Marcos Baghdatis destroys Alex Bogomolov in opening round – Malaysian Open 2011
Alex Bogomolov Jr, American, opened up against Marcos Baghdatis, the Cypriot, at the Malaysian Open 2011 on Monday, 26th September, to fire off the first round matches of the ATP Tour 250 event. Playing on indoor hard
courts at Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Baghdatis annihilated the world No.40 beating him 7-6(3), 6-4, in just an hour and 45 minutes run.
Aged 28, Bogomolov had less chances to cover or break the Cypriot, however, he did give his best to win the match. On the contrary, the 26-year-old surprised all. Ranked world No.60 the Cypriot right-hander put forward an unbreakable
defence and went of retaining set lead to gain crucial points.
Moving on with the match, the two entered the hard circuit and got a huge cheer as the fans knew they would get a match worth watching. Winning the service toss Bogomolov started off with the starter and served out the first game
of the match, 1-0.
Rolling down the scoreboard next, the 26-year-old followed the higher ranked American and switched the serve, 1-1. Battling out hard with equal strength, the two went on levelling up at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and at 5-5. With scores eventually
leading to a tiebreaker, the 28-year-old American switched on the heat firing up the tiebreaker serving first.
Baghdatis served out his two serves and broke the American on his to take an easy 4-0 lead in the tiebreak. Bogomolov did cut back the lead to 3-5 but could not do much after than that and lost the tiebreak 3-7 and the set, 7-6(3).
Continuing with the match, Baghdatis served for the second set starter and nicked away a game saving a near breakpoint, 1-0. Following his rival, the American levelled up the scores next and stood back to return once again. The
pair could not break each other and levelled up at 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4.
With scores at an inflammable point, Baghdatis lit the match and fired off the final bomb as he served out game 9 and broke the 28-year-old winning game 10 and the set 6-4. With 2 set straight in his backpack, the Cypriot went
on knocking out the higher ranked rival and into the 2nd stage of the Malaysian Open 2011.
Statistically, Baghdatis was recorded for playing more of a defensive game. The 26-year-old did not capture many points on return, 21, however, pulled off 50 service points totalling 71 points to his win.
The Cypriot will now play the winner of match between Mikhail Ledovskikh and Somdev Devvarman to battle it out for the quarterfinal seat.
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