Wawrinka-Paire set doubles final clash with German duo

Chennai: Bejing Olympics gold medallist Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland and Benoit Paire of France trounced the Russian-American pair of Raven Kaalsen and Nicholas Monroe 6-7 (9), 6-4, 10-8 in a competitive semi-final match here to make it to the doubles final of the ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament.

Wawrinka and Paire, who won two break sets in three, set a final clash with the German duo of Andre Begemann and Martin Emmrich, who disposed of Thai twins Sanchal and Sonchat Ratawatna 7-6 (3), 6-4. The final is slated for Sunday. In the second semi final that lasted 95 minutes, Wawrinka, who had partnered his compatriot Roger Federer to win the Bejing Olympics gold medal, was in his elements on Saturday, partnering Paire. Kaalsen and Monroe were equal to the task and never relented in their counter attacks throughout the game. In fact, Wawrinka and Paire had rather an easy run in the super tie break set with a 8-4 score line. Here Kaalsen took charge in his service game to claim two points on serve and went for a kill on return of serve. When Wawrinka took to serve (9-8), his team was on third match point and he scored the winner with a superb placement. PTI