Players like Marcel Granollers don’t throw bombs at opponents. Nor do they make the crowd gasp in disbelief. They don’t posses shots that you would not see anywhere else. But what makes their game is their ability to hit, hit and keep hitting; in the mould of a typical Spanish grinder.
On Saturday, in the first semifinal at the Aircel Chennai Open, he gave a good account of that. The level that Granollers played over three sets was steady.
The swing in Edouard Roger-Vasselin’s fortunes over the same period was what decided the outcome. The French seventh seed won 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to move into his second ATP tour final.
“I couldn’t have done anything better,” said Roger-Vasselin. “It’s a great start for the year. It’s never easy because every player is good these days. My goal was to win one title this year. Hopefully I can do it tomorrow.”
Sixth withdrawalIn Sunday’s final, he will meet top seed Stanislas Wawrinka who confirmed his spot after Canada’s Vasek Pospisil conceded his semifinal due to a back injury while trailing 4-6, 5-5. Pospisil’s retirement took the total count of withdrawals after the tournament started to six.
There were to be two storylines that emerged from Roger-Vasselin. One beautifully scripted using a flawless double-fisted backhand and the other, a loose one, courtesy a profligate forehand.
So good was his backhand that Granollers, from early in the first set, directed a majority of his serves to Roger-Vasselin’s forehand. But the Frenchman, to get his best shot more into play, stood wide when receiving serves from the deuce court and was closer to the ‘T’ when on the ad-side.
What this tactic did was to push Granollers to serve much wider, forcing him to miss first serves. Roger-Vasselin first broke in the sixth game. The decisive break came in the eighth — decorated with three superb backhand winners — which helped him take the opening set 6-2 and serve ahead in the second.
But, as good as the backhand was, his forehand was extremely conservative. On occasions when he did muster the courage to end rallies with it, there were just errors.
He doesn’t hit it flat but with a sizeable amount of top-spin to keep it well within the margin of error that a top-spin forehand affords. It was thus surprising to see the Frenchman fail to make the shot count, in spite of the elegant forehand swing that he possesses.
In the second set, Granollers went two breaks up. His shots were rarely loaded with power, but were perfectly placed. Two such moments came when Granollers hit accurate passes when the 30-year-old rushed to the net without covering the near court. Granollers did give up a break later but closed out the set 6-4.
After falling behind 2-0 in the third, Roger-Vasselin reeled off five games in a row including two breaks of serve, the first of which was after five deuces. He needed a whopping eleven chances in all to get those two breaks, something that he can least expect in Sunday’s final.
Baseline slugfestThe second semifinal between Wawrinka and Pospisil was a baseline slugfest. The 2011 champion broke in the fifth game to take the first set 6-4.
A break at 3-3 in the second set seemed enough for Wawrinka to clinch the match, but the fifth seed, in spite of experiencing discomfort in his back, fought admirably to even it out. However, the Canadian was cramped for movement and decided to quit with the score reading five games all in the second set
“I am really happy to be in final,” said Wawrinka.
“It was a tough match. I didn’t serve well but was aggressive from baseline. But I feel very sorry for my opponent.
“He was playing well. Hope he is ok. It’s the start of the season and it’s important to be ready physically.”
When the new ATP rankings are out on Monday, Pospisil will reach a career-high 30 and he will be the highest-ranked player without an ATP final appearance.
The results: Singles: Semifinals: 7- Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra) bt 6-Marcel Granollers (Esp) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; 1-Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) bt 5-Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 5-5 (retd.).
Doubles: Semifinal: Marin Draganja (Cro) & Mate Pavic (Cro) bt 3-Andre Begemann & Martin Emmrich (Ger) 7-6 (5), 6-4.
