Press Trust of India
Chennai, Jan 10: Living up to his top billing, Swiss Stan Wawrinka annexed his third Chennai Open singles title in a row, demolishing the challenge of Borna Coric in the final here Sunday. The World No. 4 defending champion strolled to a 6-3, 7-5 win over World No. 44 Coric in 86 minutes.
Wawrinka asserted his supremacy over Coric, winning the third clash against him and extended his Chennai winning streak to 12 matches and 24 sets. He has not lost a single set here in the last three years.
Wawrinka was clearly playing at a different level and the onus to make it a contest was on the young Croat. While the Swiss hardly conceded points on his serve, Coric’s serve was under tremendous pressure from the start. The Swiss was always hitting deep balls and making the Croat run from corner to corner.
Wawrinka finally broke Coric in the sixth game of the first set with a powerful backhand down the line which the Croat failed to return. He made it 5-2 by holding his serve after facing four breakpoints and then closed out the set on his next service game. The writing was clear on the wall for Coric.
Wawrinka never looked under any real pressure in the second set. The couple of points of problems were dealt deftly with powerful forehands. But Coric tried to make his presence felt on the court with some tremendous retrieving.
The Croat succeeded in delaying the inevitable with better service games and did not concede a breakpoint. But when he did offer one in the 11th game of the second set, Wawrinka promptly took advantage of it with a forehand volley winner.
On his serve in the next game, Wawrinka quickly established a 40-0 lead and then closed out the set with a deft drop shot with Coric stranded back-court.
