Wake-up call for Baghdatis in Winston-Salem

Marcos Baghdatis has suffered a significant rankings drop after a succession of early exits during the Olympus US Open Series, and will now be looking to return to form at the ATP World Tour 250 Winston-Salem Open at the Wake Forest University.

The eighth-seeded Cypriot has received a first-round bye and will take on the winner of the clash between American Ryan Sweeting and Olivier Rochus of Belgium in the second round.

Baghdatis beat Sweeting in their only meeting on the tour, last season in the second round of the LA Farmers Classic, while he leads the overall head-to-head series against Rochus 2-1. The Limassol native topped Rochus at an early stage of the 2006 Rome Masters and three years later in the finals of the If Stockholm Open to clinch his third career title. However, the experienced Belgian celebrated victory in the most recent meet, in March this year, in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

The Cypriot number one is currently ranked 40th at the South African Airways ATP Rankings, but he is expected to record a considerable drop in rankings after an early Cincinnati exit last week. Baghdatis has never played Winston-Salem so all points he collects here could help him improve his rankings, as well as his form ahead of the final Grand Slam of the season – the US Open.

According to the Cyprus Tennis Federation, there is a slim chance Baghdatis could play in early September’s Aphrodite Cup, at Nicosia’s National Tennis Centre. The organisers have yet to announce the line-up for the event that has been recently upgraded to the International Tennis Federation Grade 4, thus attracting higher-level tennis players, expected from 45 different countries.

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