Geneva: French Open champion Stan Wawrinka clinched his first homeground title yesterday with a 6-4, 7-6 (13/11) victory over Marin Cilic in the Geneva claycourt final.
It was Wawrinka’s third title of 2016 and first on clay just a day before Roland Garros gets underway in Paris today.
World number four and top seed Wawrinka, who stunned Novak Djokovic in the final to win the claycourt major last year, eased through the opening set against world number 11 Cilic without facing a break point.
Cilic fought back, however, breaking in the fourth game of the second before Wawrinka broke at 3-5 and forced a tiebreak.
Cilic squandered five set points before Wawrinka took victory on his second match point.
“Big congratulations to Stan,” Cilic said. “He played really amazing this week.”
Cilic faces the 167th-ranked Marco Trungelliti in the French Open’s first round.
The 31-year-old Wawrinka won his 14th career singles title and his first in Switzerland after more than a decade of competing at Gstaad, Basel and now Geneva.
He got his first title on clay since winning at Roland Garros last year. He opens next week against Lukas Rosol. Wawrinka beat the Czech in Geneva on Friday.
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