Novak Djokovic vs Marcos Baghdatis – Quarter-final preview: Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel 2011
Race for the final four at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel is on and the world number one, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, will take on the 59th ranked Cypriot, Marcos Baghdatis, in the quarter-final round on Friday evening.
The contest will be staged on the indoor hard courts of the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, with the winner of the match getting a berth in the semi-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500
event.
Top seed in the tournament, Djokovic continued his invincible form of the current season in Basel as well. The 24-year-old has already bagged 10 ATP championship titles, which include three prestigious Grand Slam and five Masters
Series trophies, in the running year. The Serb is riding the form of his life time and is having 64-3 winning record so far, making him the most successful tennis player of 2011.
Djokovic took off his Swiss Indoors campaign by taking down Xavier Malisse of Belgium to clear the opening round. He then went on to annihilate the Pole qualifier, Lukasz Kubot, in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, to make it to the quarter-final
stage to take on Baghdatis for a place in the semis.
“I had a lot of unforced errors and double faults at important moments, but it was kind of expected because it was the first match after six weeks after a big injury - probably the biggest in my career. Today is another story.
I felt good on the court and I’m happy to go through,” expressed Djokovic after winning his second round matchup against Kubot.
On the other hand, the unseeded Cypriot has been straining all season to get back his vintage form. Baghdatis is having a 28-26 winning record this year and haven’t won a championship title so far. He made an impactful start at
the Swiss Indoors, defeating the eighth seeded Serb opponent, Viktor Troicki in a nail-biting three-setter. He went through some real tough times before overcoming the local qualifier, Michael Lammer, 7-6(2), 6-7(7), 6-3, in the second round to book a battle
with the world number one in the round of eight.
Baghdatis has gone one-on-one against Djokovic on five prior occasions and has always been outshined by the brilliance of the top ranked Serb. Their last encounter took place in the third round of the Wimbledon Championships, where
Djokovic wrapped up victory in four sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and eventually went on to win the Grand Slam title in the end.
Both men have played twice on hard courts and Baghdatis has posed some resistance to his opponent on both occurrences. Although with the ballistic form this season, Djokovic is the hot favourite for winning the Friday’s encounter
but one thing is for sure that Baghdatis won’t let it go that easily.
Djokovic will certainly desire to strengthen his position as the world number one by bagging the Swiss Indoors title and get the necessary winning momentum to enter the circuit finale, the ATP World Tour Finals, in London, this
month. A three-setter is expected on Friday, with the top seed winning the opening and the final set comprehensively.
Tags: