Yen-Hsun Lu prevails over Marcos Baghdatis in upset win – Farmers Classic 2011
Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu prevailed over the third seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in their two straight sets encounter at the second round of the Farmers Classic, held in Los Angeles. Lu effortlessly toppled his more experienced opponent
and is now securely positioned in the quarter finals of the tournament with a 6-3, 6-4 win.
"I didn't really expect this," an ecstatic Lu conceded after the match. "He's (Baghdatis) a great player with a lot of titles; he has beaten a lot of guys.” Lu, who gave a recap of his best performance of the season by winning
this match, had earlier reached the quarter finals at Atlanta. On the contrary, Baghdatis had been at a disadvantage since the Los Angeles US Opener is his first tournament after Wimbledon.
The 27-years-old Taiwanese, ranked at No.76 has clocked in his best performance at Atlanta earlier this season. We got a glimpse of this man’s prowess in his easy dismissal of Robby Ginepri, in their first round match here. World
No. 25, Baghdatis came into the tournament with a win-loss mark of 16-15 and had received a first round bye.
The two players have met once before in Kuala Lumpur, 2009. Baghdatis had won the match in three sets.
Crowds at the Straus Stadium witnessed an exhilarating 10 aces registered by the two players in the 74 minutes match, with Lu lead charge with 7 perfectly executed aces. Baghdatis served at around 51% and managed to collect 18
points off his 23 serves, this was 8 less than Lu’s 26 points from 31 serves. However the deciding factor in the game proved to be Baghdatis’ inability to pose even a single breakpoint situation to his opponent. Lu meanwhile cashed in on the opportunity to
register 2 serve breaks in the match.
Overall the match saw, Lu leading with 56 points while Baghdatis managed a measly 45. Baghdatis failed to make inroads into the tournament and the third seed tumbled in his very first game of the Farmers Classic.
Lu will next face American standout Ryan Harrison, a 19 year old player who had defeated Michael Russell 6-3, 6-4 in his second round match. Talking about his next match, Lu said "I warmed up with him this morning; he's a really
talented player. It will be a tough match for me -- I don't know if many in the crowd will support me."
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