Wawrinka, Malisse meet in Chennai finals

CHENNAI, India, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Stanislas Wawrinka and Xavier Malisse will meet in the finals of the Chennai Open tennis tournament in India after collecting victories Saturday.

Wawrinka, seeded third, ousted top-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-1 after Malisse took out No. 6-seeded Janko Tipsarevic 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Sunday's meeting will be the first between Wawrinka and Malisse, who are a combined 5-14 in tournament title matches. Malisse, who hasn't won on tour since 2007, is looking for his fourth championship while Wawrinka will be trying to claim his third title.

Wawrinka took a tight first set from Berdych by finishing off the only break-point chance of the set. He put the match away with three service breaks in four games.

Malisse rallied after a strong start from Tipsarevic, who took 60 percent of the points in the first set. Malisse took 61 percent of the points and had four service breaks the rest of the way to advance.

Sunday's champion will win $68,850 and the runners-up check is for $36,250. Berdych and Tipsarevic each won $19,640 by getting to the semifinals.