2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis: Marcos Baghdatis upsets Andy Murray
Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis upset second seeded Andy Murray in their opening clash at the 2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam on Wednesday.
Despite Murray’s higher rank, Baghdatis was able to do away with the Brit in straight sets extending his lead to 3-1 in the career head to head. The pair’s last meeting on a hard surface had come in their first round match at the 2007 Cincinnati Masters,
with Baghdatis emerging as the victor suffering a loss of only three games.
Coming from an unsuccessful final run at the 2011 Australian Open, everyone expected Murray to sail past Baghdatis with much ease and for a while everyone saw their predictions coming true. Serving in the opener, Murray raced to a 3-0 lead, breaking Baghdatis
serve in the second game. However, the Scot failed to maintain his form as Baghdatis bounced back with a winning percentage of 75% on first serve and saving 6 of 8 break points ensuring a 6-4 win in the first set.
Losing the opening set, shattered the Brit’s confidence as he failed to win more than one game in the second set. Serving six aces, Baghdatis held Murray to five points as he clinched a breadstick win in the second set.
In a match that lasted almost an hour, Baghdatis struck a resounding total of nine aces with no double faults and a loss of only 19 of 54 points on service. Baghdatis now moves on ahead to play Feliciano Lopez.
A disappointed Murray commenting on his performance said, “I started the match really well, but then started missing quite a lot; I made quite a lot of mistakes. You need to be very sharp with your movement on a surface like that and maybe I wasn’t. Marcos
played very well.”
Murray’s match wrapped up the first round matches for the event. Following them on the courts were Serb Viktor Troicki and Finn Jarkko Nieminen.
Standing at a level head to head score, Troicki fought a long and hard battle before doing away with the Finn in straight, yet not so simple, sets.
A neck to neck run between the two players pushed the first set into a tiebreaker. Maintaining an impressive 82% winning percentage on first serve Troicki was able to go one up in the set score as he clinched a 7-4 win for himself.
The tooth and nail battle between the two professionals continued in the second set with neither player managing a break for ten games. Converting one of one break opportunities, Troicki was able to edge past Finn to secure a 7-5 win in the second set.
Taking almost ninety minutes Troicki struck six aces and lost only 23 of 70 points to make it into the quarterfinals. Troicki moves on to play Marin Cilic.
The Croat giant moved into the quarterfinals earlier in the day when he played the fifth seeded Austrian ace, Jurgen Melzer. Already leading the head to head 4-2, Cilic extended his lead as he upset the fifth seed in straight sets.
Taking only seventy two minutes successfully converted three of three break opportunities and lost only 14 of 52 points on service to dismiss Melzer 6-2, 6-4.
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