Baghdatis dumped out by Llodra in Marseille

MARCOS Baghdatis has crashed out of the Open 13 tournament in Marseille, going down 7-6, 6-4 to Michael Llodra yesterday.

The Frenchman hit a service winner to convert his third match point. The 2009 finalist broke the Cypriot in the previous game with a backhand return winner.

“It could have gone either way,” Llodra said. “I tried to be more aggressive and I seized my chances.”

The seventh-seeded Baghdatis had two set points in the tiebreaker but squandered them, allowing Llodra to take the opening set with a smash.

There was another shock when Mischa Zverev of Germany beat Spain’s Tommy Robredo 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals.

In two all-French matchups, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga topped Josselin Ouanna 7-6, 6-4, and Julien Benneteau beat Florent Serra 6-4, 6-4.

Zverev converted both breakpoint chances in the third set to build a commanding 5-0 lead, while the fourth-seeded Robredo wasted three opportunities.

The German left-hander believed in his chances despite starting the season with five straight losses.

“I felt like I had a chance, no matter what,” Zverev said. “I just tried to mix it up and not give him too many easy balls.”

Zverev had lost both of his previous meetings with Robredo.

“I know his game,” Zverev said. “I can use my strokes against him and it worked out.”

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.