Cilic, Wawrinka out of Chennai Open

CHENNAI, India (AFP) –

Third seed Marin Cilic, pictured in action on October 24, 2012, and number four Stanislas Wawrinka crashed out of the ATP Chennai Open on Friday even as second seed Janko Tipsarevic eased into the semi-finals.

Third seed Marin Cilic and number four Stanislas Wawrinka crashed out of the ATP Chennai Open on Friday even as second seed Janko Tipsarevic eased into the semi-finals.

Cilic, a two-time Chennai champion, was stunned by the 47th-ranked Benoit Paire of France, who won 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 on the showcourt of the Nungambakkam tennis stadium.

Wawrinka was waylaid by 23-year-old Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, who advanced to his first-ever ATP semi-final with a 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) win in an hour and 31 minutes.

The 86th-ranked Bedene’s opponent in the semi-final will be world number nine Tipsarevic, who swept aside eighth seed Go Soeda of Japan 6-2, 6-4.

Paire will await the winner of Friday night’s last quarter-final between top seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and Roberto Agut of Spain.

Paire, who had never beaten a top-20 player before, said he was delighted with his form and looked forward to the semi-final.

“I am not worried about who I play,” the 23-year-old Frenchman said. “Tomas is obviously one of the best players on the circuit, while Roberto is also very good.

“Anyway, there are no easy matches on the circuit, especially a semi-final. I have to prepare well for it.”

Cilic, ranked 15th in the world, said it was not easy to tackle a “flashy” player like Paire.

“Benoit is different from other players because his game is so flashy,” the Croat said. “He comes up with great returns when least expected and that took me by surprise.

“He played the first set very well, and after I took the second, it was a cat and mouse game with each of us trying to outwit the other. But he was so much better than me in the last few games.

“I obviously need to lift my game if I am to do well this year. But this is just the start of the season and hopefully I will be back to my best soon,” said Cilic.

Tipsarevic, who lost last year’s Chennai final to Canada’s Milos Raonic, said he was satisfied with the way he played against Soeda.

“I think I served good and also returned well,” he said. “To drop just six games in the whole match means I played well. But one has to keep improving all the time and that is my aim.”

Tipsarevic, asked about his semi-final opponent, said: “Bedene is a very promising young player with a fine serve and good ground strokes. I played him once before, but he got injured, so I really have not seen enough of him.”