In the end, it proved to be a mismatch. Aljaz Bedene, who enjoyed a fairytale run en route to the final of the 20th edition of the Chennai Open, didn’t have enough gas left in the tank to test top seed Stan Wawrinka on Sunday.
The Slovenian qualifier, who had packed off three seeded players before entering his maiden summit clash on the Tour, fizzled out 3-6, 4-6 against the Swiss world no. 4 in just over an hour.
Wawrinka thus became the most successful player in the history of the hard-court tournament with three crowns 2011 and 2014 being his others in seven appearances. The 29-year-old, who hasn’t dropped a set over the last two editions here, bagged $73,400 and 250 points for his eighth career Tour title.
Later, Leander Paes’ hopes of winning his seventh doubles title in Chennai were dashed by a scratch pair of Jonathan Marray and Yen-Hsun Lu. Paes and his South African partner Raven Klaasen, seeded no. 1, went down 3-6, 6-7 (4) much to the disappointment of the capacity crowd.
Bedene, by his own admission, was overwhelmed by the occasion. Bidding to become the first Slovenian winner on the ATP Tour, Bedene had to endure a fatigue factor as he had already played seven successive matches including three in the qualifying.
“I was very tired. And I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep properly last night,” said Bedene, who has never beaten a top 10 player in his career.
“I made a lot of unforced errors in the second set as I was trying to be aggressive in a bid to stay in the contest. My legs were not as good as I wanted. I was moving slow. The shots lacked power,” added Bedene.
It was an eventful week of tennis for Bedene though. Coming off an injury lay-off, the 25-year-old, ranked 156th, was rewarded with a cheque for $38,650 and 150 ATP points for his runner-up show. He also won a bonus of 12 points for winning the three qualifying rounds. “I am satisfied. I beat two top-20 players (Feliciano Lopez and Roberto Bautisa Agut) here and it boosted my confidence,” said Bedene.
Wawrinka was flawless. It just required a break each in two sets to complete the rout. The fact that Bedene had no break point opportunity underlined Wawri-nka’s dominance in his 10 service games.
The way Wawrinka set up his break in the first serve was a treat for the capacity crowd. A backhand pass and a down-the-line winner, again off his classy backhand, earned him a 4-2 lead before serving out the set in just half-an-hour.
Bedene, who had a match total of seven aces, served a double-fault in the seventh game of the second set and the Swiss was quick to pounce on the break-point opportunity. He converted it with an inside-out forehand return that caught Bedene by surprise.
“It’s amazing to win back-to-back titles here. I enjoyed being here and loved playing in front of the crowd.” said the Swiss, who promised to return to Chennai for completing a hat-trick.
