Nadal fights back to beat Baghdatis

posted Tuesday Feb 27, 2007 07:45pm by Andre Jones

The defending champion Rafael Nadal made a successful start to the defence of his Dubai Duty Free title as he fought his way past Marcos Baghdatis 3-6 6-2 6-3 in an hour and 57 minutes of delightful tennis.

Nadal, like Federer showed distinct signs of ring rustiness having not played since the Australian Open, and dropped his opening serve going long on the forehand drive.

The charismatic Cypriot, who was serving well and dominating the rallies with his forehand which he would often hit for clean winners, took the opening set in 39 minutes with a second break of the Spaniard's serve.

The breezy conditions affected Baghdatis' serve in the third game of the second set; a double fault followed by a Nadal lucky let cord which died on the Cypriot's side of the court gave the world number 2 the breakthrough he needed. A second break of the Baghdatis serve followed in the seventh game, and Nadal quickly levelled the match; serving out the set to love with a forehand winner down the line.

With the crises seemingly over, Nadal relaxed and really began to open his shoulders in the final set, pulling the Cypriot around who was playing strokes at full stretch.

Nadal broke in the third game aided by a costly double fault from Baghdatis, and having held serve throughout the deciding set, broke again to take the match on his second match point when Baghdatis netted a short forehand drive.

"The first set was very difficult because to play after 1 month without competition is difficult", said Nadal. "I was feeling not bad, but Marcos was playing with confidence, he was playing good the last few weeks; one tournament win and one final, so he was playing better than me with more confidence and more rhythm. But after that I feel better and better, and I played more aggressive especially with my forehand. Also, I was serving good, not bad."

Nadal was asked whether he was worried about playing Baghdatis who was the highest ranked player at 17 not to be seeded.

"Not much because I was practising very well. But the season is very long and the important thing is to play good and get the best performance; if I do that I will have the chance to play a good tournament. I was worried about feeling good with my tennis not Baghdatis. I know he is tough; one of the worst matches for the start of the tournament because he is one of the more difficult players."


Federer had said that it would be "fun" to see Nadal and Baghdatis go at it in the first round. Nadal, however, would have preferred not to have played the Cypriot until the quarterfinals.

"It's more fun if we play quarterfinals than first round", Nadal said. "For sure It's good for the tournament, but also it's bad because Baghdatis or me is going out in the first round."

A disappointed Baghdatis felt that the defeat was down to a lack of belief.

"I started good and played really good", Baghdatis said. "Tactically I was playing good, but then I got broken stupidly at 1-1 in the second set when I was 30-0 up. I think the problem is that I don't still believe that I can beat these guys - Rafa and Roger, that's the main problem; I see them too far from me."

Baghdatis was typically philosophical about the tough draw he had been handed.

"It was a tough draw for me and also a tough draw for him too. It's not an excuse, that's the way it is; life is tough sometimes. You just have to accept it."

Andre Jones

Dubai

http://www.inside-tennis.net/index.p...n=news&id=2476

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Nadal Shakes Off A Month Of Rust In Dubai Win

Holder Rafael Nadal overcame a slow start to produce his best tennis of the year as he rallied past the high-profile challenge of Marcos Baghdatis to move into the second round of the Dubai Duty Free 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday.

The Spanish number 2, who stands behind Roger Federer in the seeding order this week, found his way after losing the opening set as he played for the first time since the Australian Open in January.

"After a month away, I'm pretty happy," said the two-time French Open champion who missed Davis Cup this month with a thigh injury. "The first set was tough, I had no rhythm after not having played for so long.

"But I didn't play badly. Baghdatis came in with confidence over the past few weeks (after winning Zagreb and playing the Marseille final). In the first set, he played better than me."

But the Spaniard warned: "This was my best match of the season. I'm playing more and more aggressive with my forehand. I served OK, but I'm trying to improve."

Nadal overcame 16 aces off the racket of the smiling Cypriot, who played the 2006 Australian Open final against Federer.

Nadal broke Baghdatis on three of five occasions and began the final set with an early break on his way to the win in just under two hours.

Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny rallied for a Russian revolution, with both also recovering to advance in comebacks.

That scenario applied to Serb seventh seed Novak Djokovic, who defeated Belgian Kristof Vliegen 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a battle between two men who travelled down from Europe after last week's Rotterdam event.

Rotterdam champion Youzhny and semi-finalist Davydenko were also in that group of travellers to the Gulf.

Davydenko, seeded third, beat sentimental crowd-pleaser Younes El Aynaoui, at 35, attempting yet another comeback from several seasons of injury. But the effort ended in a loss to Davydenko, 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 7-5.

Youzhny shook off the jet-lag from a Monday evening arrival as he dropped the first set but rode the strength of first serves past Finn Jarkko Nieminen 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Davydenko is playing in Dubai for the fourth straight year, now standing 12-5 at the venue. 2002 semi-finalist El Aynaoui from Morocco was playing the tournament for a tenth year.

Unseeded Youzhny reached the Dubai semis in 2006; he earned his second win in a month over Nieminen after beating him the Zagreb second round.

Swede Robin Soderling played the longest tiebreaker of his career on the way to beating eighth seed David Ferrer, as the Spaniard was dumped out 7-6 (15-13), 6-1.

Nadal and Federer headline a blockbuster Wednesday night programme with the Spaniard facing Russia's Igor Andreev while Federer aims for the quarter-finals against Italian Daniele Bracciale.

By Bill Scott, Dpa
© 2007 DPA

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