Baghdatis battered by formidable Ferrer

MARCOS Baghdatis was beaten in the third round of the Australian Open, the Cypriot going down 6-4 6-2 6-3 to fourth seed David Ferrer in the showpiece night match on Rod Laver Arena on Friday.

The ultra-consistent Ferrer, who reached at least the quarter-finals of every major tournament he contested last season, was rarely troubled as he downed the 27-year-old Limassol native in the eagerly-awaited encounter.

The crowd favorite Cypriot, ranked 35 in the world, came back from two sets down to beat Ferrer at the Australian Open three years ago, which was his only win in four previous career meetings with the Spaniard, but he never looked like repeating the Herculean feat this time.

“It was really tough out there, Baghdatis told the Cyprus Mail via Skype after the match. “The court was playing very slow and I couldn’t get him out of his hitting zone. I also struggled to get a lot of free points on my serve.

“After I lost the opening set I told myself to be more aggressive but he kept closing the door on me. He had a good day and found a way to win.”

When asked to rate his overall performance in Melbourne over the course of the week, Baghdatis said he was disappointed as his goal was to get to the second week

“Nevertheless I feel that I’m playing well and happy with my standard and hope this continues. The build-up to the tournament went well and I am targetting a return to the top 20 and then the Top 15.

I am not at the very top level at the moment but nothing is impossible.”

Ferrer, who will now play Japan’s rising star Kei Nishikori in the fourth round, told the post-match press conference: “I played my best match of the week. To beat Marcos I needed to play my best tennis and I did.”

Ferrer, known as the ‘Iron Man’ of the tour, chased down every ball and frustrated the Cypriot with his amazing length off his groundstrokes which negated Baghdatis’ flamboyant baseline game.

Every time the Cypriot tried to alter the pattern of the match by rushing to the net, he was not very effective as Ferrer easily picked him off with some accurate passing shots.

Baghdatis’ Australian Open is not yet finished as the Cypriot now resumes his doubles campaign with Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

They face fourth seeds Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Romanian Horia Tecau in the second round, with Baghdatis saying: I’m just going to go out there, give it my best and enjoy it.”

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.