Marcos Baghdatis prevails over Sergiy Stakhovsky into the second round – Rakuten Japan Open 2012
Former world number eight, Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, confirmed his spot in the last 32, after ousting Ukrainian qualifier, Sergiy Stakhovsky, in straight sets 7-6(3), 7-5 in the opening round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis
Championships in Tokyo.
The Cypriot required only an hour and 38 minutes to claim victory in this encounter.
Baghdatis and Stakhovsky traded a blow in the first eight games and took the score to 4-4. Rest of the set went with serves, levelling the proceedings at 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker. Baghdatis snatched a 2-0 lead at the start
and further stretched it later to win 7-6(3).
The Cypriot could not do well on his serves in the opening set, being able to deliver just 41 percent of the first serves and claiming just nine of the 15 points on them. The 6ft tall could not save the only break point he faced
but compensated that by converting one of the three he received in the opener.
There was again extremely tough competition in the second set, as both Baghdatis and Stakhovsky held their serve in the first 11 games and took the score to 6-5 in the former’s favour. Serving to stay in the set at that moment,
the Ukrainian national was unable to hold his serve and went down 5-7.
Baghdatis banged in five aces and 50 percent of the first serves in the second set. The 27-year-old had a superb conversion rate, securing 14 of the 17 first and 12 of the 17 second delivery points.
The Cypriot had a dream season in 2006, when he stunned some of the top players on the ATP World Tour to advance to the Australian Open final. The Cypriot lost to one of the best players in the history of the sport, Roger Federer,
and failed to grab the title but this announced the arrival of a real challenger. The right-hander clinched his first tour level title in Beijing and attained his highest ranking of number eight in August of that year.
Baghdatis will lock horns with inform Argentinean player, Juan Monaco, in the second round.
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