After reaching the final of the Australian Open in 2006, a year when he reached a career high ranking of eight, Marcos Baghdatis’ career hasn’t quite lived up to the expectations deposited on that exciting 21-year old player who shook the world in Melbourne. After slipping down the rankings, the Cypriot is now fighting his way back up at the age of 30 and continued today with an impressive win over birthday boy Bernard Tomic.
A former champion in Stockholm, Baghdatis made the most of his vast array of shots to unsettle the Australian and take the match 7-6, 6-3.
“I think I played very smart today. I used my slice a lot, I used my brain a lot. It was important to do that against Bernie. You need to be smart on court and not hurry too much and I think I did it very well. It paid off today so I’m very, very happy”, said the Cypriot who qualified for his first tour quarter finals since June, where he will face Gilles Muller, who knocked out another Aussie today, John Millman.
“I’ve known him since we were juniors. We’ve travelled together since we were 14 years old. We know each other very well. I’ll try to work on some things tomorrow and hopefully I can come 100 per cent ready on Friday and try to find a way to win”, concluded Baghdatis.
