Marcos Baghdatis beats Somdev Devvarman in second round – Malaysian Open 2011
Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis defeated the unseeded Indian Somdev Devvarman in the second round match at the 2011 Malaysian Open in Putra Stadium, Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 28th September. The inform Cypriot overwhelmed
the Indian in one hour and 45 minutes to secure a straight 7-4, 6-4 victory.
With a fiery rivalry between the two, Baghdatis added another victory to lead the head-to-head score 3-1. Adding to the Cypriot's advantage, Devvarman had lost most of his prior 10 matches and included another loss in his record
books.
Moving on with the fixture, Baghdatis won the service toss and stood to serve first for the opener. Serving out the Opener Baghdatis rolled the scoreboards down and switched the serve to the Indian 26-year-old. Following with a
win, Devvarman levelled up next in no time.
Levelling up again at 2-2 and then at 3-3 the two came firing at each other with superb forehands and backhands before the Cypriot came up with a stunner. Breaking the Indian world No.89 in game 7, Baghdatis took the lead with
a break-n-serve tactic extending his lead to 5-3.
Cutting down the lead to 4-5, Devvarman stormed back breaking the world No.60 in game 10 to level up the scores at 5-5. However, he could not finish it off with a win. Repeating the serve-n-break technique, the higher ranked contender
pocketed the starting set 7-5, to lead the match 1-0.
Continuing to outbreak each other in set 2, Baghdatis nearly lost a breakpoint but manage to secure the opening game of the second set. Levelling up the scores next, Devvarman switched the serve and returned again.
Serving out next, 2-1, Baghdatis ignited, breaking the Indian in game 4, however, could not retain the lead and dropped short in the next. 3-2. Devvarman kept on levelling the scores with startling comebacks in the match with the
scores now up at 4-4.
With two more games to go, the Cypriot world No.60 served out game 9 and thrashing down the Indian with a breakpoint in the next, clinched a 6-4 victory in the set to seal his straight sets victory.
Drowning the Indian in straight sets, the former world number eight now sits in the quarterfinal to play the fourth seeded Austrian, Jurgen Melzer for a spot in the semi-final of the event.
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