Baghdatis slump continues in Halle

By Nemanja Bjedov

Marcos Baghdatis starting his grass-court season with a first round exit at the ATP World Tour 250 Gerry Webber Open in Halle, after losing to Latvian Ernests Gulbis 4-6, 6-3, 3-6  on Tuesday.

Despite leading head-to-head series 4-1 against Gulbis, and winning their only previous grass-court meeting six years ago in the first round of Wimbledon, the Cypriot yesterday recorded his seventh consecutive first round exit after reaching the Rotterdam quarterfinals in February.

Gulbis will now take on third seed and defending champion German Tommy Haas, while Baghdatis will have a week to prepare for the Topshelf Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch that starts next Monday.

World No. 40 Baghdatis did not participate in last year’s edition of the tournament in the Netherlands, where in 2011 he reached the semifinals before eventually bowing out to Croatian Ivan Dodig.

He also reached the same stage of the competition at the event in 2006, at his first appearance in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

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.