Tennis
Canada's Raonic wins Chennai Open
Tennis

Canada's Raonic wins Chennai Open

Published Jan. 8, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

Milos Raonic beat top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) in a serve-dominated Chennai Open final Sunday, earning his second career title.

Fourth-seeded Raonic hit 35 aces in a marathon match that lasted 3 hours, 16 minutes and didn't include a break of serve.

''It is an awesome feeling,'' said Raonic, 21, who won all 48 of his service games during the week to become the first player to win a tournament without dropping serve since Roger Federer at the 2008 grass-court tournament in Halle.

Raonic lost only four points on serve in the first set and had four chances to break in the fourth game before the Serbian stole it in the tiebreaker.

ADVERTISEMENT

''Tipsarevic took it away in the first set,'' Raonic said. ''But I took my opportunities in the second and third.''

Raonic established a 4-1 lead in the second-set tiebreaker before leveling the match on his second set point. He had to save break points early in the decider but dominated the tiebreaker with his serve.

''My serve is a big factor in my game . . . in 99 percent of my matches,'' said Raonic, who averages 124 mph on his first serve. ''My job is to take care of my serve.''

The ninth-ranked Tipsarevic now has lost six of eight ATP finals in his career.

''Guys like Milos are special players,'' Tipsarevic said after his first match against the Canadian. ''It was a great game of tennis. Nobody knew till the end who would win.

''Unluckily for me it was I who lost. It was just a matter of a few points here and there. Hopefully the next time I will get the better of him.''

share


Get more from Tennis Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic