2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis, Feliciano Lopez vs. Marcos Baghdatis, preview
Cypriot, Marcos Baghdatis, plays his second round match today against the Spanish icon, Feliciano Lopez, for a spot in the final eight at the 2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.
Ranked 20th in the world, Baghdatis is playing in his third year at Rotterdam. Debuting in 2008, Baghdatis failed to go past the first round as he lost to Robin Soderling. He returned to Rotterdam last year.
Although, he made it past the first round defeating James Blake, he was ousted in the second by Russian Nikolay Davydenko. Hoping to go one step further this time, Baghdatis is already off to a superb start.
Playing the second seeded British marvel, Andy Murray, in the opening clash this week, Baghdatis enjoyed top form and some good fortune to enjoy a straight sets win. Losing only five games, the Cypriot made his way into the second round.
This is the Cypriot’s second tour level event of the season. He started his tour playing at the season opener in Brisbane as the fifth seed. Moving past Florent Serra and Lukasz Kubot, Baghdatis made his way into the quarterfinals.
However, he was ousted from the event in the quarters by eventual runner-up, Andy Roddick.
Seeded twenty-first in the opening Grand Slam, the 2011 Australian Open, Baghdatis ran into some bad fortune along the way. Fighting past Grega Zemlja and Juan Martin Del Potro, Baghdatis made his way into the third round.
However, playing Jurgen Melzer, Baghdatis had to retire from the match citing an injury in his right finger.
Ready to play the Spaniard today, Baghdatis stands at a level 1-1 head to head score against Lopez. However, the pair’s score for hard courts lies at 1-0 in the Cypriot’s favour. Their last meeting on the surface had come at the 2006 Doha event with Baghdatis
surviving a mid match lapse to defeat Lopez.
Couple Lopez’s recent performance with the statistical disadvantage and the Spaniard might be in trouble against Baghdatis. Playing in his fourth tour event of the season, the Spaniard has failed to move past the second round. Playing at Brisbane, Lopez
was defeated by eventual semi-finalist, Kevin Anderson in the second round.
Seeded sixth at the 2011 Medibank International Sydney, Lopez was defeated in the opening clash by Juan Martin Del Potro. Appearing at the 2011 SA Tennis last week as the defending champion and top seed, Lopez met with much disappoint when he was upset in
the first round by Canadian, Frank Dancevic.
His run in the Grand Slam was equally disappointing since he was defeated in the second round by local wildcard entrant, Bernand Tomic.
Lopez’s run at Rotterdam has been a string of first round exits. Debuting in 2003, Lopez has failed to make it into the second round with the most recent being in 2010 after his loss to Nikolay Davydenko. However, this time around Lopez was able to move
on ahead after defeating Florian Mayer in straight sets.
Prediction: Though Lopez beat his career best at Rotterdam by making it into the second round, the odds are heavily in Baghdatis’ favour especially since the latter ousted Andy Murray without breaking a sweat. Should he continue his form
in today’s match, Lopez is surely in trouble.
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