KUALA LUMPUR: Cyprus ace Marcos Baghdatis breezed past second seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-3, 6-1 in the semi-final yesterday to set up a showdown for the singles title against Serbian Janko Tipsarevic today in the Malaysian Open tennis championship.
Baghdatis, a wild card entrant to the tournament with current ATP ranking of No. 60, was in his elements yesterday at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil to deny Troicki who is ranked higher at No. 15.
“It was a weird match with both of us having a lot of breaks as we were struggling to hold serve,” said Baghdatis.
“I stayed calm to concentrate on my serves in the second set so that I don’t get broken and I’m glad it turned out well.”
Both players were cautious in their approach in the first set but it was the Serbian who broke first in the third game.
But erratic plays from Troicki allowed Baghdatis to break back in the fourth, sixth and eighth game before sealing the set at 6-3.
Baghdatis broke Troicki in the third and fifth game of the second set to set up a date in the final against Tipsarevic who defeated Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-3 in the other semi-final.
“I played a smart game to make him move most of the time. I kept pushing and pushing and it paid off,” said Baghdatis.
Meanwhile, Nishikori’s fine run in the tournament came to a end against third seed and world No. 17 Tipsarevic.
Nishikori, the eighth seed and world No. 54 was the crowd’s favourite after winning three matches from behind after dropping the first sets, could not find the chink in Tipsarevic’s armour yesterday.
”It was a high intensity match with Kei playing well at first. Maybe he lost focus in the match but I’m happy to finish it in two sets,” said Tipsarevic.
“It is our fifth meeting and I won them all and maybe my game is not suitable to him. I’m extremely happy to hold my serve when it matters.”
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