Baghdatis beaten by Nalbandian in Buenos Aires

AFTER bad weather in Buenos Aires had delayed the Copa Peugeot Argentina de Tenis on Saturday, Marcos Baghdatis had to play both his semi-final and final on Sunday.

First up was Juan Monaco of Argentina, whom the Cypriot defeated in straight sets 7-6, 7-5, but the final against crowd favourite David Nalbandian proved to be a different story, the Argentine winning 6-4, 6-4 in two tough sets.

According to Baghdatis.com, “despite ultimately losing in the final, this was still a great tournament for Marcos, providing him with a tough work out against top players.” It was also announced over the weekend that Baghdatis will join a strong line-up including Lleyton Hewitt, Gael Monfi ls and Tomas Berdych at Sydney’s Medibank International in a fortnight’s time.

Yesterday, four-time French Open champion Justine Henin confi rmed that her comeback to tennis would begin in Sydney where she is to join a fi eld headed by world number one Serena Williams.

The three-time champion at Olympic Park was awarded a wild card for the WTA event, which begins January 10 and serves as a tune-up for the Australian Open starting a week later.

Nine of the women ranked in the world top 10 are entered.

“I have a lot of happy memories of Sydney, so I’m looking forward to returning in January as part of my preparation for the Australian Open,” Henin said in a statement. “The draw is very impressive.

“It will be great to get some tough, competitive matches before heading to Melbourne.” Henin, who retired unexpectedly in May 2008, saying she felt burned out, won the Sydney event in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.