Tennis Update: Marin Cilic’s third straight title win at Chennai in trouble?
Brisbane, Chennai, Doha...a mantra on every tennis fan’s lips. The ATP 250 events in these three cities kick off the new ATP season from Monday. Played at the SDAT Tennis Stadium, in Chennai, is the Aircel Chennai Open. Although
it has only one Top 10 player, Tomas Berdych, the event is not without its stars.
Returning to the event for the fourth straight year is the number one Croat, Marin Cilic. Ranked fourteen in the world, Cilic kicks off his 2011 season defending his title at Chennai.
Cilic made his debut at the event in 2008 when he made it as far as the semis losing to eventual champion Mikhail Youzhny. Cilic returned to the event the next year and after getting a lucky walkover, over number one seed Nikolay
Davydenko, Cilic made a run for the title. Losing only one set, the Croat found himself in the finals facing local wildcard entrant Somdev Devvarman. He defeated the Indian to win his second career title. Cilic then again returned to the event in 2010, seeded
second in the main draw. This time around, he defeated Janko Tipsarevic in the semis before meeting Stanislas Wawrinka in the final. Defeating the Swiss in straight sets, Cilic successfully defended his title and got off to a superb start in the season.
After successfully defending his titles at Chennai and Zagreb, and his semis run at the Australian Open, Cilic achieved his career high ranking of ninth in the world on 22nd February 2010. Failing to perform at any other
Grand Slam and with no other title wins in the season, Cilic finished the season ranked fourteen. Given his final appearance at Munich, he registered a win loss mark of 40-22.
Ready to defend his title for the third time, Cilic plays his opening match at Chennai on Monday. However, he may have drawn more than he bargained for. With back-to-back wins at the event, Cilic had become accustomed to associating
a certain level of comfort with the event. Come Monday, this “comfort” might be disturbed. In a rematch of his 2010 US Open second round appearance, Cilic faces Kei Nishikori in the first round. Nishikori defeated Cilic at the Grand Slam to achieve his career
best Grand Slam performance. Backed by Andre Agassi’s coach Brad Gilbert and his own coach Dante Bottini, the rising Japanese might spell trouble for Cilic.
Appearing at the event in the main draw with Cilic is Stanislas Wawrinka, Janko Tipsarevic, Richard Gasquet and locals, Yuri Bhambri, Rohan Bopanna and Devvarman. Also making his debut at the event is world number six Berdych.
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