Andy Murray ends Marcos Baghdatis’ run in 1st round – Rakuten Open 2011
Andy Murray, Brit World No.4, swiped away the 1st round of the Rakuten Open 2011 against the world No.54 Cypriot, Marcos Baghdatis winning the fixture 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-4 in a long two hour and 33 minutes thriller. Playing
at Ariake Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan today, Wednesday, 5th October, Murray went down in the second set, however, came back up winning the decider ending the Cypriots run.
With the blue hard centre court cleaned up, Baghdatis won the service toss and went down winning the first game of the match with 2 game points, 1-0. Murray served next, however, fell short and gave away a breakpoint and lagged
behind, 0-2.
The Brit world No.4 capitalized, breaking back the Cypriot in game 3 and levelling up the scores serving out game 4, 2-2. With the two serving out games on respective serves, levelled up at 3-3, 4-4 and then on 5-5 before the set
locked up in a tiebreaker, 6-6.
Murray, dominating the set, slammed the tiebreak winner, down-the-line backhand, winning 7-4 and pocketing the set 7-6(4) to lead the match, 1-0. Although Baghdatis commanded the lead in the start, yet he could not finish up winning.
Moving on with the match, Murray served next for the 2nd set opener; however, the Cypriot did not stumble this time. Breaking the second seed, Baghdatis led the set 1-0 before he served out game 2 to extend his lead
to 2-0. With the set flaring up, the 26-year-old stripped off another 2 games off the set winning, break-n-serve, scorching up the table, 4-0.
Murray finally broke free as he won his first game, game 6, serving out. However, the Brit could not break back any time in the set. With 3 more game to go, Baghdatis served out 2 out of those to level the match score, 1-1, winning
the second set 6-2.
Concluding the match in the decider, Murray once again took the first serve in the set, however, this time the Brit followed with a win and switched the serve, 1-0. Levelling up instantly, Baghdatis swirled away with game 2 and
stood to return again.
Breaking the Brit next, the Cypriot made the most of the winning and served out the second consecutive win and took the lead, 3-1. Murray spun the game back as he countered the break-n-serve tactic with a serve-n-break counter
and levelled up the scores at 3-3.
With the match boiling up, world No.4 served out game 7, however, Baghdatis did level back next at 4-4. With two more games to go, Murray stood to serve game 9 and struck next. Breaking the Cypriot in game 10, Murray took control
of the decider set winning 6-4 to make his way into the 2nd round of the ATP Tour 500 event leaving the 26-year-old agonized.
Although Baghdatis could’ve turned the tables if he had his defence a bit more strong, anyhow, the match was worth a watch. Nevertheless, Murray now stares Alex Bogomolov, as the two battle it out next for quarter-final seat of
the Rakuten Open 2011.
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