Marcos Baghdatis cripples Juan Ignacio Chela to reach round two – Roland Garros 2012
Cypriot top, Marcos Baghdatis, dumped the Argentinean rising star, Juan Ignacio Chela, with a breadstick at the French Open 2012 on Tuesday. He penned down a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 victory against the Argentinean veteran to cruise into
the round of 64 at this Grand Slam event held on the clay courts in Paris, France.
Baghdatis showed exceptional skills to oust the world number 44 in straight sets in their sixth meeting. After pocketing this match, the Cypriot not only extended his lead in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
Head 2 Head series by 4-2 against Ignacio Chela but also booked a spot in the second round.
The 26-year-old enthusiastically entered the court number seven and hammered exquisite forehands to swipe in his entire serves without facing any barrier. He got the breakthrough in the eighth game by cashing in lone break chance
and clinched the opener with a 6-3 score line.
The former world number eight carried his spark in the proceeding set and earned the critical break in the third game to leap to a 3-1 lead. He then held remaining serves and capitalised on another break chance in the last game
to bag the set by winning six games to three.
Currently ranked 42nd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Baghdatis went out of control in the third set. He went on five-game tear before Ignacio Chela could hold on. The Cypriot held his serve once
more and pulled out the set with a breadstick.
All in all, Baghdatis manifested a poor first serve share of 37 per cent as opposed to his rival’s 54 per cent but spectacularly availed 25 out of 28 points on it. He also struck eight aces and hammered 31 winners to dominate throughout
the match.
Next challenge for the Cypriot is the 12th seed, Nicolas Almagro, who eased past Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi in straight sets to set up this meeting.
Sixth seeded David Ferrer will join the Cypriot in the second round. The Spanish number two was broken once but cashed in half of the 12 break chances to register a 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 score line.
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