Press Trust of India
Chennai, Jan 8: Seeking a hat-trick of title triumphs, top seed Stanislas Wawrinka cruised into the singles semifinals of Chennai Open tennis tournament with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Garcia Lopez of Spain here Friday.
In the day’s other quarterfinal, third-seeded Benoit Paire also scored a straight sets win, beating Italian qualifier Thomas Fabbiano 6-4, 7-5 after spending 80 minutes on the court. However, Indian hopes in singles ended with Ramakumar Ramanathan going down after a tough fight with Aljaz Bedene 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-3.
World number 4 Wawrinka, from Switzerland, will take on Paire in the last four clash Saturday. He needed 77 minutes to see off the challenge of Spaniard Lopez, seeded fifth in the ATP Tour event.
Leaving aside the eighth game in which Wawrinka made three unforced errors, the Swiss was in total control, winning eight straight points from 4-4 to close the set 6-4 in 53 minutes.
Wawrinka came up with superb returns and his defensive forehands were perfectly executed, the highlight being the fourth game when he followed up a big serve with a perfect volley before earning a break point in the fifth.
Keeping up the momentum, Wawrinka broke Lopez in the seventh game of the second set before sealing the match in his favour.
