Wildcard Baghdatis faces Tipsarevic in Kuala Lumpur Final

Written by: Resendiz on 1st October 2011

Wildcard Baghdatis faces Tipsarevic in Kuala Lumpur Final

Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus returns to Viktor Troicki of Serbia during their semi final match at the ATP Malaysian Open tennis tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 01 October 2011. EPA/AHMAD YUSNI |

Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus didn’t let the tournament organisers down after they gave him a wildcard for the main draw singles event at the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur. Baghdatis breezed past the World No. 15 Viktor Troicki of Serbia today 6-3 6-1 to reach his first final of the season.

The World No. 60 lost his serve in the opening set but broke back twice to win the first set 6-3. Baghdatis completely dominated the second set winning 6-1. The match today lasted one hour and 24 minutes. “It feels great to be in another final. There’s still one match to go. Today was a strange first set from both of us, struggling with our serves. But I stayed calm and focused on what I had to and played the important points better in the first set. I’m happy with the way I fought to win without spending too much time on court,” the former world number eight said.

The Cypriot will face another Serbian in the final. The number three seed Janko Tipsarevic defeated the number eight seed Japanese rising star Kei Nishikori in the top half semi-final 6-4 6-3.

“Both Marcos and I are playing good tennis. I know I have to play like I did today or better to have a chance to win the final tomorrow. Marcos is a more experienced player he will not give me the final. I will have to take it from him and play aggressively. I’m here to win one more match, if not then it’s still been a good week overall,” Tipsarevic said.

Tipsarevic is still in the running to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London at the end of the year. His chances will improve highly if he wins tomorrow’s Malaysian Open final. Tipsarevic and Baghdatis have faced each other three times and Marcos is leading 2-1. Their last meeting was in the quarterfinals of the LA tournament in 2010, Tipsarevic was the winner then.

The number three seeds Frantisek Cermak and Filip Polasek progressed into the Malaysian Open doubles finals today. They overcame the US Open Champions Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner in straight sets 7-6 (7) 6-4.

Polasek and Cermak will meet the number two seeds Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer who battled past the number four seeds Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram. Butorac and Rojer won 6-3 6-7 (5) 10-6.

CENTER COURT start 2:15 pm

[3] F Cermak (CZE) / F Polasek (SVK) vs [2] E Butorac (USA) / J Rojer (AHO)

Not Before 4:30 PM

[3] J Tipsarevic (SRB) vs [WC] M Baghdatis (CYP)