MARCOS Baghdatis’ impressive run to the Davidoff Swiss Indoors final came to its end with fourth-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez claiming the title 6-7 (8-10), 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 on Sunday afternoon.
Baghdatis won the first set tie-break in a bit more than an hour. Gonzalez bounced back in the second set winning it 6-3 after a break in the eight game, but watched his advantage disappear in the third when Baghdatis fought back from a 2-4 deficit to take a 5-4 lead.
However, Gonzalez won the following three games and secured the set. The fourth set was very similar to the second one as we saw one break of serve that provided Gonzalez with the overall victory of 3-1 in sets.
In the post-game interview from the ATPtennis.com website, Baghdatis expressed his feelings about the match and his overall performance: “I lost today but I feel great. I played a great week and I had some lovely emotions here.
“I was tired; my legs got tired in the second set. I’ve played a lot of matches this week and I gave a lot in the first set. It was tough out there but I just fought, I just ran and tried to get all the balls back.
“That’s what I did and that’s why I’m proud, I don’t have any regrets,” the Paris-based Baghdatis added, “I knew that my parents could watch me today, which makes me happy because they share my match with me. I didn’t share a lot of things with them because they are so far away. So I’m really happy that they could see my match today.
“All professional players want to be No. 1 and to win a Grand Slam. That’s more like a dream to me. My goal is just to play tennis and have fun.”
Marcos’ father, Christos Baghdatis, commented on his son’s result: “Considering what I am expecting from Marcos I classify his result in Basel as an incomplete success. I wanted him to win the tournament.
“I understand that after coming through the qualifiers and playing so many matches during one week he must have been very tired. So, being fair to him and myself; I believe he achieved an excellent accomplishment.”
Head coach of Cyprus National Tennis Team, Yiannos Hadjigeorgiou, shared Christos Baghdatis enthusiasm over Marcos’ success: “I think the final match was very close. Marcos looked very tired because he started the tournament with an injury and playing through the qualifiers this was his eight match this week.
“Fatigue caused him to lose his focus and he made some simple mistakes, especially after the second set. His serves were slow while on the other hand Gonzalez served eighteen aces.”
Hadjigeorgiou added: “Overall, I think that Baghdatis played fantastic tennis. He proved that he has the ability to become one of the world’s best tennis players. So far he succeeded to beat few top-10 players and I do not see a reason why he would not go further than that in the next year or two.”
In the tournament’s doubles competition, Fernando Gonzalez teamed up with Argentinean Agustin Calleri to defeat the fourth-seeded Australian Stephen Huss and Wesley Moodie of South Africa 7-5, 7-5.
