Cilic Holds Nerve To Win Title

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Croatian Marin Cilic held his nerve to capture the second ATP World Tour title of his career on Sunday, with a 6-4, 7-6(3) win over World No. 202 Somdev Devvarman, an Indian wild card entry, at the Chennai Open.

It was the first time in the 14-year history of the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament that Croatia and India had been represented in the singles final.

The 20-year-old Cilic, who clinched his maiden ATP World Tour title at New Haven (d. Fish) in August 2008, was awarded $73,000 in prize money and 250 points towards his South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking.

"I've been working very hard during this off-season and I'm glad that the work has paid off so fast,” said Cilic. “I'm feeling well even if today wasn't my best performance during the week. But I played well at crucial moments, which is the most important thing.”

Devvarman was appearing at only his sixth ATP World Tour tournament and was attempting to become the first Indian to win an ATP World Tour singles title since Leander Paes won Newport, R.I., on July 12, 1998.

The 23-year-old wild card picked up $37,000, the biggest single cheque of his career, and added 150 points to his South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking.

"Losing is not fun, but I don't want to be too negative on myself," said Devvarman. "I will try to learn from the chances I missed today and improve my game. I'm now looking forward to playing the qualifying in Melbourne and hope to play well there."

Cilic, the higher-ranked tennis player at No. 27 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, looked to have the measure of Devvarman in the opening exchanges. But when Cilic squandered one break point opportunity on the Devvarman serve in the second and fourth games the tide turned.

The local favourite, who turned professional last year, was left to rue his own missed chances. Cilic managed to save six break points – three in the fifth game and three in the seventh game – before going on to seal the first set in 52 minutes.

Cilic appeared to have the upper-hand when he broke Devvarman to love in the second game of the second set. The Croatian, who is coached by Bob Brett, went on to open up a 5-2 lead.

Devvarman responded with a service break in the ninth game, but as the match edged closer to the tie-break Cilic used his service and big-match experience. Cilic opened up a 4-1 lead in the tie-break and clinched the title in two hours. He had hit nine aces and saved nine of 10 break points.

"I always enjoy coming back to Chennai," said Cilic. "This was already my third time here and I always enjoy the passion of the crowd. Today it was a bit different of course since they supported Somdev and I'm glad that I managed to win in two sets. Somdev has been impressive this week and if he continues playing like this he can be in the Top 100 by the end of the year."

This week Cilic lost only one set en route to his second ATP World Tour final. That came in the quarter-finals against Serb Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 on Friday. In the semi-finals, the Medjugorje-born right-hander beat eight seed Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-3.

Devvarman, the first Indian to advance to an ATP World Tour singles final since Prakash Amritraj at Newport (l. to Santoro), R.I., on July 13, 2008, will jump to around No. 153 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings on Monday.

The Indian captured the national collegiate title the last two years at the University of Virginia, defeating American John Isner of Georgia in 2007 and J.P. Smith of Tennessee in 2008.

The last collegiate champion to win an ATP World Tour singles title was Sargis Sargsian (of Arizona State, 1995), who won Newport in July 1997.

"This was a great week for me and I hope to play more tour events in the upcoming months," said Devvarman. "It is my goal to move up further in the rankings and to become a better player."