Taiwanese No. 1 Lu Yen-hsun (盧彥勳) claimed the third ATP Tour doubles title of his career at the Chennai Open in India on Sunday.
Lu teamed up with England’s Jonathan Marray to defeat top seeds Raven Klaasen of South Africa and India’s Leander Paes 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) in 1 hour, 17 minutes.
The unseeded Taiwanese-English duo did not allow their opponents a single break-point opportunity in the final, while converting one of the two they created.
Klaasen and Paes were broken in their opening service game and they looked out of sorts early on, conceding the first set 3-6.
In the second set the No. 1 seeds upped the ante and pressed hard, but it was not enough and the set went to a tiebreak, with Lu and Marray going on the offensive to seal the victory.
It was Lu’s third ATP Tour doubles title and his second in Chennai after his victory in 2005 with Rainer Schuettler of Germany. His other title came in Bangkok in 2012 with Danai Udomchoke of Thailand.
Meanwhile, Marray has just one previous title, a Grand Slam victory — Wimbledon in 2012 with Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen.
Sheffield native Marray hailed the victory as a “perfect start” to his year.
“It’s always great fun playing with Rendy [Lu], and it is great to go to the Australian Open [next week] with some wins and some confidence,” Marray told Sheffield newspaper The Star.
“They went for broke and it really paid off for them today,” Paes told the ATP Tour Web site following the loss. “It’s been a great tournament for us. I really love playing with Raven.”
World No. 46 Lu is playing at the Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand, this week ahead of the Australian Open and he faces world No. 59 Juan Monaco of Argentina in the first round of the singles on Centre Court today.
Lu is teaming up with Oliver Marach of Austria in the doubles.
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