By Chris Oddo / Sunday, January 5, 2014

 

Stan Wawrinka captured his fifth career title in Chennai with a straight-sets win over Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Photo Source: AFP

Stan Wawrinka finished a week that saw him earn his 300th career victory in style, defeating Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-5, 6-2, to become only the third player in history to win the Chennai title twice (Moya, Cilic).

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Wawrinka's fifth career title reinforces the notion that Wawrinka, a nominee for the ATP's most improved player in 2013, might not yet be done improving his game.

Wawrinka was dominant throughout the week in Chennai, saving 19 of 22 break points faced and not dropping a set in any of his four matches.

The world No. 8 had another fine day from the service stripe, connecting on five aces and saving the only break point he faced. He won 25 of 35 first serve offerings and also managed an impressive 20 of 28 second serve points in the one hour and 35 minute tilt.

Wawrinka notched the decisive break in the first set in the 11th game when Roger-Vasselin pushed a backhand wide.

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Though Wawrinka dropped a straight-set defeat to the Frenchman in Basel last season, Wawrinka left no doubt as to who was the better player on Sunday. Wawrinka reeled off the first three games of the second set and never looked back, breaking serve twice to win going away.

“In the end I think I serve well and played aggressive,” Wawrinka said. “Edouard is a tough player to beat. He was playing really good this week.”

Roger-Vasselin will climb 12 spots to a career-high No. 40 in the world despite the defeat.

Wawrinka, who was playing in his 500th tour-level match, improved his lifetime record to 302-198. He became just the fourth Swiss player to reach 300 wins earlier in the week, joining Roger Federer (926), Marc Rosset (433) and Jakob Hlasek (432).