Stan Wowrinka, you beauty

Swiss entertains with his one-handed backhand on way to beating Borna Coric.

Stanislas Wawrinka, Wawrinka, Chennai Open, Tennis

Stanislas Wawrinka won 6-1, 6-4 at the Chennai Open on Wednesday (Source: PTI)

“Aaaah” went up an orgasmic cry, a collective scream of unadulterated joy in a place that used to be a lake once upon a time. Still draped in greenery, now there exists a charming little tennis stadium in its place where a first sighting of the gorgeous one-handed backhand from Stan Wawrinka had set the Chennai crowd going on Wednesday night.

It isn’t a celebratory shriek at a mere winner, it isn’t dependent on the match situation or the opponent, it doesn’t stem from parochialism or fanboyism. It comes from a deeper place. It’s that rare joyous cry of recognition of great art. Wawrinka must hear that throaty emanation all the time, all around the world. For he, along with Federer, Gasquet, Almagro and Tommy Hass, is part of the revival of a lost art.

The match in itself didn’t turn out as competitive as hoped. The 18-year Croatian, ATP’s rising star of last year, the boy who beat Rafael Nadal, the kid who idolises the boxer Mike Tyson and the confident talent who sees himself as Novak Djokavic when at his best and Andy Murray when he isn’t playing all that well ( the sports quote of 2014, surely?) was taken apart in straight sets. The first set lasted just 22 minutes, less than what it takes to download a season of the show House of Cards.

It wasn’t as if Borna Coric, whose ambition is to be World No.1, was a bundle of unforced errors in that first set. Just that Wawrinka brushed him off court, showing the kid who wants to be No.1 one day, the tough path ahead. Later, Wawrinka talked up Coric, saying how he is going to be a great player soon.

That’s for the future, we must return to the one-handed wonder, to that first moment of crowd involvement. It was the first game of the match and 40-0, on his serve, when Wawrinka unfurled the peachy shot. Even as the crowd cleared their throat, Coric jabbed it back with his double-handed version, only to hear the crowd groan in delight as a fierce backhand winner plummeted the ball past him.

Let’s cue up the fourth game of first set. A decent serve at 0-15 had Coric trying to get in a position of control but five flickering backhands, one after another, had him scurrying before he gave up. Clearly, Wawrinka was binging on that stroke. The set-up is quite a sight. The chin over the right shoulder, the racquet almost cocked up towards the sky, the left hand holding the racquet at the throat and then it happens. The right hand slips away, the hips turn as the racquet comes down in a poetic blur and the right hand stretches out, taking the ball in front of the body. Coric didn’t have answers to that fluidity last night.

The first set was sealed with a shank. The ball looped off the racquet head, landing awkwardly near Coric who stabbed it to the net. To his credit he came back strongly in the second set, managing to force Wawrinka into longer rallies and play more forehands.

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The ploy triggered a moment of amusement from the crowd. Up went a cry from a man, “Target his backhand, Coric!” And peals of laughter. They didn’t want a dull longer match, they didn’t want a third set, they just wanted to see more of the same. Wawrinka also tapered off a touch in the second. Having realised there was no serious threat, he waited for his moment rather than trying to force it. It came in the eight game. Wawrinka climbed on to a couple of weaker serves to claim two break points and wait for a mistake. Forced to create something, Coric rushed to the net. The approach was decent, the follow-up shot was even better and by the time he got close to the net, he had an open court but he sank a back-hand volley into the net. Wawrinka was up 4-3 and went on to hold his serve to close out the match but not before he cued up one more special for the night.

In the penultimate game, as it turned out, Wawrinka was on the run behind the baseline. He was yanked off the court to his left with Coric waiting at the net. One-handed backhanders usually come up with a slice at this point. Wawrinka didn’t. Another fluent whiplash arrived instead and Coric was passed. No wonder that shot elicits a deep response from the tennis fans: Not just a purr of delight but also a touch of veneration.

Lee, Hesh to clash

Chennai: Mahesh Bhupathi, teaming up with compatriot Saketh Myneni, won a hard fought doubles pre-quarterfinal match to set up a mouth-watering clash with his former partner Leander Paes. The Indian fans’ hopes of seeing their tennis heroes Bhupathi and Paes play against each other for the second time in the country came true with Bhupathi and Myneni getting the better of Sood Brothers, Chandril and Lakshit, 6-7, 6-4, 10-6 in the pre-quarterfinal. Paes, teaming up with South African partner Raven Klaasen, will face-off with the Bhupathi-Myneni duo in the quarterfinals late on Thursday night. (PTI)

Results

Men Singles (2nd Round): [1] S Wawrinka (SUI) bt B Coric (CRO) 6-1, 6-4; [4] D Goffin (BEL) bt R Berankis (LTU) 6-0, 4-6 7-6(1); [8] G Muller (LUX) bt E Ymer (SWE) 6-4 6-3; A Haider-Maurer (AUT) bt J Vesely (CZE) 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4.

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Doubles (1st Round): M Bhupathi (IND) / S Myneni (IND) bt C Sood (IND)/L Sood (IND) 6-7(4), 6-4, 10-6; R Berankis (LTU) / M Pavic (CRO) bt G Muller (LUX) / I Sijsling (NED) 7-6(7), 3-6, 10-8; P Raja (IND) / A Shamasdin (CAN) btA Bedene (SLO) / D Dzumhur (BIH) 6-1, 6-2.