Bedene wins fans; Tipsarevic through to finals at Chennai Open

I know of the MA Chidambaram stadium fondly the Chepauk and many other smaller ones like the Marina stadium, University Union, Gurunanak, AC Tech, India Pistons stadium, Pachaiyappas and more….. places where cricket matches are played.  Then there is the famous Nehru stadium [L & T stadium] for all athletic events and indoor games…………… have never been to the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Chennai,  built on the occasion of the SAF Games in 1995 by the Tamil Nadu Government. It has since played the host to the Chennai Open tennis event annually since 1997.

Chennai open is one of the premier tennis event, the largest of India since 1996.  The event has attracted some of the best names in the tennis circuit since its inception and has  featured stars of the tennis including Rafael Nadal, Boris Becker, Carlos Moya, Richard Krajicek, Patrick Rafter, Yvgeny Kafelnikov, Byron Black and India's own Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. The sponsors have changed and so also the names ~ Mcdowell, Gold Flake, Tata and now Chennai open with new title sponsor – Aircel.

Today been there watching the 1st Semis where Johan Tipsarevic played little known [at least to me]  A. Bedene.  Read that before this match Bedene has never been in a Semi finals.  Aljaž Bedene (1989 in Ljubljana) is a Slovenian tennis player. Bedene is a right hander with highest ranking of  No. 79 in singles and No. 262 in doubles.  At Chennai he played well to defeat the 4th seed Stanislas Wawrinka in QF to gain a maiden appearance in Semis. 

Though he lost today, he won many fans for his sterling performance.  Today he won the first set but lost to 2nd seed Janko Tipsarević 4-6, 2-6, 2-6.  The win has provided  Janko Tipsarevic  another shot at winning the Aircel Chennai Open title after reaching the final for the second straight year.  Last year in a memorable final, he lost to Milos Raonic. 

In the 1st set it was Bedene who played quality tennis running in and hitting some good cross court forehand winners.. things turned different in the 2nd and in the 3rd Tipsarevic just ran away.

At the post match, Tipsarevic recalled their earlier match in Vienna and said Bedene will be a top 50 player sooner and could prove to be a dangerous competitor.  Tipsarevic will now  meet either fifth-seeded Frenchman Benoit Paire orRoberto Bautista Agut of Spain in the final tomorrow @ 6th Jan 2013.

with regards – S. Sampathkumar.

5^th Jan 2013 @ 08.20 pm.