Marcos Baghdatis sails past Ryan Sweeting into 2nd round – Erste Bank Open 2011
Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis eased past American Ryan Sweeting in straight sets at the Erste Bank Open 2011, an ATP World Tour 250 series event taking place on the indoor hard courts in Vienna, Austria since 1974. He registered a 6-4,
6-2 victory over the Bahamas-born Sweeting to secure a second round spot on Monday.
World number 59, Baghdatis displayed exceptional skills to stomp over the American, ranked fourteen spots below him in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, in an hour and eleven minutes long marathon. Duelling for
the third time, Baghdatis not only extended lead in the head-to-head series by 3-0 against the American but also advanced in this ATP event.
Baghdatis made a nervy entry at the Wiener Stadthalle as he lost his serve early on to trail 1-2. However, he roared back by cashing in on half of the four breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to clinch the opener with a 6-4
win. The Cypriot snatched his break back in the fourth game and broke Sweeting’s serve again in the last game to bag this set.
He spilled more errors and manifested a poor first serve share of 45 percent as compared to the American’s 67 percent. However, the Cypriot earned a magnificent 79 percent win on it and after brushing off three out of four breakpoints
came across, he clinched comfortably.
26-year-old carried momentum from the opening set into the final set and cruised her way to steal the show. He smoothly plucked in entire serves without facing any hurdle or a breakpoint and cashed in on both breakpoint opportunities
to his advantage. Baghdatis fished out easy points to pocket last four games in a row and sealed the set with a 6-2 victory.
He improved stats by formulating a higher first serve share of 63 percent as opposed to Sweeting’s 60 percent and registered a brilliant 80 percent win on it. Baghdatis then put a cherry on the set by smacking seven massive aces.
"It felt great. I’m really happy the way I fought today," the shining Cypriot said. "Ryan was playing pretty good and I fought good and found a way to win, which is the most important thing, and I’m very happy about that."
"What I have to do is just go out there and continue the way I’m playing," said Baghdatis, who will square off against sixth seeded South African Kevin Anderson. "Continue pushing, fighting and being aggressive."
The South African trashed Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer with a 6-4, 6-4 score line in one hour and thirty-four minutes.
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