TheSportsCampus

In a fitting finale to the Chennai Open, the two best players in the competition, Janko Tipsarevic and Milos Raonic battled three tie-break sets in a match that lasted 3 hours and 13 minutes, the longest in the tournament this year. At the end of it all, it was the 21-year old Canadian who raised his game when it mattered most and took the title 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 7-6(4).

A comfortably serving Raonic was always going to be tough to beat and Janko Tisparevic realized just that, the hard way today. In a neck to neck match that saw no breaks of serve in all of the 36 games played, the Canadian put a foot ahead of the Serb to take the tite. Raonic, working on his serve went from strength to strength as the tournament progressed and was at his finest today. In the ninth game of the first set, he powered five serves in excess of 200 kmph to win the game and served a total of 35 aces in the match (as compared to eight for Tipsarevic). While Milos had a few opportunities to break the Serb's serve, especially in the fourth and sixth game of the first set, Tipsarevic came back strongly with magnificent ground strokes to level the score at 6-6. Raonic, known for his aggressive style of play, took his chance at the net while on serve. However, at 3-4 in the tiebreak he made a costly mistake as Tipsarevic took the point and went to serve out the breaker 7-4.

In the second set, unforced errors kept creeping into Raonic's game, especially off his backhand wing. The Canadian tried running around his backhand on numerous occasions, but it didn't help much as it opened up the court for Tipsarevic. Nonetheless, the Canadian's serve helped him stay afloat, and the second set was once again stretched to a tie-break. Raonic raced away to a 5-2 lead and promptly served out the tie-break with an ace clocking 220 kmph.

Similar to the first two sets, both players warded off break points with strong serves and intelligent shot-making to take the final set to yet another tiebreak. Raonic dominated this one with a string of service winners and broke Tisparevic early. He raced to a 5-0 lead and eventually served out the match 7-4.

Raonic later shared, "I'm very happy to have won the tournament and the way I played today. Interestingly in the three finals that I've been a part of, I've played 7 tie-breakers in eight sets. I created a lot of opportunities in almost every game in the match but he (Tipsarevic) took it away from me. I'm still learning as to which shots to go after and which shots to play defensive. Considering that I've played just 60 matches, I'm confident I'll improve."

Raonic, when asked if breaking into the top 10 seemed likely in 2012 said, "There is a time and place for everything. The most important thing is for me to learn and develop. If I keep improving, top 10 will happen."

Today's win is Raonic's second career ATP Tour title triumph, following up on his win in San Jose last March. Raonic enjoyed a dream week, posting two Top 10 wins in the same tournament for the first time. He served 76 aces in four matches and was not broken once in 48 service games. He is the first player since Roger Federer in 2008 to win a tournament without dropping serve.

Raonic will now head to Kooyong, Australia to take part in an exhibition event next week before heading to the Australian Open in Melbourne where the first Grand Slam of the season begins on January 16.

Men’s Singles – Finals

[4] M Raonic (CAN) d (1) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 7-6(4)

Also Read: Paes-Tipsarevic capture doubles crown at Chennai Open                                                                              Wozniacki-Kvitova lead the way into quarters                                                                                              Illness forces Venus out of the Australian Open