Baghdatis wins opening match at Kremlin Cup

MARCOS Baghdatis yesterday advanced into the Kremlin Cup quarter-finals after beating Italian Potitio Starace 6-4, 6-3 in Moscow.

One break of serve was enough for Baghdatis to claim the opening set in less than half an hour. Despite making only 48 per cent of his first serves, the Cypriot won 92 per cent of the points when it did go in and he also fired six aces past Starace.

There were no break points until the tenth service game when the 25-year-old Cypriot converted his first opportunity to break his opponent and take the set.

The Limassol native then built on his momentum in the second set as he broke Starace’s serve in the third game and then kept his own serve in the following game to race into an early 3-0 lead.

Both players held onto their serves in the next six games which helped Baghdatis wrap up the victory in just over an hour.

Up next for the fourth seeded Cypriot is the winner of the all-Ukrainian second round clash between Sergiy Stakhovsky and Alexandr Dolgopolov which is scheduled for this afternoon. Baghdatis lost to Stakhovsky in the quarter-finals of ATP World Tour 250 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 earlier this year in what was their only meeting on the tour, while Dolgopolov also leads the head-to-head series against the Cypriot 1-0 after defeating Baghdatis in the opening round of this month’s China Open in Beijing.

Elsewhere, Cypriot number two Photos Kallias is scheduled to take on Austria’s Nicolas Reissig in the first round of the Egypt F4 Futures main draw at the Golf El Solmanya Club in Cairo.

 

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