Stricken Baghdatis beats Simon in Dubai

FOOD poisoning could not stop Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis from defeating eighth seed Gilles Simon 7-6 6-4 in the first round of the Dubai tennis championships.

“I was concentrating on not throwing up on court,” the 24-year-old said. “I was suffering from food poisoning and had cramps in my stomach.”

After the first nine games went with serve, the stricken former Australian Open runner-up left the court at 4-5 down, with the score at 40-15, before returning to serve out the game and then immediately break the Frenchman, who was struggling with a chest injury.

Simon responded, breaking back to force a tie-break, but the world number 18 hit a series of unforced errors and allowed Baghdatis to take it 7-3.

At 4-5 in the second set, Simon saved a match point with a delicate drop shot but Baghdatis was not to be denied as his opponent hit a wide forehand to gift the world number 37 the match.

“I had many opportunities but every time I was close I just did too many mistakes,” said Simon. “The last game he didn’t have to do anything, I just did four mistakes.”

Baghdatis will face either Italy’s Marco Chiudinelli or qualifier Somdev Devvarman of India in Wednesday’s second round.

Roger Federer, who should have been the top seed at the tournament, pulled out on Sunday because of a lung infection.

Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, twice a finalist here, suffered a shock first-round defeat, losing to qualifier Stefan Koubek.

The Austrian won 7-6 6-4, beating the world number 34 in a closely contested match.

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.