Wawrinka Powers Past Garcia-Lopez In Chennai

Stan Wawrinka stretched his winning streak at the Aircel Chennai Open to 10 matches, prevailing 6-4,6-4 against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Friday. The top seed secured the win in 77 minutes and improved to 7-3 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry.

Wawrinka’s serving power was on display, as he fired 14 aces and only dropped seven points when he landed a first serve. The Spaniard converted on his only break point of the match, but the Swiss went 3-for-9 on break opportunities to take the win.

Attempting to stop Wawrinka’s run in the semi-finals will be old friend and occasional doubles partner Benoit Paire, who eliminated qualifier Thomas Fabbiano in the Italian’s first ATP World Tour quarter-final appearance.

The No. 3 seed also struck 14 aces on Friday, but only found the court with 44 per cent of first serves and needed to fend off six of 10 break points to advance. It will be something to improve upon against Wawrinka, as the Swiss has won five of six meetings against the Frenchman. Their most recent meeting came in the final of Tokyo last fall. Wawrinka won 6-2, 6-4.