Andy Murray ousts Marcos Baghdatis in the quarter-final – Brisbane International 2012
British number one and top seed, Andy Murray, nailed down his fellow quarter-finalist, Marcos Baghdatis, in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 during the Brisbane International tournament. On Friday, both players competed for the seventh
time in their professional career and the Briton levelled his head-to-head trail to 3-3 with the Cypriot contestant. The match lasted for just over an hour and top seed clinched an easy win to move into the semis.
The rivalry between two players started way back in May 2003 during French Open (juniors), when Baghdatis nailed down the Briton in straight sets. First three battles were won by the Cypriot but Murray pulled up a victory
in French Open 2010 before Cypriot crushed him down to another straight set win in Rotterdam next year. Last year these two players once again locked horns in Tokyo and after an intense three-setter, the Briton sealed the win to his name.
It was a display of sheer domination from world number four, Murray, as he started off the proceedings with a successful break and held his serve to take 2-0 lead. Once again top seed ousted his opponent with another break
to his name and took 3-0 lead that was further enhanced to 4-0 with a successful serve game.
The Cypriot was completely owned in every segment of the game and he failed to deliver impressive serves that could help him reflect some positivity to his score. He tried his best to bounce back but was not awarded a single
opportunity by his counterpart to take any sort of advantage at the courts. At the score of 4-0; Baghdatis finally managed to hold on to his serve. With not much drama afterwards, the Briton bagged the first set in classy fashion.
Trailing one set down, Cypriot needed to bounce back strong but his will and determination was completely shaken in the first half of the match. Tradition start to the second set witnessed both players holding on to their
serves in the first four games; score was 2-2 at that stage. Briton improvised in the next game and broke his opponent’s serve to sneak one game ahead; the lead was doubled in the next game as he held his serve.
Score was 4-2 at that stage; Baghdatis struck a couple of aces in the seventh game to create an impact but his returns were so dismal that he failed to hang on to his serve. Briton held his serve to finish off the proceedings
in grand style.
Andy Murray goes head-to-head with the eighth seed local hero, Bernard Tomic, in the semis.
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