Injured Baghdatis retires from US Open

By Andreas Vou

MARCOS Baghdatis was forced to retire from his first round match at the US Open against Marin Cilic on Wednesday evening after suffering a suspected ankle injury midway through the second set.

Baghdatis had lost the first set against the 14th seeded Croatian 6-3 and was down 3-1 in the second before he was forced to pull out of the encounter in New York, having only been granted entry into the draw due to the withdrawal of German Tommy Haas.

Though Baghdatis held his own for large parts of the match, Cilic had been proving too tough to break on his own big serve which left Baghdatis frustrated. However, the Cypriot – now ranked 86 – had been on a good run of form in recent months and would have fancied the challenge had injury not caused him to pull out.

The 29-year-old need not feel downhearted after rediscovering his old touch in the last few months which has resulted in three titles.

Baghdatis earned his first singles trophy since 2010 in the Aegon Trophy final in Nottingham at the beginning of June.
Earlier this month, he claimed the VanOpen in Canada and then, on August 10, continued his hot streak on the ATP Challenger Tour, winning a second straight title and the ninth of his career after beating top seed Mikhail Kukushkin to win the Aptos Challenge in California.

Due to the defeat, Cilic now extends his head-to-head lead over Baghdatis to 5-1, only losing to the Cypriot at the Cincinnati Masters in 2010.

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