Two-time defending champion Wawrinka in Chennai semifinals

Top seed Stan Wawrinka stretched his Chennai winning streak to 11 matches and 22 sets with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Benoit Paire in the semi-finals on Saturday. “I am happy the way I won the match again, in two sets”,. he is a good player”, Wawrinkasaid about his rival today.

Wawrinka had beat Coric on each of the two previous occasions the pair had met, although the young Croat had managed to pose a challenge to the Swiss most recently, even scalping a set off him. Coric led a spirited fightback, taking a commanding lead in the second set before the match moved to a tie-breaker.

Speaking about his schedule following the Chennai Open, Coric added that he would be playing in Sydney before going to Melbourne to play the Australian Open.

However, none was bothered about the imperfection in his cricket abilities, especially after the world no. 4 continued his stranglehold on the country’s only ATP event by becoming the first player to complete a hat-trick of titles here.

Coric had five chances in the seventh game to break back; he was rocked by four stiff first serves.

Scores of Indian fans at the Nungambakkam tennis stadium cheered wildly as the popular Wawrinka, making his eighth appearance in Chennai, outplayed his 19-year-old opponent – the youngest finalist on the ATP Tour in eight years.

They won the Chennai doubles together three years ago, but Wawrinka improved his head-to-head record against Paire to 6-1.

Asked exactly what Wawrinka did to trouble him most, a smiling Coric quipped: “the serve, the backhand, the forehand and the volleys”.

“It was a great week for me here”, Coric said.

However, this time, Wawrinka could have a fight on his hands and he admitted as much in his post-match press conference saying that regardless of whether he had to face Bedene or Coric, the match would be different and hard.

“I’m really happy to win the match the way I played today”.