Easier stuff this year for Janko in Chennai. Seeded no.2 Janko had a clear path till the title as had the luck to play only much lower ranked players (the highest ranked was Soeda as world no.60). A very different story from last year when Tipsarevic was defeated by Raonic in an epic final 7-6 (4) 6-7 (4) 7-6 (4).
This year in Chennai there have been many upsets with the seed no.1 Berdych losing to Bautista Agut in the quarter finals and all the other top seeds struggling to even reach the semis.
Bautista Agut had a really good tournament, besides defeating Berdych, he also beat Paire (a huge talented player ranked world no.47) and he forced Tipsarevic to rally from 1 set down in the final. Janko managed to keep his focus and to get through it.
From Tipsarevic
“I was mentally stable and was not worried when I was one set down,” said Tipsarevic. “I didn’t play my best tennis in every match this week, but I am happy to win the title. I really wanted to win this tournament as it is my sixth time here.
“This match was pretty similar to my semi-final win over Aljaz Bedene. I was too passive in the first set and I was relying on Roberto making mistakes in his first ATP World Tour final. I was hoping he would be anxious. I gave him too much time to swing on his forehand. The only way I won, was to step closer to the baseline and I needed to move him around. Physically, as the match wore on, he became tired.”
From Bautista Agut
“I was serving really well and playing my best tennis against Janko in the first set, but then I couldn’t keep it up throughout the match,” said Bautista Agut. “I improved a lot last year and won a lot of matches, which gave me confidence and experience. I worked hard in the pre-season, with a lot of motivation, and did well this week.”