Baghdatis advances to his 11th career final in Kuala Lumpur

Marcos Baghdatis has beaten World No. 15 Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals of the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.

The Cypriot number one snapped a five-match losing streak against Top 20 opponents with a straight set victory over Troicki who was looking to boost his outside chances of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Two service breaks were exchanged in the opening stages before Baghdatis broke the Serbian in the eighth game to clinch the opener. He then broke Troicki three times in the second set to wrap up the victory in 84 minutes.

“It feels great to be in another final,” said Baghdatis. “There is still one match to go. Today was a strange first set from both of us, struggling with our serves. But I stayed calm and focused on what I had to and played the important points better in the first set. I’m happy with the way I fought, and to win without spending too much time on court.”

In the final Baghdatis will hope to beat another Serbian player as he faces third seed Janko Tipsarevic. Tipsarevic beat eighth-seeded Japanese Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-3 in his semifinal encounter, breaking serve three times from four opportunities and saving all six break points he faced.

Baghdatis leads 2-1 his head-to-head series against Tipsarevic who won their most recent contest in the 2010 Farmers Classic quarterfinals in Los Angeles. The Limassol native beat Tipsarevic in the first round of Tokyo ATP World Tour 500 event in 2005 and the second round of Open 13 in Marseille in 2007.

After Kuala Lumpur Baghdatis will travel to Tokyo where he will take on the second-seeded and World No. 4 Andy Murray in the first round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships.

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