Chennai: Fourth seeded Canadian Milos Raonic played the game of his career to snatch the singles Chennai Open title from the jaws of defeat by beating top seeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 in the final on Sunday.
The match also turned out to be the longest final in the history of the Chennai Open.
Sending out 35 aces against Tipsarevic's eight, Raonic colleted 250 ATP points and a cash prize of $71,900 besides the glittering trophy, while the runner-up received $37,860 and 150 points after the 193-minute duel.
Regarded as the most feared talent on the circuit, Raonic's biggest weapon is his booming serve and despite lacking in ground strokes, he stuck to his game plan well, most importantly in the tie-breaker, to get the better of Tipsarevic who dished out variety in his game.
This is Raonic's second tour title on three final appearances after the triumph in San Jose.
Having played 140 minutes of tough two tie-break sets, Tipsarevic looked to be wearing out in the third set in which Raonic had the upper hand and, apart from holding his own service games, the Serbian often came from behind to win his own games.
The set went on even keel till 5-5 though Raonic frittered away a chance to break (with one break point) in the eighth game.
Tipsarevic played tight to hold on to his 12th game. There was not a single break in 36 games between the players.
In the tie-break, Raonic led 4-0 when Tipsarevic committed two unforced errors, and the 21-year-old Canadian enhanced his chance with a superb ace (5-0).
Tipsarevic made it 1-5 and then made Raonic run end to end and placed a forehand winner for 2-5.
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