Spaniards Claim Chennai Title

© Aircel Chennai OpenBoth teams were contesting their first ATP World Tour doubles finals together.

Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Santiago Ventura captured their first ATP World Tour doubles title together Sunday at the Aircel Chennai Open. The second seeds defeated second-time duo Yen-Hsun Lu and Janko Tipsarevic 7-5, 6-2 in the final of the ATP World Tour 250 hard-court tennis tournament.

Granollers and Ventura are the first Spaniards to capture the Chennai title since Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo lifted the trophy in 2004. As winners, they received 250 ATP World Tour Doubles Ranking points and shared $21,650 in prize money.

"It was a tough match today," reflected Granollers. "We're very happy because we've been playing together for a few years and it's our first ATP World Tour title together. It's a very big moment for us. It's great to finally win an event and we hope we can continue like this for the rest of the year."

In a close first set, featuring five service breaks, Granollers and Ventura edged a one-set lead with their third break of serve before racing to victory in the second set, breaking serve twice and facing no threats on their own serve to prevail after 76 minutes.

Granollers and Ventura, who clinched five Challenger titles together in 2007, were contesting their first ATP World Tour final as a team. The 23-year-old Granollers, currently a career-high No. 25 in the ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings, won his fourth title from seven finals. He won his first three titles last year at the Brasil Open (w/Robredo), the Copa Telmex (w/Martin) and the Kremlin Cup (w/Cuevas).

Ventura, 30, also won his fourth title and first since triumphing in April 2008 at the Grand Prix Hassan II (w/Montanes). He improved to a 4-2 mark in ATP World Tour doubles finals.

Chinese Taipei’s Lu, a winner in Chennai in 2005 (w/Schuettler), was attempting to claim his second ATP World Tour doubles title, while Tipsarevic of Serbia was contesting his first doubles final.