 7-6(7), 6-4.

He meets Aljaz Bedene, the qualifier, who defeated fifth Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in three sets.

Agut, the third seed, had to fight from a break and two set-points down in the first set. However, in the second, he proved to be a far better player. An early break to 2-1, followed by four of his best service games, handed him the match.

Paes-Klaasen in final

In doubles, Leander Paes, in the company of South African Raven Klaasen, reached his seventh Chennai Open final, beating the Spanish duo of Pablo Carreno Busta and Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-3 in under an hour.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/wawrinka-overcomes-muller-meets-goffin-in-semifinals/article6773564.ece

Bedene takes out Lopez

At 156, Aljaz Bedene’s ranking seems deceptively low.

For, he was once ranked as high as 71 and in 2013, on an outside court here, he ousted Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals and hustled Janko Tipsarevic in the semis.

In both matches he had shown, with mind and body in sync, he had top-50 potential.

But much of last year was lost to injuries even as his mind was preoccupied with talks of obtaining British citizenship.

On Thursday, it was a rediscovery of his old self as he limited Feliciano Lopez’s debut run at the Aircel Chennai Open to just one match by packing off the second seed 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 25 minutes.

Lopez is one of the few practitioners of the art of serve-and-volley tennis. Even on relatively less hospitable surfaces — like the slow hard courts in Chennai — he is more than willing to practise it. But, for it to succeed, the game has to flow from the serve and against Bedene he just couldn’t get it right.

“Nothing was working for me today,” said Lopez. “My serve and volley didn’t. I was also not moving well from the baseline.”

The world No. 14 endured a tough opening phase. Bedene’s murderous inside-out forehand meant that Lopez had to either find success with the body serve or drill it down the T.

In the first few service games he did neither. Yet, his instinct pushed him towards the net and he found himself wrongly positioned. A break for Bedene in Lopez’s second service game was its end result.

Lopez did show glimpses of how good his service can be, when, serving at 2-4, he followed up a body serve with two down the T and one service winner. Unfortunately, he could not keep it up.

Much of the time was spent remonstrating with himself. He missed routine backhand slices and his forehand lacked sufficient power.

If he had expected his fortunes to turn in the second, he was disappointed as the Slovene broke serve in the very first game, and as an add-on upped his level remarkably. In the five games the 25-year-old won on serve, he lost only five points.

The last few service exchanges just seemed customary before a netted backhand slice from Lopez ended matters.

Earlier, in the first match of the day, the Spanish third seed Roberto Bautista Agut defeated Peter Gojowczyk of Germany 6-3, 6-2.

The match was far closer than the flattering scoreline.

The world No. 15 was broken in both sets, saw his first serves go awry and endured trouble with foot-faults throughout. But his near-perfect stroke placement on crucial points saw him through.

Topsy-turvy affair

In doubles, Leander Paes and Raven Klaasen won an entertaining three-set contest against Mahesh Bhupathi and Saketh Myneni 1-6, 6-1, 10-7.

“It was topsy-turvy and more mental than tactical,” said Paes.

“And credit to Mahesh for playing so well in spite of not having had a full season.”

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/bedene-takes-out-lopez/article6769392.ece

Wawrinka dismantles the Coric challenge

Teenagers no longer win Grand Slams. But they sure do dent the odd reputation. Like Borna Coric did to Rafael Nadal at Basel.

The 18-year-old Croat was looking for a repeat act on Wednesday, this time against reigning Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka. But, for all the promise and the accompanying hype, his firepower was expertly doused by the Swiss with a 6-1, 6-4 win in the pre-quarterfinals of the Aircel Chennai Open.

In a sense, the two matched each other in most areas of the game. Both their first serve percentages were in the fifties. Wawrinka hit 24 unforced errors to Coric’s 23.

But the difference was in the number of winners: Wawrinka hit 22 to Coric’s nine.

Tough three-setter

Earlier in the day, fourth seed David Goffin came through a tough three-setter against Ricardas Berankis to enter the quarters. The first set of the match was a rout. Berankis won all of five points and it lasted just 16 minutes. That Goffin is an excellent returner is well-known. But on display was also his immaculate third shot, the return of the return.

Berankis’s serve was way off mark in the first set. And Goffin’s positioning on the return and his excellent transition from defence to offence saw him take the set 6-0.

Even Goffin conceded that he “didn’t expect to play at that level.” So with the bagel in the bag, he seemed to switch off. A break in the first game and a hold to love in the next gave Berankis a 2-0 lead.

The Lithuanian pegged Goffin way behind the baseline making it tough for him to transition to offensive positions. Having done that, Berankis executed some deft drops to run down which his opponent didn’t have the legs.

The 24-year-old Belgian did manage to earn a couple of break-points with Berankis serving at 4-3, but the latter weathered the phase and went on to square the match at a set apiece.

Berankis’s problems with his serve resurfaced in the third set. Till the sixth game, each of his service games was a struggle. But at 3-3, he completely turned the tables and put the Goffin’s serve under pressure.

The Belgian held on, and then broke Berankis to go up 5-3 with the match on his racquet.

Goffin’s serve isn’t the most potent of his weapons. But on the day it was clean and tidy for the most part. He was broken for only the second time while serving for the match.

The match had to eventually be decided by a tie-break, and it ended just the way the match had begun — in a canter, as Goffin dropped a single point.

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/tennis/aircel-chennai-open-2015-wawrinka-dismantles-the-coric-challenge/article6764665.ece

Prashanth, Ramkumar and Devvarman fall in first round

Playing a top-100 player can be an experience in itself. For the three Indians in action on Tuesday it was, unfortunately, humbling. First, it was qualifier Vijay Sundar Prashanth, then 20-year-old Ramkumar Ramanathan and finally the top-ranked Indian Somdev Devvarman, who lost in straight sets to bring the Indian singles challenge to an end in the very first round at the Aircel Chennai Open here on Tuesday.

Prashanth lost to Czech Jiri Vesely (world No. 65) 6-2, 6-1, Ramkumar to Japan’s Tatsuma Ito (87) 6-3, 6-3 and Devvarman to Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu (38) 6-3, 6-4.

“Very disappointing,” said Devvarman after his loss. “Both of us lacked a bit of rhythm. Both lacked match practice. But in the end he played better.

“I didn’t put enough pressure. Like at 3-3 in the second set. But setbacks happen and the hard work has to continue. I now hope to do well in the Australian Open qualifiers where I have never got through,” said the 29-year-old.

For Ramkumar, too, it was supposed to be a new start. After an excellent 2014, which saw him win five Futures titles, make forays into the Challengers and take his ranking to the 200s, he was expected to be more than the surprise package that he was when he shocked Devvarman in 2014. During the year he also worked on strengthening his serve and enhancing fitness. 

But, on Tuesday, one of those two facets — the serve — just gave away. His first serve percentage was a lowly 51. In the first set alone it was 44. He did serve nine aces to his opponent’s two but they came at times which rarely changed the course of the game.

“He [Ito] played well,” said Ramkumar. “I went for a lot of winners and maybe I should have tried to rally a bit more.”

Ito’s performance was clinical. A solitary break in the fourth game of the first set gave him the head start he needed. He then moved Ramkumar end to end. Even as the youngster ran down balls, his non-existent backhand meant the run-around forehand had to be used. With this he ceded acres of space into which the Japanese planted winners.

The first few games of the second set were perhaps the only ones in which Ramkumar looked threatening.

A break by Ito in the very first game didn’t help, but he did well to earn two breakpoints in the fourth.And, thereafter Ito stepped it up. His shots were more forceful and consistently landed near the tramlines.

As a result, all Ramkumar could do was slice his backhand to keep the ball in play.

In between, he also made some desperate attempts to intimidate and unsettle the Japanese by following his serve to the net.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/prashanth-ramkumar-and-devvarman-fall-in-first-round/article6761777.ece

Craft takes Muller through

The city’s tennis fans have always taken some time to warm up to each edition of the Aircel Chennai Open. The latter half of the tournament has always elicited a better turnout than the first, mostly due to the extra sprinkling of stardust. 

On day one of this year’s tournament, even the tennis seemed to mimic the crowd. The Gilles Muller-Edouard Roger-Vasselin match was subdued and had none of the laborious baseline rallies and constant ball-pounding that characterise today’s matches. There were 33 aces in all. The points were mostly short. It was all guile and craft as Muller beat the 2014 finalist 6-7(11), 6-1, 7-6(3) in 2 hours and 23 minutes. 

But then, like the tournament has done in recent years, the day too ended with a flourish with Croatia’s Borna Coric, full of adrenaline and power, demolishing Dutchman Robin Hasse 6-2, 6-2.

“I am surprised at how well I played in the first match of the year,” said the 18-year-old after the match. He will meet top seed Stan Wawrinka next.

In the first match, both Muller and Roger-Vasselin displayed a penchant to get closer to the net and shorten the rallies. The only phase which appeared to be a stretch was the first set tie-breaker — a long-drawn, 24-point affair — which Roger-Vasselin won.

“I was pretty passive in the first set,” said Muller. “Then I got more aggressive in the next two. For me it is crucial to find ways to finish off points at the net as I can’t rally with guys from the baseline.”

In the second set Muller took off. It was wrapped up in less than half an hour even as the other two tie-break sets spanned close to an hour each.

The Frenchman tried to regroup early in the third and even had an opening with Muller down 0-30 on his serve. However, some excellent serving — which he did consistently, dishing out 29 aces — bailed him out.

“Edouard is a great returner. I had to mix it up. I sliced, employed the kick-serve, hit some flat. I had to give him different balls to play,” said Muller.

Then, a break to 4-3 gave Roger-Vasselin another opportunity, but he squandered that too with Muller coming up with two remarkable returns — the twitch returns with minimal racquet swing — and two unforced errors on his part. 

From thereon, the set was had easily, on a tie-break to three points. “This is not a good start to the year,” said Roger-Vasselin. “Last year I reached the final and today I am out in the first round. I must admit the tactic of giving up the second set so that I could be ready for the third did not work.”

In the day’s other results, seventh-seeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers retired in the third set against Andreas Haider-Maurer due to a knee injury with him trailing 3-6, 7-6(6), 2-0.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/craft-takes-muller-through/article6758460.ece

Tough to look beyond Wawrinka

For tennis fans in this part of the world, the Aircel Chennai Open is sort of a jamboree. It is an annual confluence of some of the world’s best tennis players, showing their wizardry in front of a crowd largely deprived of any quality tennis action otherwise. Nothing ever precedes or follows this event, which is in its 20th year.

But season-openers are rarely seen in isolation. When put on the world stage, their importance grows manifold. The tremors caused by players right at the start of the year reach far and wide, extending deep into the ever-growing tennis season. 

Under scrutiny

And with that comes scrutiny and endless days under the microscope entailing a complete dissection of one’s game.

Stan Wawrinka discovered that last year. It was considered his breakout season, quite odd for someone 29 years old.

When he won the Australian Open, he was credited with having opened the doors for players other than the ‘Big Four’ — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. 

A first Masters title and Davis Cup followed. But with every early loss — Miami, Indian Wells and Roland Garros — he was subjected to the sort of inquisition normally reserved for the world’s best. But he held on and finished in the upper tier.

Now, as he arrives in Chennai as the top seed, he is being welcomed by a seemingly tricky draw. A possible second round opponent could be the exciting 18-year-old from Croatia, Borna Coric. He is also drawn to meet the Belgian David Goffin in the semifinals.

The bottom half is led by the two Spaniards, Feliciano Lopez and Roberto Bautista-Agut. While the former is enjoying a resurgence in the autumn of his career, the latter is a vastly-improved player since he made the final here in 2013.

It is also in this half that the two Indians, both wild cards, Somdev Devvarman and Ramkumar Ramanathan, find themselves in.

For the soon-to-be 30 Devvarman, it marks the first step towards his goal of getting back into the top-100. For 20-year-old Ramkumar, a place in the main draw is a re-affirmation of his growing potential.

From a season-ending ranking of 704 in 2013, the youngster reached a career-high 211 and is now 241. In the last edition, a run which started in the qualifiers ended with the big scalp of Devvarman in the first round.

As a result, the 2015 event will give him his first taste of defending a substantial number of points; 32 in this case. He opens against the Japanese Tatsuma Ito and is drawn to meet Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Feliciano Lopez in subsequent rounds.

For the title, however, it is tough to look beyond Wawrinka. The world No. 4’s form did indeed wax and wane. Yet, the average level at which he played was a notch above his previous year’s as this career progression during the last five years suggests — No. 21, No. 17, No. 17, No. 8 and No. 4.

Still, one decent year never offsets years of underperformance. So, the need for consistency is all the more evident as he goes into the Australian Open with the tag of defending champion.

How much he would like an encore in Chennai before that?

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/tennis/aircel-chennai-open-2015-tough-to-look-beyond-wawrinka/article6754110.ece

Devvarman meets Lu in tough opener

The highest-ranked Indian Somdev Devvarman has been handed a stiff opening round opponent in Chinese Taipei’s sixth seed Yen-Hsun Lu at the Aircel Chennai Open, which starts on Monday.

The 31-year-old is ranked 38 in the world — exactly 100 places above Devvarman — and has among his 2014 season’s highlights a final appearance in Auckland and a win over Tomas Berdych at the Cincinnati Masters.

“Its going to be really tough,” said Devvarman, who is in the same quarter as Spanish third seed and 2013 finalist Roberto Bautista-Agut. “He is coming off a superb year. He is among the top 40 in the world.”

“I have met him once before in Davis Cup and I won then.”

At the draw ceremony on Saturday, the top four seeds — Stan Wawrinka, Feliciano Lopez, Bautista-Agut and David Goffin — received byes, as has been the norm in recent years.

Of them, Wawrinka and Goffin have been placed in the top half, along with the seventh and eighth seeds Marcel Granollers and Gilles Muller. Lopez and Bautista-Agut are in the bottom half, with fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Lu.

Ramkumar meets Ito

The other Indian in the main draw, Ramkumar Ramanathan, will play Japanese World No.93 Tatsuma Ito, who in September last year handed Wawrinka a 7-5, 6-2 first-round defeat in Tokyo.

Of particular interest might be the mouth-watering second-round clash between Wawrinka and the teen-sensation Borna Coric, if the latter gets past the Dutchman Robin Haase in the opener.

In the doubles, Leander Paes will pair up with South Africa’s Raven Klaasen — his 99th doubles partner — and the two are top-seeded.

They meet Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko and Austria’s Andreas Haider-Maurer in the first round.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Saketh Myneni, who were granted a wildcard, face Colombians Alejandro Falla and Alejandro Gonzalez.

Victories for the two Indian doubles legends in their respective openers will see them pitted against each other in the next round.

The other Indian wild card pair of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and N. Sriram Balaji will play Lu and Britain’s Jonathan Marray.

In Saturday’s qualifying rounds, of the 17 Indians in the fray, six, including Yuki Bhambri, progressed to the second round.

At least one Indian is guaranteed a spot in the final round, with Bhambri taking on Vijay Sundar Prashanth next.

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/tennis/somdev-faces-lu-in-chennai-open-first-round/article6751637.ece