Coric sets up fil against Wawrinka

Cheni, Jan 9: Defending champion Stan Wawrinka will face Croatia's Bor Coric in the men's singles fil of the $425,535 Cheni Open after both the tennis players notched up contrasting victories in their respective semi-fils at the SDAT Tennis Stadium here on Saturday.

While three-time champion Wawrinka defeated French third seed Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and six minutes, Coric ousted last year's filist Aljaz Bedene 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-3 in two hours and 57 minutes. Top seed Wawrinka will play his fourth fil here on Sunday for his fourth title here after beating Paire to take his sixth victory in seven meetings against the World No.19.

Switzerland's Wawrinka was easily the better player with six aces in the match against two of the Frenchman. The reigning French Open champion also got two service breaks, one in each set, which was enough to seal the match for him. Wawrinka ended up winning 62 of the 114 points played.

Also, Paire's three double faults at crucial junctures of the match did not help and he also was not able to break the Swiss.

Later, eighth seed Coric topped Bedene in an excruciating battle. It was a match where as many as 33 aces were fired in, 17 by Coric and 16 by Bedene, while seven service games were broken. After sharing the first two sets in tie-breaker with the exact scoreline of 7-5, it all boiled down to the deciding set where Coric proved a tad bit better.

The Croatian got two service breaks to that of Bedene's one which was enough to seal the set and match to enter the summit clash. IANS