Cilic keeps the crown

Stanislas Wawrinka isn't one to show much emotion on court,preferring to let his one-handed backhand and the applause that follows...

Stanislas Wawrinka isn8217;t one to show much emotion on court,preferring to let his one-handed backhand and the applause that follows every time he rips one across court,to begin and end the conversation. But in the second set of the Chennai Open final against Marin Cilic,he looked at the crowd,raised his hands and let out a roar at the end of a tense rally,that ended when his opponent netted a forehand.

The pent-up frustration,which had been causing him to spew backhands out wide and argue about line calls,epitomised the continuing inability of the Swiss player to better his Croatian opponent on court. Cilic did very few things wrong as he fought his way to the defence of his title in two tie-break sets,7-6 2 7-6 3,keeping a cool head when it mattered,quietly picking on his racquet strings as he waited for Wawrinka to finish his exchanges with the umpire.

He maintained his rhythm through the close contest too,slugging out every long rally with backhands and forehands to remember,moving to the net every time he sensed an approach,and won his battle in the mind too.

Winning the mind games

8220;I8217;m very happy with the mental and physical strength I showed today. It was a mental battle out there. I played well when I had to,and it was important for me to win the first tie-break,8221; said Cilic,who went down on his knees and looked all around at the centre court crowd once Wawrinka had sent a backhand flying wide on match point.

The second seed didn8217;t look troubled through the match,despite Wawrinka being able to counter his challenge till the tie-breaks with some fantastic winners of his own,but the third seed couldn8217;t maintain that high level for long.

World No 21 Wawrinka broke Cilic in the eighth game of the first set to give himself the opportunity to serve it out,but a volley with the sharpest of angles across court brought Cilic back into contention. The 68217;68243; Croatian broke his rival in his opening service game of Set Two,only to be broken back right after,as each rally began to take on the appearance of an epic.

The players moved each other around with the tactical nous at the same level as a chess match,slamming a stream of forehands and backhands in every direction possible,slicing occasionally to change the pace of the rally,but often,it was Cilic who came up with the winning shot.

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8220;It was tough to lose the match like this,it was great tennis,8221; said Wawrinka. 8220;Marin was a little bit better than me,he deserved to win. It was very close,I hope I can take it next time. I needed to be more aggressive to push him,he took more chances than me,8221; he added.

Granollers-Santiago win

The touch play of Yen-hsun Lu had gathered an appreciative applause as he and Janko Tipsarevic on Saturday. But against the second-seeded Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Santiago Ventura in the final,Lu couldn8217;t do much with his Serbian partner looking out of sorts,netting volleys and mishitting forehands,as their opponents raced to a 7-5 6-2 victory. The first set was closely fought with two exchange of breaks before the Spanish pair served out in the 12th game. They piled up a 4-0 lead in the second before allowing Tipsarevic and Lu to win a game,but it was too late for them to begin a recovery.