Marcos Baghdatis sweeps away Andreas Seppi in the second round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Thirty-two seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis edged past Italian Andreas Seppi in straight sets at Wimbledon Championships 2011, one of the four Grand Slam event held in London, England. He registered a 6-4, 7-6(4), 7-5 victory over
the 27-year-old Italian to advance to the third round on Thursday.
The Cypriot re-created his 2006 spark by winning a tough straight set victory over the Italian to secure a third round spot at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Baghdatis reached his career high rank at number eight in
2006 when he made a semi-final berth in this tournament and became a finalist at Australian Open.
World number thirty, Baghdatis took revenge for his loss to Italian at Vienna four years ago and levelled the head-to-head series by 1-1 against Seppi.
Baghdatis entered Court Three with a bang and earned the coveted break in the very first game. He then displayed nerves of steel to keep his remaining serves comfortably and eventually clinched the opener with a 6-4 win in forty
minutes. The Cypriot produced a slightly lower first serve share but earned a perfect win on it. To further sugar coat the set, he smacked two aces, conceded zero breakpoint and converted one out of five breakpoint opportunities to his advantage.
A monotonous season by the Cypriot who had a 9-13 win – loss record and who recently raised his level of game by making a semi-final berth at s-Hertogenbosch, carried his winning ways into the second set. Baghdatis earned the desiderated
break in the third game and took an early lead.
The Italian on the other hand entered this major grass court tournament in full of confidence after winning the title at Eastbourne last week. He was frustrated at 2-4 and smacked his racquet on the grounds. However, Seppi re-created
his magic by winning the next three games in a row to take the lead at 5-4.
Baghdatis capitalised on the Italian’s errors to earn another break before the rain delayed the play. To his dismay, he failed to keep his serve in the last game and took the set to a tie-breaker where the Cypriot dominated and
seal the set with a 7-6(4) score line.
26-year-old Baghdatis held on to his serves in the final set with his exquisite forehands until the ninth game. He saved two breakpoints in it but failed to save the third and lost his serve. The Cypriot quickly counter-attacked
by hitting a crosscourt forehand which forced an error from Seppi and eventually levelled the scores at 5-5. Baghdatis then reeled off next two games to triumph the match.
The Cypriot will next face world number two and the Australian open winner, Novak Djokovic who has lost just a single match this season.
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